A man in Haifa was asked to pay 5,555,555 NIS to cover the cost of his Keubah as was promised in the document when the couple married, should they decide to get divorced.
The Beis Din of the city, which consisted of Rabbi Avraham Shalsh, and Rabbis Avraham Chazzan and Rabbi Raphael Gelb sat in deliberation over what to do with this case for a lengthy period.
The relationship between the husband and wife, who are parents to three children came into question during the deliberation.
The rabbis decreed that the two should divorce and both sides agreed to the decision. At this point the wife produced the couple’s original Kesubah wherein it was written that the husband undertook a stringent oath to provide his wife with 5,555,555 NIS should the couple ever divorce. The Rabbis then had to deliberate over how much they could hold the husband to the agreement based on the probability and commitment that he made while under the Chuppah.
Basing their decision upon three other recent decisions given by Rabbanim in cases of astronomical Kesubot, the court ruled that: “The Husband will pay 240,000 NIS as his Kesubah.”
Due to the repetition of these types of cases where astronomical amounts are written into Ketubot, Rabbi Shimon Yaakobi, Director of the Rabbinic Court System, sent a message to grooms, rabbinical figures who conduct marriages and those who write Kesubot to refrain from committing to paying an astronomical sum and to be more careful to write a reasonable amount under the chuppah.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
He. shouldn’t have to pay any more than regular Kesuba
#1 It was a Mekach Tauss
#2 Hakol Modim that it was just a Guzma. He never intended to pay such an amount. She didn’t believe it either.
#3 Etc….
Ah Gitte Yid:
#1 Who says it was a mekach taus? Not every marriage that ends in divorce was started on false premises. In fact most are not.
#2 The large amount was intended as deterrent to divorce; to make him think harder before giving up on her. He didn’t intend to ever leave her when they married.
This reminds me of the mashal of the king who wanted to divorce his wife. When he saw the kesuba he wrote with the large amount promised to her he reminded himself of the love he felt for her and instead of divorcing her he wrote a kesuba for even more money to make sure he never makes the mistake of divorcing her.