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b-hebrew - Re: virgin: _BETHULAH_ and/or _(ALMAH_

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  • From: Moshe Shulman <mshulman AT ix.netcom.com>
  • To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: virgin: _BETHULAH_ and/or _(ALMAH_
  • Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 22:47:14 -0500


At , Steve Oren wrote:
Sorry but this is not true. Betula in a Ketuba means a physical virgin. Indeed, ancient ketubot used a different term to designate unmarried but sexually experienced women. Nowadays (perhaps unrealisticly), the Rabbis assume that every previously unmarried woman from a Jewish home is a "betula" (just as in the US, any previously unmarried bride gets to wear white) but there are stories about the difficulties that ensue when some of the potential (male) witnesses to the marriage have good reason to know that this rabbinical assumption is untrue in the instant case.

Stephen Oren

Chicago, IL

Usually they don't ask.



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