Q&A: A Question About Officiating at a Wedding Ceremony
A Question About Officiating at a Wedding Ceremony
Question
Rabbi Michi, hello! When a groom and/or bride ask not to write the father’s name in the ketubah because they have no relationship with him (or a very bad relationship), is it permissible to write only the mother’s name and not the father’s name?
Answer
In my opinion, it is valid even with the mother’s name. This can be learned from a bill of divorce. There are opinions that in a bill of divorce the names are not indispensable, or are indispensable only rabbinically (see Beit Shmuel 129:11 and Arukh HaShulchan there, סעיף 1), and in Pitchei Teshuvah there as well.
And even according to those who invalidate it, in many opinions the father’s name is not indispensable at all. See Tur, section 129.
And when the mother’s name appears, that is certainly a full identification even in a bill of divorce.
And if so in a bill of divorce, then all the more so in a ketubah, where there is no law of detailed formulation.
That is also what is done with a female convert, where her parents’ name or her father’s name is not mentioned.