SELECTED REFORM RESPONSA
(b) In addition, it was possible to effect a marriage through the transfer of an item of value(kesef) in the presence of two competent witnesses. This remains as part of the modern wedding in the form of presenting a ring or for us exchanging rings with the formula"Harei at mekudeshet....."(Kid. 2a,b; Shulkhan Arukh, Even Haezer 27.1)
( ¢) Finally, marriage can be effected through intercourse(bia) preceded by a statement indicating the wish to take this woman as wife and with two witnesses who saw the couple leave for a private place(Kid. 9b; Shulhan Arukh, Even Ha-ezer 33.1). This last method was severely frowned upon by the Rabbis , but bedi-avad it was valid. Marriage simply through intercourse with proper intent would be akin to“common law” marriage.
There is an additional form of marriage- the concubinage (pilegesh)-which needs to be discussed. Concubines were mentioned fairly frequently in the Biblical literature, especially for kings(IT Sam. 3:7, 21:8ff, 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron. 11:21, etc.). These references dealt with women who possessed the status of an inferior wife. We should remember that the nature of concubinage changed radically from the Biblical period to the Greco-Roman period(Louis Epstein,“The Institution of Concubinage Among Jews,” Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, vol. 6, pp. 153fY) Epstein has pointed out that the status of the Biblical concubine was determined by the ancient Near Eastern corporate family with the head of the household(ba-al) possibly consorting with wives at various levels, from his main wife to a slave girl. The legal relationship of the half-dozen subsidiary wives is no longer clear to us. According to some ancient codes, the pilegesh was second to the main wife and had definite rights as did her children. This was also her status in ancient Israel . The custom of concubinage died out during the late Biblical period, according to Epstein , and was then reintroduced among the Hellenistic Jews of the Roman Empire into a family structure which