CONCUBINAGE AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO MARRIAGE Walter Jacob

QUESTION: Does Reform Judaism recognize concubinage as an alternative to formal marriage? If a man cannot or does not wish to divorce his disabled wife may his“arrangements” with another woman be formalized? Can formal Jewish status be give to two retired individuals living together without marriage? Can these “arrangements” be formalized in a manner akin to the ancient form of concubinage?(CCAR Family Life Committee)

ANSWER: Each of the arrangements suggested by the question is clearly illegal and violates the laws of all the states within he United States and of the provinces of Canada . Therefore, no rabbi can formalize such an arrangement through a Jewish ceremony. Since the Paris Sanhedrin of 1807, we have recognized the supremacy of State in matter of marriage(See M.D. Tama, Transactions of the Parisian Sanhedrin, pp 133fF). This has been accepted by most modern Jews . It would be helpful, however, to discuss briefly the forms of marriage and concubinage. We should understand that concubinage in Biblical times seems to have referred solely to wives in addition to the primary wife. From the Hellenistic period on, a concubine could be any wife of lower status. As is well known, rabbinic tradition recognized three forms of entering a full marriage. Consent was, of course, always necessary(Shulhan Arukh, Even Haezer 42.1), and all three forms were combined in the Jewish concept of marriage as developed during the Middle Age.

The three ways of effecting a marriage cited by the 7 almud are:through a document, through money, or by intercourse(Kid. 2a; Shulhan Arukh, Even Ha-ezer 25.4)

(a) The most common form featured a deed witnessed by two competent individuals and handed by the groom to the bride(Kid. 9a, Shulhan Arukh, Even Ha-ezer 32. 14) This has remained the essential covenant of the modern wedding. The deed is the modern kefubah signed by two witnesses.