Q&A: Marriage of a Priest to a Divorced Woman
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Marriage of a Priest to a Divorced Woman
Question
If a priest marries a divorced woman, why don’t we say that the betrothal is invalid from the outset? After all, we sanctify the marriage “according to the law of Moses and Israel.”
And marriages like these are not according to the law of Moses and Israel, so why is a bill of divorce needed at all?
Answer
These are marriages according to the law of Moses and Israel, because the law of Moses and Israel determines that they are valid after the fact. Why it determines that they are valid is a different question.