Study Ketubot folio 36B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אי דקא טעין טענת דמים — הכי נמי. הכא במאי עסקינן — דקטעין טענת פתח פתוח.
The Talmud answers: If he proffers a claim that there was no blood after consummating the marriage, indeed he can cause her to lose her marriage contract with that claim. However, with what are we dealing here in the baraita? We are dealing with one who proffers a claim that he encountered an open entrance, i.e., there was no hymen. As the hymen of an adult woman is no longer completely intact, the claim is of no consequence.
סומכוס אומר משום רבי מאיר: סומא אין לה טענת בתולים. מאי טעמא דסומכוס? אמר רבי זירא: מפני שנחבטת על גבי קרקע. כולהו נמי חבוטי מיחבטי? כולהו, רואות ומראות לאמן. זו, אינה רואה ואינה מראה לאמה.
The baraita continues: Sumakhos says in the name of R' Meir: A blind woman does not have a claim concerning virginity. The Talmud asks: What is the rationale for the statement of Sumakhos? R' Zeira said: Due to the fact that a blind woman is struck by falling onto the ground, causing her hymen to break. The Talmud asks: All girls tend to be struck by falling onto the ground as well; what is unique about blind girls? The Talmud answers: When all of the other girls fall, they see the blood flow and show it to their mother. The mother would then examine them and discover that her hymen was broken. This blind girl does not see the flow of blood and therefore does not show it too her mother. Due to that possibility, the man who married the blind woman must have considered the likelihood that her hymen is not intact, and therefore he cannot make a claim concerning virginity.
והיוצאת משום שם רע אין לה לא קנס ולא פיתוי. היוצאת משום שם רע — בת סקילה היא! אמר רב ששת: הכי קאמר: מי שיצא עליה שם רע בילדותה — אין לה לא קנס ולא פיתוי.
§ The previous baraita concluded: And one who leaves her husband due to a bad reputation has neither a fine for rape nor a fine for seduction. The initial understanding is that the baraita is referring to a young betrothed woman who leaves her husband because she committed adultery. The Talmud asks: One who leaves her husband due to a bad reputation is subject to stoning as an adulteress; clearly she is not entitled to the fine. Rav Sheshet said: This is what the baraita is saying: One about whom a bad reputation emerged in her youth that she had sex has neither a fine for rape nor a fine for seduction, as the assumption is that she is no longer a virgin.