Ketubah Error
Question
My wife and I have been married for 37 years. We have been very happy with our own relationship and had a lot of love for each other and a lot of career and monetary success and rich social lives. But we struggled and could not have any children and never did, which has always made us very sad. The other day, while cleaning the glass frame that houses it, I looked at our ketubah and noticed my Hebrew middle name is misspelled by one letter. The misspelling changes it to another common Hebrew name. The rabbi who officiated and one of the two witnesses who signed it are long deceased, and I have lost touch with and don’t know the whereabouts of the other witness. What should I do about this? And could this be the reason we could never have children?
Answers
My heart goes out to you that one of your most innermost desires was never fulfilled. Could the misspelling be the reason? I am not an expert in the more esoteric dimensions of Judaism, but I think it might be considered to be a possibility. If you feel a great need to know, I would suggest that you speak with a Kabbalist who is universally recognized as being righteous and sensitive.
As a rule, a misspelling of a name does not invalidate a Ketubah and it does not have to be replaced. However, because you say that the mistake in your Ketubah changed your name to another name altogether, I would suggest you show it to a local authority who is an expert in the Halachot of marriage, for him to decide. In the worst case scenario, the Ketubah will be replaced with another one that has a different text to the regular Ketubah. This Ketubah is called a “Ketubah D’Mmishtakich Bei Ta’uta – Ketubah in which a mistake was found,” and the authority who you approach will fill it in and then two witnesses will also sign it. These two witnesses do not have to be the original witnesses. They simply have to be Kosher witnesses according to Halacha. After they have signed, you give the new Ketubah to your wife.
While you are waiting to find out if your Ketubah needs to be replaced, you do not have to separate and you can continue to live together as a married couple.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team