JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A woman who divorced and met a new acquaintance but was prevented from marrying him because he was a kohein. However in an unusual step, Rabbi Zevadia Cohen, a senior dayan in the Tel Aviv Rabbinical Court, ruled that the woman’s previous marriage was null and void because her former husband had hidden from her that he was a homosexual. The “Noam Danieli” organization representing the woman declared that “the rabbinate is sensitive to the needs of couples- within the bounds of halacha.”
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The Tel Aviv Rabbinical Court accepted the woman’s claim that if she had known of her husband’s homosexual inclination, she would never have married him – and ruled that her agreement to marriage was meaningless and the marriage was a “Mekach Taus”, a mistaken transaction. Dayan Cohen said in his ruling that he would not have accepted such a claim in order to permit a married woman to marry someone else but since the woman had already received her divorce, the concept of Mekach Taus can be used to enable her to marry a Kohen.
The founder of the Noam Danieli organization, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Rani, said that “many couples who were about to obtain a civil marriage came to us and received a friendly solution which enabled them to willingly choose to marry in the rabbinate.” He warned that “attempts to force the rabbinate to issue leniencies by force of law “would lead to the opposite conclusion.”
The Noam Danieli organization’s goal is to help couples who wish to marry according to Jewish law to deal with the relevant religious authorities. The organization is funded by Motti Danieli in memory of his daughter (who died seven years ago today in a road accident.)
Rabbonim with strong shoulders, finding ways in halacha to help people. Kol hakovid to the!.
Rav Moshe Feinstein zatzal wrote that it is indeed a situation of mekach taus.
I am now convinced of two facts:
(1) On the Internet, everyone can be a ga’on.
(2) If you have a day job, then on the Internet, you can be a night-ga’on.
It would seem to me that we’d all be better off if we didn’t comment on things we know little or nothing about!
(Watch me get attacked for my position!)
Of course it is a Mekach To’os. Which woman in this world wants to marry a person who is a homosexual.
The problem is that, he should have realized that, before he went into Shidduchim.
Amazing how many no nothings are now citing what they don’t know Seems Rav Moisher would have agreed with this
Did she collect her ksuba from him? Did she collect any money? Is she returning the ring and anything else he may have given her over the years they were “together”? If there was no marriage and some man gave her all these things -Bais Din should demand that she pays it ALL back.
i dont doubt the rabbanim but if the marriage was consummated i believe the marriage WAS valid, he he might have switched teams like this fellow Mcgreevy in NJ that Aguda loved who had an Israeli lover.
If an unmarried woman sleeps woth a guy willingly she cannot marry a Kohen, so it doesn’t matter if the marriage is annulled, she isn’t a besula or a widow so she cannot marry a Kohen…
Reb Moshe’s psak is a red herring.
The basic halacha is that it is impossible to uproot a Kidushin. Most Gedolei Ha’achronim hold like that, although a minority disagree. They hold there is no such thing as Mekach Ta’us in marriage. (It is based on a machlokes Rashi and Tosfos in Yevamos)
When a woman is stuck, her husband refuses to give her a get, he has disappeared, or he is in a coma, we can rely on the minority opinion that applies Mekach Ta’us to marriage.
For a woman to marry her beau is nowhere near the level of She’as hadechak that an agunah is holding at, and this pesak is a travesty. Reb Moshe does not bear the blame for this.
Very scary and dangerous ruling to say the least. Very very gutsy too
Question: a number of men become gay as part of an emotional evolution over the course of their life. They are not born gay and later on claim to ‘discover’ they were gay all along. How could it ever be mekach Taus, since this scenario always prevents such as being conclusive. Being Gav cant be tested same aa testing for TaySachs gene
I am certainly not a rav, but this ruling does not sit right with me. She did marry him and live together as husband and wife…..
“Dayan Cohen said in his ruling that he would not have accepted such a claim in order to permit a married woman to marry someone else but since the woman had already received her divorce, the concept of Mekach Taus can be used to enable her to marry a Kohen.”
Would need to see the actual ruling inside but this seems a little difficult…
If it’s not enough of a mekach taus to allow her to remarry without a get then you are saying the get is valid and obviously can’t marry a kohen now.
One perhaps can split and say it’s a mekach taus for the prohibition of a divorcee marrying a kohen but not for the more chamur issur of eishes ish but this is difficult since we find even instances of invalid gittin can prohibit a women from marrying a kohen and here the get is certainly a valid get.
Reb Moshe doesn’t say the women can now marry a kohen in a case when she recieved a get. Reb Moshe was willing to allow to remarry in such a case without a get but recommends getting a get. If she did recieve the get can she now marry a kohen?? That is a totally different question and not what Reb Moshe was discussing.
Maybe the Cohen she wants to marry is the Dayen. Can he gepasken for him?
“Dayan Cohen said in his ruling that he would not have accepted such a claim in order to permit a married woman to marry someone else but since the woman had already received her divorce, the concept of Mekach Taus can be used to enable her to marry a Kohen.”
This makes no sense. The fact that he admits that a get is required means that it was not an outright mekach taus.
Further, there are other factors that are relevant, such as if they remained married, had children, etc.
Doesn’t sound very kosher…
She was still married to him.Just because he said he had immoral urges, does not mean he didn,’t have relations with her.
She is a divorcee, which means she was married. They had a kesubah.
This is flaunting Jewish law .
Even if it is mekach taous wouldn’t the fact that she received a get preclude her from marrying a Cohen? Also shouldn’t the fact that she already wanted to marry the Cohen acquaintance make us suspicious of her claims of mekach taus?
Making a mockery of The Torah Hakdosha.