Rabbis at Weddings From a mere two witnesses to top hat, tails, and rabbi. A Jewish Wedding, Jozef Israëls, oil on canvas, 1903 Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 2 Adar II 5784_March 2024 Rabbis at Weddings Who Invited the Rabbi? Rabbis have officiated at weddings for centuries, but the Talmud mentions no such practice. So how did Jewish clergy become an integral part of the ceremony? | Ariel Picard M any human endeavors begin spontaneously but gradually become so institutionalized that authorization is required. For instance, the ancient art of healing has evolved into the science of medicine, in which practitioners must be not just knowledgeable and experienced but certified MDs. This phenomenon applies to Jewish marriage as well. In the Talmud, the creation of such a union requires no more than a man gifting something valuable to a woman in the presence of two witnesses for the express purpose of matrimony, and her accepting the item with that in mind. Talmudic literature details countless marriages and divorces, all performed without supervision. Rabbinic authorities get involved only when complications arise, as in the following example: An incident occurred involving five women, Segula_The Jewish Journey through History 3 Rabbis at Weddings M A ZA L TO V ! including two sisters, in which a man gathered a basket of figs […] and declared, “Behold, you are all betrothed to me with this basket,” and one accepted it on behalf of all. The sages ruled: the sisters are not betrothed. (Mishna, Kiddushin 2:7) The Talmudic sources all describe a man betrothing a woman with no rabbi (or anyone else) performing any ceremony. So how did the role of officiant develop, and when did it become reserved for rabbis? Ordination Actually, the position of community rabbi also has a history. Ever since the Second Temple period, local religious leaders have addressed halakhic matters both communal and personal. However, the official rabbinic position known in Aramaic as mara deatra, “master of the location,” is less ancient and doesn’t even appear in the Talmud. The relationship between rabbi and community was formalized as late as the medieval period, and according to scholar Prof. Mordecai Breuer, the rabbinate became an Ashkenazic profession – complete with ordination documents – only in the 14th century. Communal politics swiftly surrounded the new, paid position, with power struggles between established rabbis and up-and-coming rabbinic talent. With personal incomes at stake, incumbents accused their competition of professional trespassing. One example, cited by Rabbi Yitzhak bar Sheshet Parfat (acronym Rivash) in a responsum, concerns two French rabbis in 4 Adar II 5784_March 2024 the 1380s. Rabbi Isaiah Astruc, leader of the Savoy Jewish community, aimed to become chief rabbi of France. He therefore decreed: All bills of divorce and levirate release issued without Rabbi Isaiah’s permission by any rabbi attempting to settle in France shall be invalid; [any such rabbi’s] books are those of an idolator. (Responsa of Rivash 271) Yet the rabbi of Paris, Johanan ben Mattithiah Treves, son of the country’s previous chief rabbi, aspired to succeed his father, only to have his authority undermined by Rabbi Isaiah’s proclamation. Rabbi Johanan turned to Rivash, head of the Spanish Jewish community of Zaragoza, for help. The resulting responsum discussed the The local rabbi was part of the community leadership but not necessarily the exclusive authority. Klezmer musicians dominate this portrayal of a Jewish wedding procession by Wincenty Smokowski, 1858 Courtesy of the Warsaw National Museum Rabbis at Weddings origin and nature of the halachic authority bestowed by ordination. Rivash wrote that the Talmudic chain of rabbinic ordination had been broken, making its contemporary equivalent much less binding. Therefore no rabbi could impose his authority. Such is the ordination customary in France and Ashkenaz. When a student becomes capable of teaching […], he is rabbinically forbidden to do so without his teacher’s permission […] That is to say: he is henceforth no longer a student; rather, he’s worthy of teaching others anywhere and deserves the title “rabbi.” (ibid.) In numerous Talmudic anecdotes, rabbinic authorities intervened in marriages only when complications arose No rabbi’s authority is territorial. Rivash's response notwithstanding, the trend toward granting rabbis local jurisdictions seems only to have gained momentum in the region in question. Doctors of Halakha In other words, according to Rivash, ordination stems not from the relationship between a rabbi and his community, but from that between a scholar and his teacher. A century after Rivash, statesman, philosopher, and Bible commentator Don Isaac Abarbanel reestablished himself in Italy following the expulsion from Spain. In his It only takes two to tango – or to wed – in this medieval illustration featuring bride and groom. Festival prayer book, Leipzig, 1320 Courtesy of ANU Museum Segula_The Jewish Journey through History 5 Rabbis at Weddings new country, Abarbanel was surprised by the Ashkenazic custom of ordaining rabbis altogether. He detected Christian academic influence: This was the practice in Spain while the [Jews] were still there, that none among them was ordained. Yet after my arrival in Italy, I discovered that the custom of one rabbi ordaining another had become common. I perceived that it had begun with the Ashkenazim, all of [whose rabbis] are ordained and ordain others. I know not whence they derived this license, unless they acquired it from the ways of the non-Jews, who award doctorates and whose doctors then appoint others. (Nahalat Avot 6:1) While agreeing that Jewish scholars deserve respect, Abarbanel disapproved of granting them professional qualification, which he thought reeked of Christian academic institutions. For Abarbanel, Jewish scholarship wasn’t a profession, nor did it require ordination. In the past, the chain of authority soldered together by ordination had depended on the Sanhedrin. With no such body or anything similar in the Diaspora, sages were to be described as “neither rabbi nor rabban, terms reserved for those appointed by those already crowned with semikha (ordination; see p. 36), since there can be no ordination outside the land of Israel” (ibid.). Rivash’s understanding of ordination as part of the relationship between rabbi and student is echoed in Rabbi Moshe Isserles’ (acronym Rema, 1530–1572) Ashkenazic glosses on Rabbi Yosef Karo’s code of Jewish 6 Adar II 5784_March 2024 Rabbis at Weddings law, the Shulhan Arukh: The matter of ordination as practiced nowadays indicates that [one] has reached the level of instruction and that the rulings he issues are by permission of his teacher who ordained him […]. (Yoreh De’a 242:14) Rema also qualifies the value of rabbinic ordination: Some say that the rulings of anyone not ordained [by the rabbinic authority they recognize] […] are meaningless, and his divorces, etc., are suspect, unless all acknowledge him as a widely recognized expert who humbly doesn’t aspire to greatness [or titles]. (ibid.) That is, ordination may signify professional expertise, yet even someone without such credentials but renowned for his wisdom and knowledge is just as authoritative. Qualifications Despite the objections of Abarbanel and Rema, the rabbinate became a certified profession. The Ashkenazic trend was strengthened by the modern period’s obsession with qualifications. Even as modernity weakened the sense of religious obligation, rabbinic authority was bolstered by certification and institutionalization. In the field of marriage and divorce, however, that process had begun much earlier. Even the Talmud was uncomfortable with the fact that betrothals and divorces could be enacted by anyone: Rabbi Judah said in Samuel’s name: Anyone unfamiliar with the nature of divorce and betrothal should have no business with them. (Kiddushin 6a) Rashi (medieval commentator Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki) comments here that expertise regarding the consequences of such agreements is vital. “I know not how rabbinic ordination became permitted if not by aping the nonJews’ awarding of doctorates” – Abarbanel Facing page: was community rabbis’ ordination influenced by that of Christian clergy and other professional certification? Meeting of Doctors at the University of Paris, Etienne Collault, 16th century In Jewish law, betrothal requires only that a man give his intended a gift in the presence of two witnesses. The ketuba (marriage contract) accompanying this act details the husband’s obligations to his wife and has been compulsory since at least the fourth century. Ketuba from Livorno (Leghorn), Italy, 1698 Segula_The Jewish Journey through History 7 Rabbis at Weddings “Should have no business with them” – to serve as a judge of the matter, lest he permit marriage between those forbidden to marry one another, resulting in an error that cannot be rectified. Not just a matter of Jewish law. Officiating at weddings was also lucrative for the local rabbi. A Jewish Wedding, colored print by Dirk Jansz van Santen, late 17th century, Netherlands This fear resulted in a series of rabbinic restrictions on those authorized to perform weddings and divorces. Maimonides described a decree he himself helped formulate: 8 Adar II 5784_March 2024 The rabbis of Egypt have issued – and brought a Torah scroll out in public to declare – a ban on the inhabitants of the villages of Damanhūr, Bilbeis, and Almohella to prevent any man among them from marrying or divorcing his wife other than by means of the rabbis of the Egyptian villages: Rabbi Halfon, rabbinic judge of Damanhūr; Rabbi Yauda Hakohen, rabbinic judge of Bilbeis; and Rabbi Perahia, rabbinic judge of Almohella. We have agreed to ban whoever grants a license [to preside over marriages and divorces] to anyone unschooled in the nature of divorces and betrothals. (Maimonides’ Responsa, vol. 2, Blau edition, sec. 348 [Hebrew]) Similar decrees were enacted in various times and places. The Rules of the Exiles of Castile in the City of Fez, a collection of Rabbis at Weddings M A ZA not detract from the wage of the local rabbi by officiating at wedding ceremonies and taking the accompanying gratuity for himself, since that is the reward of the resident rabbi. [The guest] may, however, perform the marriage and hand the payment to the regular rabbi. (Yoreh De’a 245:22) L TO V ! Israeli Invention Local rabbis clung to their right to perform marriages, refusing to share the privilege or its fee rabbinic rulings beginning in the late 14th century, included retrospective annulment of any marriage performed by an unlicensed rabbi. The main idea was to prevent weddings performed by people unaware of the complications arising from halakhically inappropriate relationships. But there was an additional motive, originating wherever rabbis were salaried. Rema mentions it in another gloss on the Shulhan Arukh: If a guest sage comes to town, he should The exiles of Castile brought their stringencies with them to Morocco, even annuling unauthorized marriages. A Jewish Wedding in Morocco, Eugène Delacroix, 1839 Courtesy of the Louvre Museum, Paris In the United States, Canada, and many other countries, marriages may legally be performed and registered by a member of the clergy, a public official such as a judge, or possibly even a civil celebrant. The modern state’s insistence on marriage registration, beginning in 18th-century Europe, probably contributed to the institutionalization of weddings and the requirement of a recognized rabbinic presence. The next stage in formalizing rabbinic officiation at weddings occurred shortly after the Israeli Chief Rabbinate’s inception. This body decreed that all marriages be registered with the local rabbinate. Any time lag between betrothal and wedding was likewise forbidden, formally ending an ancient custom that had long since fallen out of use lest it lead to abandoned brides. Betrothed couples delaying their weddings would be forced to divorce. Furthermore: We hereby forbid any person or rabbi of Israel to arrange betrothal or marriage unless he has been appointed in this capacity in writing and by signature of the Chief Rabbinate of the Cities of the Land of Israel. […] Violators will face excommunication – with all the weight of decrees made by the Segula_The Jewish Journey through History 9 Rabbis at Weddings In a Word | Semikha The Hebrew word semikha originally indicated the laying of hands upon a person or animal, designating him/it for a certain purpose. The verb appears in the Pentateuch in the context of sacrifices offered in the Tabernacle. No sacrifice made in fulfillment of a vow or to obtain atonement was valid unless the owner of the animal leaned on it with both hands prior to its slaughter. Perhaps by association, a similar procedure is described for the biblical transfer of leadership. In Numbers (27:18), God instructed Moses to “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man of spirit, and lay your hand upon him.” Through this ritual, some measure of Moses’ greatness was passed on to his successor. Ethics of the Fathers opens by documenting the chain of rabbinic leadership from Moses until the beginning of the Second Temple period. The Talmudic tractate Sanhedrin recounts the valiant but futile rabbinic struggle to maintain the practice of semikha and thus the chain of ordination despite a ban imposed by Roman emperor Hadrian. This chain was ultimately broken, leaving Jewish judges “unordained” and therefore no longer authorized to impose fines or other penalties. Outstanding rabbis such as Maimonides and Yaakov Berab of Safed (1474–1546) attempted to restore the practice of semikha but without success. rabbis of Israel – in all existing communities of Israel and those that may arise in the 10 Adar II 5784_March 2024 Country or community? Israel’s Chief Rabbinate is essentially one big “local rabbi,” though its rulings carry the force of law. The Great Rabbinical Court sitting in judgment in its offices in Heikhal Shlomo, King George Street, Jerusalem, 1959 future. (Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog, Heikhal Yitzhak, Even Ha-ezer, vol. I, sec. 5, note 1) The Israel Chief Rabbinate Law, passed in 1980, listed among the powers of the Chief Rabbinical Council the following: (a) To enable a rabbi to act as a marriage registrar and (b) to appoint certain rabbis as marriage registrars from among those so authorized above. (ibid., sec. 2 [6]) Photo: Moshe Pridan, Israel National Photo Photo Archive Yehezkel Landau, chief rabbi of Prague, ruled that only in the town rabbi’s absence could his colleague perform a wedding. Portrait of Landau, 18th century “We hereby forbid any person or rabbi to arrange betrothal or marriage unless appointed by the Chief Rabbinate” Rabbis at Weddings In 2017, the rabbinate defined the criteria qualifying rabbis to officiate at marriages. Parliamentary legislation proposed in 2009 had even stated that any couple married or divorced by an unauthorized officiant would face two years in prison, while the master of ceremonies himself would serve a sixmonth sentence. Although the bill didn’t pass, it shows how institutionalized marriage has become. One reason is the increase in private, non-rabbinate weddings in Israel, including illegal marriages involving minors or clandestine nuptials designed to prevent widows or single mothers from losing welfare payments contingent on their unfortunate status. The law’s creators believed that only the threat of criminal prosecution could halt such practices. Also in the background is the longsimmering struggle between Israel’s Orthodox sector, represented by the Chief Rabbinate, and the Reform and Conservative movements. Only the Chief Rabbinate is authorized to perform marriage, divorce, and conversion. Nonetheless, as stated, a fair number of Israelis sidestep the rabbinate and cement their relationships with non- Orthodox ceremonies. In addition to the circumstances discussed above, some go this route because as far as the rabbinate is concerned, the bride or groom in question isn’t Jewish. Others want an egalitarian ceremony or just prefer to defy the Orthodox monopoly on marriage. Current attempts to circumvent the requirements of certification and officiation by a state-licensed Orthodox rabbi seem to be trending back to where we started, with weddings validated by two witnesses alone. Many modern Jews would rather avoid officialdom and run their lives and life-cycle events as they see fit. Too much oversight, though born of the worthy intention of maintaining the integrity of the Jewish people, can backfire, producing exactly the opposite effect.  State occasion. President Haim Herzog at the wedding of his son Isaac, current president of Israel, with future chief rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau officiating, 1985 Photo: Yaakov Sa’ar, Sa’ar, Israel National Photo Photo Archive Further reading: Kopel Kahana, The Theory of Marriage in Jewish Law, Brill 1966. Mendell Lewittess, Jewish Marriage: Rabbinic Law, Legend, and Custom, Aaronson 1994 Rabbi Dr. Ariel Picard A research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. His books include The Philosophy of Rabbi Ovadya Yosef in an Age of Transition (Hebrew) Segula_The Jewish Journey through History 11