2

In many Ashkenazy weddings, a document called tena'im is drafted and read at the Chatan's Tisch (Chattan's "table" - a separate rom or area where the groom, family members and friends gather prior to the badeken and chuppa.)

I see a copy of the text on this site, and much of it is similar to what I have seen on many tana'im documents including my wedding and that of many of my friends.

Who composed this text and when was it done?

Improve this question
5
  • 1
    It's not drafted on the spot: only (read and) signed. (By the way, it's often signed well before rather than at the wedding.)
    – msh210 ♦
    Commented Jul 3, 2018 at 21:50
  • @msh210 correct, unless you feel that filling in blanks is drafting it, something which is often done at the wedding itself.
    – רבות מחשבות
    Commented Jul 3, 2018 at 22:06
  • 1
    @msh it's also often not signed ever
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Jul 3, 2018 at 22:06
  • 1
    Fun story - I was at a wedding where the family was Mechabed an older Rav to read the Tenaim, and when he got up to read them, he basically started to talk about how unnecessary and silly Tenaim are when they are signed at a wedding, but that he nevertheless values the Kibbud of reading them.
    – רבות מחשבות
    Commented Jul 3, 2018 at 22:12
  • @רבותמחשבות " values the Kibbud of reading them" - IMO, those who value the "kibbud" of doing the mitzvah shouldn't whine about anything while doing it. It sounds tacky. Esp. for something like that - you're reading Tena'im, not giving a shiur.
    – DanF
    Commented Jul 4, 2018 at 18:48

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
7

I don't believe there is a single set one, but a few with minor variations.

Some of the classic Tenaim texts were collected in Sefer Nachalas Shiv'a, and another version was drafted by Rav Moshe Feinstein more recently. To the best of my knowledge, Rav Moshe's is the most commonly used in non-Hassidic Ashkenazi communities. (There are of course earlier versions as well.)

For additional information, see here and here.

Improve this answer
2
  • Let me know if you want me to elaborate on this based on my additional information.
    – רבות מחשבות
    Commented Jul 3, 2018 at 21:36
  • The Nachalat Shiv'a includes the variants used in Frankfurt a/M
    – Noach MiFrankfurt
    Commented Jul 3, 2018 at 21:42
4

This is taken from Aryeh Kaplan's Made in Heavean, note 21. Giving a synopsis of the tenaim text history.

Various forms are found in Nachalath Shiva 8-11; Rabbi Asher Anshil Greenwald, Kitzur Nachalath Shiva 8 (Ungvar, 1926); Rabbi Yitzchak Ohlbaum, Ezer Le Yitzchak 5:4 (Budapest, Rabbi Hyman E. Goldin, HaMadrikh (New York, 1939), p. 2. Older, obsolete forms are found in Rabbi Yehudah Barceloni, Sefer HaShetaroth 72, p. 128; Sefer HaIttur, s.v Tanai (Warsaw, 1885), p. 40a; quoted in Hagahoth Mordechai, Kethuboth 293, 10b.

add any additional links you find

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .