That nulls the after-marriage still.”[347]
§ 11. The author of the present essay found a difficulty in getting a correct account of the use of the ring in Jewish marriages;[348] although there is an exceedingly learned and interesting decision in relation to one in the English Ecclesiastical Reports.[349] He applied to a professional friend of the Jewish persuasion, who obtained the following interesting particulars from one of our best Hebrew scholars:[350] The nuptial rite among the Jews consists of three distinct acts which together form the regular marriage ceremony.
1st. The religious act Kidushin, consecration, by which the husband that is to be mekadesh consecrates—that is to say, sets apart from all other women and inhibits to all other men the woman who, by that act, becomes his wife.
The ceremony is performed in manner following. A canopy is raised under which the bridegroom takes his stand. The bride is brought in and placed either at his right hand or opposite to him. The officiating minister pronounces the initiatory nuptial benediction, after which he receives from the bridegroom a ring that must be of a certain value and the absolute property of the bridegroom, purchased and paid for by him and not received as a present or bought on credit. After due inquiry on these points, the minister returns the ring to the bridegroom, who places it on the forefinger of the bride’s right hand, while at the same time he says to her in Hebrew: “Behold! thou art mekudesheth consecrated unto me by means of this ring, according to the law of Moses and of Israel.” The bride joins in and expresses her consent to this act of consecration by holding out her right hand and accepting the ring; which—after her husband has pronounced the formula—constitutes her his lawful wife; so that, even though the marriage should not be consummated, neither party is thenceforth at liberty to contract another marriage, unless they have previously been divorced according to law: and if the woman were to submit to the embraces of another man, she would be guilty of adultery.
The law which enjoins “consecration” requires that the symbol of the act should be an object made of one of the precious metals—gold or silver—and of a certain value. But though the law does not insist on or even mention a ring, yet the custom of using a ring has, during very many centuries, so generally prevailed—to the exclusion of all other symbols—that the words “by means of this ring” have been incorporated in the formula of consecration. In the greater part of Europe and in America the ring is usually of gold; but in Russia, Poland and the East the poorer classes use rings of silver.
2d. The civil act Ketubah, written contract: As soon as bridegroom and bride have completed the act of consecration, the officiating minister proceeds to read the marriage contract, a document in Hebrew characters, signed by the bridegroom in the presence of two competent witnesses—by which the husband engages to protect, cherish and maintain his wife; to provide her with food, raiment, lodging and all other necessaries; and secure to her a dowry for the payment of which the whole of his estate—real and personal—stands pledged.
When this document has been read, the minister pronounces the closing nuptial benediction, and a glass is broken in memory of Jerusalem destroyed, (see Psalm cxxxvii.,) which completes the ceremony. The psalm here referred to is that most beautiful one, beginning, “By the rivers of Babylon,” and ending with what has immediate reference to the destruction: “Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.”[351]
3d. But all the time these religious and civil acts are being performed, the young couple have likewise before their eyes and above their heads the emblem of the moral act Hhupah, cohabitation or living together by themselves under one roof. This is the purpose for which the canopy is raised over them; beneath which they ought, by right, to stand quite alone—though generally the minister and parents or nearest friends also find room under it.
These three distinct acts—religious, civil and domestic—to constitute marriage according to the regular form Hhupa ve kidushin, require ten adult male witnesses. But so binding is the act of consecration, that if it were performed privately, without the knowledge of parents or assistance of minister and solely in the presence of two competent witnesses who hear the man pronounce the formula “Behold thou art consecrated unto me,” etc., and see the woman accept the ring, this proceeding, however irregular and reprehensible, constitutes a marriage perfectly valid in the eyes of the law.
Larpent, writing from France, but imbued with an ordinary English prejudice, which is apt to ridicule unfamiliar things and lose sight of reasons for customs, blurts out this: “I have been to the Jew’s wedding. The ceremony consists principally of singing and drinking and blessing in Hebrew. There must be something Jewish, however, as usual, and that is concerning the ring, which, as soon as produced, is shown round to all the rabbis near and some elders, etc., and to the sponsors, to be sure it is really gold or otherwise the marriage is void; and the true old clothesman-like way in which they all spied at the ring was very amusing. Nearly the last ceremony is the bridegroom’s smashing a wine-glass in a plate on the floor, with an idea that he and his spouse are then as difficult to separate as it would be to re-unite the glass. The gentleman showed gallantry by exerting all his force and looking most fiercely as he broke the glass.”[352]