Prohibited Marriages

A marriage is prohibited if it may not be contracted under biblical or rabbinic law. Prohibited marriages can be divided into two categories: permanent and temporary.

Permanent Prohibitions Marriages between relatives as set forth in Leviticus 18 and 20, including a man's parents, stepmother, sister, granddaughter, aunt, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, stepdaughter, and step-granddaughter, and his wife's sister during the wife's lifetime. The Bible offers no reason for these prohibited marriages except to call them "depravity," "reproach," and "indecency." Maimonides explained that their purpose was to preserve chastity and morality within the family (Guide III, 49). In addition:

a. If a husband divorced his wife and she remarried and was subsequently set free either by divorce or her second husband's death, her first husband may not remarry her.

b. A wife who had willingly committed adultery becomes prohibited to her husband, and to the adulterer even after a divorce from her husband (Sot. 27b). If she was raped, she is prohibited to her husband only if he is a priest (kohen).

c. A woman is not permitted to marry anyone who represented her in her divorce proceedings or who witnessed her husband's death, to avoid the suspicion of collusion (Sh. Ar., EH 12:1).

d. A priest may not marry a divorcee (Lev. 21:14), even his own wife if he had divorced her, nor may he marry a widow. He may also not marry a harlot because of his sanctity (Lev. 21:7; Guide III, 49).

e. A mamzer (offspring of an adulterous or incestuous relationship; see Illegitimacy) may not marry a Jewish man or woman. Maimonides explains that this prohibition expresses "a horror of illicit marriages ... the adulterer and adultress were thus taught that by their act they bring upon their seed irreparable injury" (Guide III, 49).

f. Mixed marriage is forbidden. The Bible forbade the Israelites to marry the Canaanites because of the fear of Idolatry and Assimilation: "For they will turn your children away from Me to worship other gods" (Deut. 7:3-4). This prohibition was later extended to all non-Jews. Intermarriage, however, where the non-Jewish partner converts to Judaism prior to marriage, is permitted.

g. A man may not take another wife while still married to his first wife, according to the above-mentioned decree of Rabbenu Gershom. Although the second marriage is valid, the parties will be compelled to divorce. This ban applied to Ashkenazi Jewry, but was also accepted in many parts of the non-Ashkenazi world.

Temporary Prohibitions Certain marriages are prohibited only for certain periods, after which they are permitted:

a. A widow or divorcee may not remarry within 90 days after the death of her husband or after receiving the get (bill of Divorce). The purpose of this law was to avoid confusion over the paternity of any child born in the following period.

b. An individual may not marry within the 30-day period of Mourning prescribed by Jewish law, and a widower must wait until three festivals have passed. However, if he has no children or has young children who need a mother's care, he need not wait that long to remarry (Sh. Ar., YD 392:2).

c. It is forbidden to marry a pregnant woman, or a nursing mother until the child has reached the age of 24 months, which was the prevailing length of time for nursing (Yed. 42a).

d. If a woman's two successive husbands died for reasons other than accident, she may not marry a third time because the fate of her former husbands may bring bad luck to the third marriage (Yed. 64b). In post-talmudic times this prohibition was not viewed as compulsory.

e. A married woman may not take a second husband. In order for a divorce to be valid, the husband must give his wife the get as decreed by the Bible (Deut. 24:1). If he refuses, or if he is missing and cannot be found, as in time of war, the wife is left in a distressing situation. Since she does not have a get and there is no definite proof of her husband's death, she has the status of an Agunah---a "chained" woman, still attached to her husband and not free to remarry. The rabbis throughout the centuries have in many instances successfully resolved agunah situations involving missing husbands. In the case of husbands refusing to give a get, various pressures are brought to bear (including imprisonment in the State of Israel), though not always successfully.

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