Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Shoshanna Walker <rosewalk AT concentric.net>]

> At 07:53 AM 1/29/01 -0500, Shoshanna Walker wrote:
> > In the Ketuba, marriage contract, the word Betula refers to a woman 
> > who was not previously married.
> > They could have used a different word, they use this word, Betula
> > Shoshanna
>
> That actually is incorrect. A ketubah which would say 'betulah' for 
> a women who was not is probably invalid. That is because the value 
> of the ketubah of a virgin and a non-virgin is not the same, and 
> hence needs to be reflected in the ketubah.


Moshe, this is not correct.  From all that I have researched, 
including, but not limited to, the consulting with rabbis during the 
past 27 years during which I have been writing and illuminating 
Ketubot, the value of the ketuba is one thing if the woman has never 
been previously married and is not a convert, and another thing if 
she is a divorcee, widow, or convert.

No one asks if she is a virgin or not.  In your community it may be 
different, but this is not widespread, nor is it the original 
intent/practice of the Ketuba.

The distinction between marital status has to do with how much money 
she is entitled to in the case of a divorce, if she was previously 
married, it is assumed she has a previous divorce settlement, and 
therefore she is entitled, from her present husband HALF of what she 
would be entitled to (because she does not "need" as much as a woman 
who had no previous divorce settlement) if  this was her first 
marriage.  If what you say is true, then that means that she is being 
MONETARILY punished just for not being a virgin, this is not just, 
nor was it intended, nor does it have anything to do with the purpose 
of the Ketuba.

The original purpose of the institution of the Ketuba is to provide a 
deterrant against divorce by the husband (who previously, according 
to Torah, had only to tell her to leave, without providing anything 
to help her care for herself, by herself, without him), and security 
for the woman if she does become divorced.

Although it is assumed that a woman is a virgin at the time of her 
first marriage, whether or not she really is a virgin at the time of 
marriage is NOT relevant, according to the provisions of Ketuba.

HOWEVER, if the bride, even though she was never before married, 
happens to have a child, and then it is obvious to all, that she is 
not a virgin, Rav Riskin has ruled that she cannot write "betula" in 
the Ketuba, and she should write "Itteta" (Aramaic for "woman") 
instead.

I have researched this extensively.

Shoshanna




> --------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> ---------------------------------
> moshe shulman mshulman AT NOSPAMix.netcom.com    718-436-7705
> CHASSIDUS.NET - Yoshav Rosh       http://www.chassidus.net
> Chassidus shiur:                  chassidus-subscribe AT chassidus.net
> Chassidus discussion list:        chassidus-subscribe AT egroups.com
> Outreach Judaism                  http://www.outreachjudaism.org/
> ICQ# 52009254    Yahoo/MSN Messaging: mosheshulman
>
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to b-hebrew as: [rosewalk AT concentric.net]
> To unsubscribe, forward this message to 
> $subst('Email.Unsub')
> To subscribe, send an email to join-b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu.