The daughter of a prominent rabbi, a former resident of Jerusalem, who divorced some eight years ago, became engaged to her father’s stepson from his second marriage, B’Hadrei Haredim reported.
The unusual match—albeit not problematic in terms of Jewish law, since there is no biological connection between the bride and groom—was celebrated last Tuesday night by the couple’s prestigious B’nei B’rak family which is associated with the ultra Orthodox Ha’Edah Ha’Chareidis community.
The rabbi’s daughter from a first marriage, who is 16 and a half, will be marrying her step brother, 23, with whom she had lived as brother and sister for all intents and purposes, living in the same house.
Despite the fact that the Torah describes several incestuous marriages of our forefathers and mothers (Abraham married his niece Sara, Isaac married his first cousin Rivka, and Jacob married his cousins Leah and Rachel), Jewish law forbids incest, which is one of the three commandments a Jewish person must not transgress even on penalty of death.
The prohibited relations in the Torah are: One’s mother, father, stepmother, paternal or maternal sister, paternal sister through one’s father’s wife, daughter, granddaughter, a woman and her daughter, a woman and her granddaughter, one’s aunt by blood father’s brother, father’s brother’s wife, daughter-in-law, brother’s wife, one’s wife’s sister during one’s wife’s lifetime, even if since divorced.
The added Rabbinic sexual prohibitions are: one’s grandmother, great-grandmother, grandfather’s wife, great-grandfather’s wife, and grandson’s wife.