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  • From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] virgin vs. young woman
  • Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2007 06:46:28 +0300

Dear Shoshanna,

I did not mention the difference in the sums, nor the fact that most ketubot are written in Aramaic (ours was in Hebrew, which is becoming more and more common), because the two facts are not relevant to the issue. Nor did I have previously-single mothers in mind. But what you wrote actually strengthens my argument - that the word "butulah" (or Aramaic "betulta") is used in those cases in which there is a "possibility" that she is a vigin, even if everyone knows that she had been living with her husband-to-be for a long time. The point is, that not every woman who we politely call a betulah really is one, we all know this, but "look the other way".

Yigal Levin

----- Original Message ----- From: "Shoshanna Walker" <rosewalk AT concentric.net>
To: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2007 4:21 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] virgin vs. young woman


Not correct, Yigal

The bride is referred to as "Betulta" (aramaic for betula) and she
gets 200 zuzim. If she is divorced or widowed, the word "Betulta" is
simply left out, it is not replaced, and she gets 100 zuzim. The
only other word that is used is "Giyorta" if she is a convert and she
also gets 100 zuzim.

In my case, because I had a child without having been previously
married, and I was still entitled to 200 zuzim, we had to explain,
since I had a daughter, why I was still entitled to 200 zuzim, not
having been married previously, but also not being a virgin at my
wedding, so Rabbi Riskin told me to write (I am a veteran Ketuba
calligrapher and artist) "It'ta" (Aramaic for 'woman')

Shoshanna



I'll add this to Karl's comment: the traditional Jewish marriage contract,
the Ketubah, reffers to the bride as a "betulah", unless she had been
previously married (in other words, a divorcee or a widow), in which case
she's referred to as "ishah". Today, when most brides are certainly not
"virgins" in the "pure" sense of the word, this often causes some joking,
but I have yet to see either the couple or the rabbi who would dare suggest
that the wording be changed.

Something like wearing a white dress...

Yigal Levin
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