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Theoretical, perhaps:

On their 25th wedding anniversary, a couple makes a big celebration, and displays their framed ketubah in the party hall. Someone notices the date on the ketubah and remarks to the couple, "The date on the ketubah is wrong. Yes, you were in the catering hall on Sunday afternoon, but since the chuppah occurred after sunset, the date should have been changed to Monday, a day later."

Do they need to change the ketubah? Are there any other halachic problems with their marital status retroactively having co-habited with an invalid ketubah all these years?

Related question - What if only part of the date was wrong. Let's say correct Hebrew date but wrong day of week or vice versa?

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  • I'm pretty sure the date of the chuppa is irrelevant to the date on the ketuba
    – Daniel
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 15:40
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    Certainly their marital status is unchanged. The Kesubah does not create a marriage. It is a finical document regarding certain goods and services that the husband obligates himself in. For the benefit of the woman, the rabbis decreed that the husband may not live her without writing a Kesubah. This protects her rights. IIRC the Mishneh Lamelech holds that we dont even need Kesubos these days!
    – mevaqesh
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 16:03

1 Answer 1

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Igros Moshe Even Haezer 4 105:3 says that such a Kesuva is no good. Based on that one would have to get a rabbi to redo their Kesuva in such a case.

ובענין כתובה שנכתבה ביום והיו עסוקין באותו ענין עד הקידושין שהיו בלילה. הוריתי שבזמננו שעדיין לא קדש ולא נתחייב בכלום פסולה דהוי שטר מוקדם, וזה שהכשירו בגמ' גטין דף י"ח ע"א הוא דוקא בזמנם שהי' אחר הקידושין ששייך להתחייב אף קודם החופה

However Aizer Mikodesh Even Haezer 66 says such a Kesuva can be relied upon in a situation where it was done so. There is no concern that it looks untruthful as it can be explained that the date in the document is when they made a Kinyan.

בשעת הדחק בזמן נחוץ אין קפידא אם כתוב בכתובה יום מחר. וגם משום מחזי כשיקרא לא שייך כל כך במה שקורים ביום מוקדם לשון הכתובה על יום שאחר כך שמשמע שהגיע זמן שבה ועדיין לא הגיע זמן ההוא כי יש לפרש ל' השטר שהזמן שבו אינו מצד שהגיע זמן ההוא וקבלו אז הקניין סודר רק שקבלו קניין סודר והוא חל מזמן הנזכר בכתובה והקניין סודר יכול להיות כמה ימים קודם על שיחול שיעבוד הכתובה מיום פלוני שיגיע ואין בכל ל' הכתובה נגוד לפירוש זה וממילא לא מחזי כשיקרא וכן הוא סגנון רוב שטרי מוקדמים ומאוחרים

Thanks to Wikisource for this answer from Chevel Nachloso 9:21

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  • Gershon, if you can translate and / or summarize the above, that would be helpful. I got the gist of it, but some items seem unclear. I don't want to follow-up with a question, yet, until I see some translation. Shabbat Shalom.
    – DanF
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 17:03
  • Gershon - a reminder. Can you translate or paraphrase the 2nd citation? I was about to ask a question about this, when the search pointed to this one that I already asked.
    – DanF
    Commented Mar 31, 2016 at 14:19

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