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,
the husband had the right to come into the Beit DIn the next morning and ask for a get (without the woman getting her Ketuba money) if the betulim were missing.
However, this was more or less nullified by the provisions that a) it did not work if the husband had ever previously been alone with the bride or b) she explained that the betulim were missing consequent to a "mukach Etz" (the local equivalent of too much horseback riding). I.B. Singer points out that as late as the 19th century, the custom was for the men at the wedding to dance with the bloody sheet so all would know the bride's status. No doubt the invention of Ketchup did much to undermine this custom
Steve Oren
Chicago, IL
----------
> >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.
>
>
> What exactly is the term?
>
> Shoshanna
>
>
>
> > 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
> >
>
>
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