CCAR RESPONSA
American Reform Responsa
140. Marriage with Step-Aunt
(Vol. XXVII, 1917, p. 87) There is a saying that one swallow does not make a summer. For years no she-ela or ritual question came before me; and if any was submitted, it was scarcely important enough to bring for a decision before so large a committee as this one. One question that I received was also submitted simultaneously to two other members of this committee who are also members of the faculty of the Hebrew Union College, namely, Rabbis Deutsch and Lauterbach. The question was asked by a colleague who wished to know whether he–living in New York–might go to Providence, Rhode Island, to solemnize the marriage of a nephew to his aunt (called by him “step-aunt”)–she being the daughter of his grandfather by a second wife. It is superfluous to state that such a marriage is prohibited by the law as incestuous, and, accordingly, the opinion given by the three of us was negative.K. Kohler and Jacob Z. Lauterbach
If needed, please consult Abbreviations used in CCAR Responsa.