Selected Reform Responsa 165

VIRGINITY AND THE KETUBAH 1984

QUESTION: The traditional ketubah classifies a bride as a virgin or places her in a number of other categories. Nowadays, many couples have lived together before marriage. Should this fact be taken into account in writing the ketubah? Should an inquiry be made by the officiating rabbi? What would the consequences be if the bride is called a“virgin” and this is not so?(Rabbi R. Marcovitz, Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania )

ANSWER: Chastity before marriage has been urged by both the Bible and the Talmud (Proverbs ; Lev. 19.29, 20. 10; Tos. Kid. 1.4, etc). These and other sources, of course, apply to both men and women. However, virginity has only been mentioned in the marriage document in the case of women. V irginity determines the mohar, in other words, the amount of the legal purchase agreement, which has been an age old portion of the marriage document. A difference in the sum to be provided exists between virgins and those who are not virgins. In the Bible the price seems to have been fifty shegel for virgins(Ex. 22.15; Deut . 22.29; Ket. 10, 29b, 30b). In the later rabbinic periods, the titohar for a virgin was two hundred zuzim, which seems to have been the equivalent of fifty sheqel(Ket. 10a, 110b), while a non-virgin had a inohar of one hundred zuzim(B. K. 36b; Ket. 10a, b; Tos. to Ket. 10a-Ila ff, Yad Hil. Ishut 11.3). The priestly aristocracy established a niohar of double this amount(L., M. Epstein, The Jewish Marriage Contract, pp. 73 ff). In more recent times, the ring symbolizes the former cash mohar without the prejorative overtones of a purchase agreement. We have interpreted the ring as a symbol of mutual love.

The status of the bride is not only reflected in them mohar but also through the descriptive term used with her name in the ketubah. We must now ask whether the ketubot of the past made an effort to accurately reflect the status of each bride. They were, of course, to