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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] virginity
  • Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:55:31 -0400

Harold,

What I am saying is scripturally and legally of the utmost importance since it may mean the difference between life and death.
If you define virgin as a woman with an intact hymen, then I say the Hebrew bible has no use for it. A BTULAH is a woman not yet married, that's all. By tacit assumption she is also chaste. On her marriage contract, a Jewish woman, first married, is designated as a BTULAH, even without producing any certificate of virginity. So the most one can say about an (LMAH is that she is not yet married.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Jul 16, 2007, at 3:31 PM, Harold Holmyard wrote:

Dear Isaac,
There is no, and there can not be, any reference in the Hebrew bible
to physical virginity as it MEANS NOTHING. We know, and the ancient
Hebrews certainly knew as well, that a girl may inadvertently lose
her virginity for no fault of her own. Some girls are born non
virgins, some girls need a certain medical intervention to facilitate
their blood flow during menstruation which may lead to virginity
loss, and a good number of girls loose their virginity by some common
non sexual activities. Lack of physical virginity is surely no
admissible evidence against any woman. You can rest assured that the
ancient Hebrews never stoned a woman to death for sheer lack of
virginity.


HH: No one said they did. Virginity is a moral issue in the Bible and
concerns pre-marital sex. It is these kinds of odd physical issues you
bring up are nothing to Scripture.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard


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