The ban on polygamy pronounced by Rabbi Gershom in the year 1000 is no longer valid and Jews, Ashkenazic and Sephardic alike, may now marry more than one wife, was the argument put before the District Court of Jerusalem by a Jewish lawyer defending Alexander Lubling, son of a Sephardi father and an Ashkenazi mother, who was tried for bigamy, having taken a second wife before obtaining a divorce from the first.
Rabbi Gershom’s famous edict against Jews living in Europe taking more than one wife had been a temporary provision intended to remain in force until the end of the year 5000, and we are now in the year 5691, the Counsel argued.
The second wife gave evidence that she had been aware of her husband’s first marriage but it had made no difference to her.
The judges refused, however, to accept the reasoning, but only fined Lubling £2 and costs.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
