Ketubot: virginity claims and Talmudic wisdom

This coming weekend, Daf Yomi enthusiasts will perhaps breathe a sigh of relief as they conclude the notoriously difficult tractate of Yevamot. The new terrain that they will exchange it for, however, presents the modern Talmudic student with a very different challenge.

What are we to make of sets of laws so firmly entrenched in societies so different to those in which we live? Of husbands taking their brides to court over claims that they were not virgins at the time of their wedding? Of different claims, counterclaims and virginity tests that a Beit Din may have to rule between?

As well as reflecting social attitudes and practices which are difficult to relate to in the twenty-first century, few of the laws that we analyse in this chapter are even remotely applicable in Jewish law today. Notwithstanding this, it is not only Daf-Yomists who will be wrestling with Ketubot in the coming months. The tractate lies right at the heart of pretty much any Yeshiva curriculum, with its intricate web of virginity claims and financial counter-claims being pored over and vigorously debated by all serious budding rabbinic scholars.

My upcoming book, tentatively titled Talmud Reclaimed, therefore uses this opening chapter of Ketubot as a classic case study with which to probe the nature, function and purpose of modern-day Talmud study.

First, I attempt to distinguish the core, immutable elements of Talmudic law which are understood to have been transmitted from Sinai from those aspects which would have been legislated and formulated by later sages and Courts. This latter category, according to Rambam, represents a secondary category of law, and is open to being amended by a legitimately formed Sanhedrin.

The reason why we still study the laws of Ketubot in their current form, therefore, is that no Court or set of sages since Ravina and Rav Ashi has been widely accepted as qualified to alter their teachings since the Talmudic era concluded. Nevertheless, it is valuable to be able to identify which teachings belong to each category: which Talmudic laws are understood to have been transmitted part of God’s instruction to Moshe in the desert and which are likely only still being studied because of the freezing of our oral tradition due to continued exile.

Secondly, I examine the profound wisdom which is woven into the Talmud’s treatment of these remote (and to some even offensive) legal debates. Key Talmudic axioms which affect all areas of Jewish law and important elements of Jewish legal philosophy are subtly threaded through the Talmudic tapestry of this treasured tractate.

It is primarily for this purpose, rather than its strange story line and depiction of women, that Yeshiva students will continue to regard Ketubot as a serious source of Talmudic wisdom.

First posted to Facebook 6 July 2022, here.