Israel’s Ministry of Religious Services held a professional conference last week for marriage registrars from across the country at the Givat Shmuel Religious Council.
At the conference, an extraordinary case was presented to the participants, illustrating the heavy responsibility borne by the marriage registrars.
A couple arrived to register for marriage according to halacha at one of the religious councils in Israel. The chasan—who had grown up with an adoptive family since infancy—is a talmid yeshivah who arrived at the registry fully confident in his halachic status.
However, during the routine lineage verification, the marriage registrar discovered a detail that changed the entire picture. He noticed what appeared to be a minor but suspicious technical detail: the name of one of the parents was missing from the records.
The registrar launched a deeper inquiry, which led to a surprising discovery: the chasan has a biological brother who was adopted in childhood by a different family. Further examination revealed that this brother had married shortly beforehand, and in his case the marriage registration process was preceded by a proper giyur, after it emerged that the original adoption had not included a full giyur.
The conclusion was unavoidable: to the shock of the chasan and his relatives, it was determined that he is not Jewish according to halacha. The painful discovery prevented thorny halachic issues and underscores the critical importance of the verification procedures carried out in marriage registration offices.
A source familiar with the details said that since the chasan was Shomer Torah u’mitzvos, the giyur process was quick and straightforward, and the couple’s chasunah took place at the scheduled time.
The head of the Marriage Department at the Ministry, Rabbi Chizkiyahu Samin, referred to the case at the conference, saying, “The story revealed here is a chilling reminder of the importance of your avodat hakodesh. We must continue to combine advanced, welcoming service with uncompromising adherence to halacha and to the identity of the Jewish people.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
It is extremely easy to remedy the situation when a Ben Torah discover he is not Jewish, since his commitment to Yiddishkeit is already established. The more seriously problem is when the case involves someone who isn’t frum, and has no desire to be frum.
As we move further away from the period in which all Jews were frum (now already 250 years ago for many Europeans, i.e. ten generations), it will be increasingly difficult for anyone to trace ancestry back long enough to “prove” they are Jewish (meaning to a known female frum ancestor). We should rely on hazakah for anyone with a female line ancestor who was frum, and when that is impossible (as it will be for many future Baalei Tseuvah) to assume they aren’t Jewish and need to convert.
Really not sure why this is a story – Rabbanim go through this all the time, with last minute Girusim before weddings
So he was paying retail prices all this time??
Im confused. It seems like its saying the choson and his bio brother were adopted by different families and it was determined before his brothers wedding that there wasnt a proper conversion. But I dont understand what that has to do with this boys conversion. Wouldn’t it have been done by his adopted family, which has nothing to do with his bio brother ‘s adopted family?
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/israel-news/2492396/yeshiva-bochur-tried-to-register-for-marriage-and-discovered-hes-not-jewish.html