Monday, July 28, 2008

Gittin 18a - Kesuba written by day and signed at night

The gemara says that a kesuba which is written by day and signed at night is kasher. There are 2 rationales how it can be kasher. 1. Shmuel holds that since a kesubah is a t'nai beis din, the chiyuv goes into effect prior to the signatures being placed on paper. Just as a t'nai beis din, the chiyuv is created by their pesak din, so too by kesubah the chiyuv is created by the chupah even without the document (Rashi, Tosafos Rid is more clear). This rationale would only apply to a case where the chupah preceded the writing of the document, but not with our minhag which is to write the kesubah at the chassan's tish. Also, this leniency is really a machlokes rishonim whether we pasken like rav or shmuel, see Ran. 2. The gemara says that all agree that if the kesubah is written by day and they are osek in the inyan of the chupah without interruption, then even if it is only signed at night, it is valid. Seemingly, this shoud apply nowadays, to consider a kesubah that was written (and signed by day) to be effective even though the chupah took place at night. However, R. Moshe (O.C. 5:9:2) where he explains that the leniency of asukin b'oso inyan only applies to a case where the kiddushin has already taken place, so that the kesubah is technically applicable. But, in our situations where the kiddushin and chupah are both taking place only later, the kesubah must be written, dated, and signed on the day the kiddushin and chuppah take place, and asukin b'oso inyan will not help. Therefore, R. Moshe paskens that if the kiddushin and chupah were delayed until after nighfall, the kesubah must be rewritten.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

so what is the minhag at a wedding scheduled around shekiya?

Avi Lebowitz said...

i think the minhag is to either get the wedding in b4 shekiah or sign the kesubah under the chupah.
Also, I found that R' Shlomo Zalman (Minchas Shlomo 3:103:18) agrees with R' Moshe, but for a completely different reason. He explains that although regarding the monetary issue, it helps to be asukin b'oso inyan. However, the eidim are signing the keusubah which states explicitly - והות לי לאנתו- meaning that they are verifying that she is his wife from the earlier date. If other eidim will later show up claiming that she got married on that earlier date to another man, the kesuba document could be used untruthfully to counter the testimony of those eidim. Therefore, the signature of the eidim in a predated kesubah is not merely "michzi k'shikra", it IS sheker.