A wedding that was held a week ago Monday in Bnei Brak, turned out to be defective because of a problem with the ring, B’hadrei Haredim reported Sunday – without revealing the names of the families involved in order to spare them the humiliation.
It began on Shabbat night, after the Sheva Brachot (seven blessings) meals, when the bride told her sister that the ring she was given under the chupah was not the one she had ordered in the first place, since, apparently, there was an error in the delivery.
The story stunned the couple and their families, since this could constitute kidushay ta’ut – wrongful marriage sanctification, since it was not the bride’s intent to be sanctified with this ring, nor did the groom intend to buy this ring, and so it was possibly not his to use in acquiring this wife.
According to B’hadrei Haredim, one of the most senior rabbis of Bnei Brak, whom the families immediately consulted, ruled that the couple must not sleep together on Shabbat night, because of the concern that they may still not be married and therefore prohibited from being in an intimate closure together.
In addition, there was a problem that the Sheva Brachot meal could not be held as planned on Shabbat morning because the existence of a bride and a groom was in doubt.
In the end, they decided to rely on the ruling of Rabbi Moshe Isserles, “the Rama,” author of a gloss to the Shulchan Aruch by Rabbi Yosef Karo, discussing cases where Sephardi and Ashkenazi customs differ. The Rama ruled that when an urgent need arises it is possible to conduct a wedding on Shabbat – the urgent need being both the commandment to procreate and the families’ wish to avoid public humiliation as invited guests might be turned away.
And so, on Shabbat morning, a wedding ceremony was held at the rabbi’s house in a limited ceremony with only family members attending. The bridegroom consecrated the bride with an old ring and the wedding took place with joy by everyone.
