CCAR RESPONSA
Marrying One’s Ex-Wife’s Sister
5751.12
She’elah
A man who has divorced his wife now wants to marry her sister. While the traditional law of consanguinity
forbids it, is it appropriate in our age to continue being strict regarding this particular relationship? If it remains
objectionable and the couple are nonetheless married by civil authority, should they be accepted into the synagogue
and should their children be educated in the school?
Teshuvah
The biblical prohibition regarding marrying one’s ex-wife’s sister (Lev. 18:18) states: ve-‘ishah el
achotah lo tikach litsror aleiah … be-chayyeiah , which the JPS translation broadly renders as “Do
not marry a woman as a rival to her sister…in her lifetime.” The objective of the prohibition is clearly not
consanguinity but peace between the sisters. Note that the Hebrew literally says that the marriage is prohibited
because its effect would be litsror aleiah , to make life narrow and mean for the first wife.1 Thus, the
purpose of the law is to avoid sibling discord.
The Talmud already posits the question whether the relationship is allowed if the first wife has been
divorced, and answers that the addition “in her lifetime” prohibits this.2 Thus, the reason for the biblical stricture is
seen not as permanently inherent in the relationship itself, as it does in all other prohibitions of the chapter
as the rests on plain inter-personal considerations, which disappear once the first wife is dead, but
not before.3
To be sure, the Torah law proceeds from a stance of polygamy, forbidding a man to take sisters as wives at
the same time.4 But, as indicated, rabbinic tradition goes beyond ancient sociology and tries to avoid a situation
which cannot help but create bitterness between the sisters. This configuration has not lost its potency in our time,
and our Rabbi’s Manual maintains the prohibition.5 We therefore urge that the rabbi not officiate at the
marriage.
What about membership in the synagogue if the marriage is contracted before civil authorities? Despite
their flaunting of Jewish tradition the two people are and remain Jews and should therefore be admitted,
and so should their children, whom we are obligated to provide with a Jewish education.
Notes
- So Rashi, who points out that the expression litsror (to make narrow) is related to tsarah,(trouble, misfortune).
- TB, Yevamot 8b.
- Rambam. Mishneh Torah , Issurei Bi’ah, 2:9; Jacob ben Asher, Arba’ah Turim, Even Ha-ezer,Hilkh. Pirya ve-rivya, # 15, et al.
- TB, Kiddushin 50b.
- 1988 ed., p. 235.If needed, please consult Abbreviations used in CCAR Responsa.