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Garbled name on Ketuba
Question
Over twenty years after her marriage, a friend first noticed that her Hebrew (Yiddish, actually) names appeared in the wrong order on her Ketuba ("Shprintza Anna" --| "Anna Shprintza"). Is there any corrective action that she needs to take at this late date? Can she anticipate problems if her child wants to get married in Israel and, if so, is there anything she can do to limit such problems?
Thanks.
Answer
Recommend to your friend to consult a local Rabbi who is an expert in the laws of Ketubah (Jewish marriage contract), and bring the Ketubah along so that he can check the Ketubah with all the relevant details and instruct her what to do. According to your description she will probably have to replace her Ketubah.
In Sefer Mishpat Ha’ketubah (of Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Bar Shalom vol. 2, sec. 11, chapter 2, par. 6) disscuses the case of a mistake in a Ketubah of one who has two names and they wrote the second name before the first one, for example the name is Yisrael Meir and they wrote Meir Yisrael. He heard from Rabbi Chaim Kanievski Shlita that this Ketubah is invalid. He explained that there is no such thing as two names for one person in the Torah at all. There are only people which their name is made up of two words but they are “one” name.
(Rabbi Kanievski added that therefore when reciting the verse at the end of Tefillat HaAmidah - the Standing Prayer - one should say a verse that begins with the first letter of his first name and ends with the last letter of his last name as it is all one name. And for the same reason one who names a child one name in memory of one who had two names or vice versa, did nothing and did not name after him at all, because both words are “one name”).
Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein Shlita added that this is like one would write "Sander - Alex" instead of Alexander which is a complete change and is invalid. The above Rabbis ruled in such a case that took place (where they changed Yaakov Yisrael to Yisrael Yaakov) that a replacement of the Ketubah is required.
This has no implication on her child whatsoever, who can register for marriage and get married in Israel or anywhere else.
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