Jewish Law

Minimum Requirement of Kiddushin Money

THE JERUSALEM INSTITUTE OF JEWISH LAW, Rabbi Emanuel Quint, Dean

Lesson # 488

Minimum Requirement of Kiddushin Money

In most situations, where there is a learned rabbi performing the ritual of kiddushin, there are no problems. It gets to a point when many in the audience feel that they could have handled the kiddushin themselves. However, there are times when the ordinary becomes anything but ordinary. I have set forth below some problems that rabbis sometimes face in arranging for the kiddushin of a man and a woman.
As was stated in prior lessons, if the kiddushin is being performed by the giving of something of value from the groom to the bride, it must be the value of at least a p’ruta. If he betrothed her with an object, there is no necessity for the object to be valued prior to its being given to her. However, to be sure that there are no questions as to the value of the object, usually a wedding band, the rabbi asks the witnesses if the ring is worth a p’ruta, which it always is. Should there be some doubt as to its value, it can be appraised later and if worth p’ruta, as it always is, there is valid kiddushin from the time of the giving of the object by the groom to the bride.
If he stated “I betroth you with this object worth three dollars,” and if it is found later to be worth three dollars, the kiddushin is valid. The codes do not speak about what if the object is not worth three dollars. I assume that their silence admits that there is valid kiddushin even if not worth the three dollars. Caveat: If kiddushin was so stated, don’t later go to ascertain the value of the object. Best of all, do not state the value of the object.
The procedure followed most nowadays is for the rabbi who is performing the kiddushin ritual to ask the witnesses if the ring is worth a p’ruta. It does not take big expert to know that all such rings are worth at least a p’ruta.
The reason that the kiddushin is done with a ring that does not contain any precious stones is that the bride may look at the stones and feel that this ring has great value and then find out that it is not as valuable as she thought and there may be questionable kiddushin. The Rama adds that if the kiddushin was by giving of a ring made of copper when all expect it to be made of gold, there may be valid kiddushin. Rama adds that even if the witnesses under the chupah said the ring was made of gold and it turned out to be copper, there is kiddushin as a stringent application of the halacha. Rama adds that the custom in effect is to be followed, namely to ask the witnesses if the ring is worth at least a p’ruta and when they answer in the affirmative there is valid kiddushin. Furthermore, as stated by Rama, the bride has her face covered and can’t see the ring and there is no appraisal made by the bride of the ring that she cannot see.
If one betrothed a lady with food or an object worth less than a p’ruta, there is valid kiddushin although a doubt exists as to its validity, for we take the view that is more stringent and that is not to permit he to be treated as an unmarried woman. This is based on the thought that this object may be worth a p’ruta in some other far away place. In the same law however it is stated if the object for kiddushin was a cooked dish or some vegetable which does not have lasting time, if it is not worth a p’ruta where the kiddushin took place, it is not valid kiddushin, for the food or vegetable will not be edible by the time it reached the far away place.
Where it was stated above that the kiddushin is of a doubtful nature, the lady needs a Get (divorce) before she can marry anyone else. And she should have a second valid kiddushin from the same person if she is to be his wife beyond any doubt.
If in the interim another man gave her valid kiddushin, the first husband should give her a Get, and she should marry the second husband, but if the second husband gave her a Get she cannot marry the first husband. The Shulhan Aruch adds that if the first husband did not give her a Get, and she conceived by the second husband, the child is fully legitimate.
If a man said to a woman “Be betrothed unto me with this fig or date and be betrothed unto me with this object and become betrothed unto me with this object,” If any of these objects is worth a p’ruta there is valid kiddushin. If none of the objects is worth a p’ruta, there is no valid kiddushin here, but there is doubtful kiddushin since the object may be worth a p’ruta in some other place. In this law the man used the term be betrothed unto me with this object and then be betrothed unto me with this object, etc. but had he said become betrothed unto me with this object and this object and this object, if there is value of a p’ruta among all of these objects, there is valid kiddushin.
If he betrothed her with half a fig and as soon as she got the fig into her hand she placed it in her mouth and ate it and while she was eating the first fig he gave her a second fig and said be betrothed unto me with this fig and she ate the second fig while he gave her the third fig, the value of all the figs are added together to determine the value of a p’ruta.
A man said “half of you is to be betrothed unto me with half a p’ruta and half of you with a half a p’ruta” and the halacha goes on to discuss several other variants of the foregoing such as or half of you be betrothed with a p’ruta and half of you be betrothed with a p’ruta”, “half of you be betrothed unto me today with a p’ruta” and half of you become betrothed unto me tomorrow with a p’ruta” or, your two halves with a p’ruta, or a man says to another man who has minor daughters for whom he can accept kiddushin - Your two daughters are betrothed unto my two sons with a p’ruta, or “Your daughter is betrothed unto me and your field is sold unto me for a peruta” -  in all of these cases there is doubtful kiddushin.
As I stated at the outset, the foregoing lesson does not contain any halachot that any of us would be seeing applied. But the halahcha has to take into account the variations of what should have been simple procedures, but sometimes odd things do happen and as a result what should be the status of the husband and wife and eventually of their children. Baruch Hashem there are learned rabbis who are called upon to deal with these odd situations and in reading the responsa literature I can be seen that they are usually resourceful in helping to solve difficult problems.

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