Ukraine SIG #Ukraine Marriage Between First Cousins #ukraine
David Jacobs <djacobs@...>
On April 30, N. Ried asked about marriage between first cousins
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My maternal grandparents were first cousins; their mothers were sisters. They were married in the US shortly after my grandfather sent enough money for my grandmother to come. I wondered why they didn't marry in Russia, but the probable explanation is that my grandfather had to leave Russia in a hurry to avoid serving in the Russo-Japanese war. I asked a rabbi whether first cousin marriage was ok under Jewish law. She said it is ok. Then recently I read a biography of Zeev Jabotinsky. It said his parents could not marry in Russia because it was illegal in Czarist Russia. If cousins in Odessa did marry perhaps the rabbi had no problems with it, and the civil authorities were not informed. Interestingly, according to Wikipedia, first cousin marriage is illegal in some states in the US. My grandparents were married in Philadelphia and first cousin marriage is illegal in Pennsylvania. In Indiana where I grew up and my grandparents lived first cousin marriages are void. Maybe the laws in the early 20th century were different or probably when they arrived in the US around 1905 they never asked. David Jacobs Framingham, Massachusetts Forman and Rader, Cherkassy and Kremenchug
Subject: marriages between first cousins
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