Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Moshe Shulman <mshulman AT ix.netcom.com>]

At 09:33 PM 1/30/01 -0500, Shoshanna Walker wrote:
> > Mehullelet (a woman who has been profaned).  Incidently  Moshe Shulman is 
> > perfectly right that when the Ketuba was a real contract and not a 
> > ceremonial one,
> I never disputed this, the Ketuba IS a legal document, and I never ever 
> said or implied that it was a ceremonial one.  Not at all.  And the word 
> Betula was used to denote a woman not previously married, because her 
> LEGAL status and rights according to Ketuba and the rabbis who instituted 
> it, are different than those of a woman who was already married and 
> widowed or divorced.
> The Ketuba was not a document whose purpose was to morally judge a woman's 
> virtue - the rabbis were wise enough then, to leave that as a private matter.


I am sorry but you are just wrong. A women who is found out not to have 
been a virgin (and in Jewish law there is a description) can be divorced 
the next day and lose all benifit from the ketubah. You just do not know 
what you are talking about.  This appears in the talmud and in Shulchan 
Aruch. It may be that you are not aware of any people who still take it 
seriously. But there are.


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