168 Selected Reform Responsa

accuse her, he had to show that he had never been together with her without a chaperon. The laws concerning chaperonage are extremely strict(Ned. 20a; J. Kid. 66b; Git . 81a; Ket. 27b ff, Yad Hil. Is. Biah 21.27; Arukh Hashulkhan Even Haezer 119.25- 28).

The husband has to bring his complaint to a court immediately (Ket. 3b, 11b, 12a; Yeb. 111b). Such an accusation does not necessarily reflect illicit intercourse. The woman could claim that she lost her virginity due to an accident, without intercourse(Ket. 13a). Her only penalty then is a reduction in the mohar.

Before we leave the subject we should note that the Gaonim composed a special berakhah to be recited by the groom on his wedding night if his wife was a virgin(B. Lewis, Otzar Hagaonim, Vol. 8, Ket. pp. 14-15; Lawrence A. Hoffman , The Canonization of the Synagogue Service, p. 136). The recital of such a blessing if the wife was not a virgin would be /evatalah. The ritual was, however, not continued and no post-Gaonic discussions exist.

From this we can see that with our modern system of dating it would be absolutely impossible for any man to bring a successful accusation of non-virginity against his wife. Therefore, there are no legal consequences which can be drawn from a statement of virginity made in the kefubah or represented by the mohar when, in fact, the bride is not a virgin.

In summary, we realize that there were periods in our history when female virginity was very important. However, we can also see that during other times looser moral standards prevailed, and the ketubot written during them were not changed.

We must also express our modern concern for equal rights for men and women. If we expressly name the status of the female, we should also do so for the male.

We might also view the entire matter differently and see the marriage as already taken place, through the intercourse of the couple who lived together. This form of marriage is legal, bediavad, although frowned upon since the Talmudic period(Kid 9b; Shulkhan Arukh