Q&A: Witnesses at a Wedding
Witnesses at a Wedding
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Is there a valid marital bond even without witnesses? Intuitively I want to say yes, but I’ve always heard that you need two witnesses for the marriage to be valid.
Answer
What does intuition have to do with this? There is no kiddushin without witnesses, because they are not merely evidence that the act took place, but part of what constitutes it.
Discussion on Answer
I understand. If so, in a case where the two witnesses died, would it be necessary to perform kiddushin again? If not, I’m having trouble understanding the whole matter of witnesses.
People can marry with witnesses, and a second later the witnesses die, and it would still count as kiddushin?! The main point of witnesses is that they provide testimony about an act, and if they died then they no longer have that ability, so I don’t see why they should matter for the validity of the kiddushin.
I explained that witnesses to kiddushin do not function as evidence for the act.
I have to add that in my view it’s strange and not serious to form an opinion based on intuition about a topic without knowing anything about it.
Of course, I’m speaking about kiddushin and not nisuin.