[Marriage Contract]. Printed, with manuscript additions

(KETHUBAH).

New York

1923

At top, period illustration of wedding ceremony

Most surprisingly, the kethubah is dated “the 20th day of Tishrei,” thus the marriage took place on Chol ha-Mo’ed Sukkoth. This is in violation of the Halachic ruling, not to perform mariages during these semi-festival days (see Mo’ed Katan 8b; Shulchan Aruch Even ha-Ezer 64:6). This can be seen as a commentary on the state of Judaism as practiced in America in the first decades of the twentieth century. The “mesader kidushin,” or clergyman who officiated at this wedding, was either unaware that the Halacha does not permit marriage during the intermediate days of Yom Tov, or willfully chose to disregard the law