Comentario sobre Ketubot 1:1

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בתולה נשאת ליום רביעי – but not on Thursday night, for one would suspect that he would be excited/troubled with the marriage [ceremony] and he would not be able to engage in intercourse.

Introduction Ketuboth opens by discussing on which days of the week a virgin marries, and on which days of the week a widow marries. Note that these customs have not been observed for a very long time, probably already from the time of the Talmud. Some of the talmudic sources mention persecution of the custom by Roman authorities.

שמא יש לו טענת בתולים – such that he [i.e., the husband] would say, I engaged in sexual intercourse but I did not find blood; it made no difference whether she was a minor or a young maiden or an adult, or whether I found an absence of virginity [in her]. If she was a minor or a young maiden , but if she was an adult, there can be no claim of the absence of virginity.

A virgin is married on the fourth day [of the week] and a widow on the fifth day, for twice in the week the courts sit in the towns, on the second day [of the week] and on the fifth day, so that if he [the husband] had a claim as to the virginity [of the bride] he could go early [on the morning of the fifth day of the week] to the court. According to the mishnah a virgin is married on Wednesday so that if the husband wants to make a claim against her that she was not a virgin, he can come directly to the court which sits on Mondays and Thursdays and make a claim against her. If his virginity claim against her is accepted by the court, he may divorce her without paying her the ketubah. The chapter will continue to discuss the issue of virginity claims and how the judge is to adjudicate them. Note that virginity claims are already mentioned in Deuteronomy 22:13-22. The virginity of the bride was of high value in the ancient world and a man who thought that he was marrying a virgin but found that she was not had the right to claim that he had mistakenly married her. The Talmud asks why it is so important that the husband rush to the court to make his virginity claim. After all, couldn’t he marry on Tuesday and wait two days to make his claim. The answer in the Talmud is that the rabbis were concerned that he might forgive his wife and stay married to her. If she had had adultery while betrothed to him, she is considered an adulteress and may not remained married to him. To therefore encourage him to make a claim, the rabbis enacted that he should marry on Wednesday. There are several other reasons given for this custom in the Talmud, including a belief that these are “lucky days”. Another interpretation is that a wedding on Monday allows the husband three days after Shabbat to prepare the feast (my how times have changed). I actually wrote an article in Hebrew about this subject and it was part of my doctorate as well (also in Hebrew). If anybody would like a copy I would be glad to send them one. The issue is actually quite complex. The mishnah does not state why widows are married on Thursday. According to the Talmud this is so their husbands will not go to work the next morning. On Friday morning, after the wedding, the husband will not go to work because it is the day after the wedding, and Friday is not a full work day in any case. Therefore, the new couple will have three days to celebrate together. With a virgin this is not a problem since there is a mandatory seven day celebration for a virgin. During this celebration, which is today called “the sheva berachot” after the seven blessings said at each meal, the husband is not supposed to go to work. Note that the custom of a seven day celebration is ancient and is mentioned already in the Bible in connection to Jacob’s marriage to Leah. He waits seven days before he marries Rachel.

ישכים ויבא לב"ד – all the while his anger is upon him, lest he become appeased and be pacified and sustain her and lest she invite unfaithfulness against him and she became forbidden to him. , and the Gemara raises the question , if she should get married on Sunday and if he has a claim [against her] concerning her virginity , he should get up early on Monday morning to go to the Jewish court. And they responded that the Sages were considerate towards the daughters of Israel (in ordaining weddings to be held on the fourth day of the week) that he should be engaged in preparations for the [wedding] meal for three days, Sunday Monday and Tuesday and on Wednesday, he would consummate the marriage. And at a time when the Jewish courts would not be in session on Mondays and Thursdays, a woman may be married on any day, but that he should be engaged in the preparations for the [wedding] meal for three days. And because of the ordinance for the poor, we have the practice in some places to marry on Fridays. And the reason that a widow [would marry] on Thursdays, is because the Sages were considerate towards the daughters of Israel that he should be happy with her for three days: Thurday, Friday and Shabbat. And a person who marries a widow it is prohibited to engage in work for three days, but one who marries a virgin [is prohibited to engage in work] all seven days. And regarding the wedding blessings [in the Birkat HaMazon/the blessing following the meal], it makes no difference whether a young man married a widow or whether a widower married a virgin, we recite the wedding blessings all seven days. But a widower who married a widow, [recites them] one day.