Adultery

Could you please tell me what will happen to me. My father was married to another woman, but not my mother.

Shalom!

Thank you for your question.

If I understand your question correctly, then it appears that you have nothing to worry about. However, I will explain the two possibilities.

The first thing to know is that “adultery” in Jewish law refers to a married woman who has relations with someone other than her husband. That’s is the one and only definition of adultery in Judaism.

Although a married man having relations with someone other than his wife is forbidden and immoral, it is not technically “adultery” from the Jewish perspective. This is because, in theory, a man is allowed to have more than one wife. As such, his act of what-appears-to-be adultery is actually considered to be “relations outside of marriage” from the Torah perspective. It is absolutely forbidden, but ultimately, not true “adultery” which is one of the most severe transgressions of the Torah.

A married woman who has a child from a man other than her husband causes the child to be a “mamzer,” illegitimate (often called a “bastard” in English). Unfortunately, this child will have a number of restrictions against him/her in the course of his life due to his mother’s indiscretions.

As such, in your case, if your father had relations with a woman who was not married, you are 100% kosher in the eyes of Jewish law. However, if your mother was a Jewish, married woman, who had relations with your father, then you must seek rabbinic counsel promptly.

I will add that a woman who committed adultery is forbidden to her husband forever. She also becomes forbidden to the man she committed adultery with. However, a women who committed adultery should seek rabbinical guidance before even telling her husband, since this is a very complex Halacha, and not always does the wife become forbidden to her husband.