My great-great grandfather was Hillel Diamond. My great-great grandmother was his wife Hinda, but there were rumors that Hinda was not Hillel's first wife. Those rumors were correct--and that first wife had an interesting backstory.
According to the Hebrew part of the record, Hillel Diamant, son of Leib lived in the town of Kiselin, which is near what is now Torchin, Ukraine. His wife, Sima daughter of Chaim Leib, is said to be a maiden widowed/divorcee, and the former wife of Yaakov Baruch son of Moshe Leib Renshkin--who was conscripted into the army from Torchin.
According to the Russian part (thank you, Alex Denisenko), she is just a maiden divorcee, and the previous husband's surname may be Renchka.
So how is it possible for a 19-year-old woman to be a maiden widowed divorcee (or even just a maiden divorcee)? When I received this document, I was with Janette Silverman, and she conjectured that it had something to do with Sima's previous husband being drafted--perhaps he gave her a conditional divorce when he went to war. I posted the question to the Tracing the Tribe Facebook group, and Elli Fischer (who happened to be in playgroup with me!) said:
Note: I'm on Twitter. Follow me (@larasgenealogy).
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| From the Marriage Record of Hillel and Sima Diamond - Hebrew Side |
According to the Hebrew part of the record, Hillel Diamant, son of Leib lived in the town of Kiselin, which is near what is now Torchin, Ukraine. His wife, Sima daughter of Chaim Leib, is said to be a maiden widowed/divorcee, and the former wife of Yaakov Baruch son of Moshe Leib Renshkin--who was conscripted into the army from Torchin.
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| From the Marriage Record of Hillel and Sima Diamond -Russian Side |
So how is it possible for a 19-year-old woman to be a maiden widowed divorcee (or even just a maiden divorcee)? When I received this document, I was with Janette Silverman, and she conjectured that it had something to do with Sima's previous husband being drafted--perhaps he gave her a conditional divorce when he went to war. I posted the question to the Tracing the Tribe Facebook group, and Elli Fischer (who happened to be in playgroup with me!) said:
My guess? There was a betrothal and a conditional get [divorce] before the husband was conscripted. There is literature on such conditional Gittin. There would be uncertainty about whether the woman is considered a widow or a divorcee. And she would still be a "maiden."So likely Yaakov Baruch Renshkin/Renchka was missing or killed in action after being betrothed to Sima--but before they actually married. She then married my great-great grandfather Hillel. I'm not sure what happened to Sima later (as Hillel later re-married to my great-great grandmother Hinda), but it seems like Sima had some hard times while still a teenager.
Note: I'm on Twitter. Follow me (@larasgenealogy).
Russian text is not-so-subtly different as far as I can tell. She's divorced maiden, but not widowed. Her ex-husband is Yankel Beiruch Rechkya, recruited into soldiers. Neither surname spelling is attested in Beider's.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's in the post.
DeleteIt is my understanding that the practice of giving a conditional get to a wife, before a man goes to war, is still done today. If he returns safely, then it can be torn up, and if he is missing in battle - and one is not sure of whether he died or not, she will not be an aguna. Sarah
ReplyDeleteYes, which is why I believe that's what happened here.
DeleteQuite a story. What a heartache for Sima and for Yaakov Baruch. Do you know how long Sima waited before remarrying to Hillel?
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, Thank you
ReplyDeleteBrock
This raises the question of whether the Hebrew and Russian entries were written by the same person, and why they are different. And are these same differences seen in other records growing out of conditional divorce? I can imagine that the Hebrew entry represents the carefulness of Jewish law and the importance of describing ambiguity were it exists. On the other hand, the Russian entry might have been more concerned with just what the civil authorities needed to know, and calling her divorced was the simplest way to represent her as eligible for remarriage.
ReplyDeleteThis is the only such record I've seen, so I don't know what others would look like.
DeleteI read her lastname like RECZKA, "River" in Russian.
ReplyDeleteInteresting; it seems that the Hebrew and Russian differ.
Delete