Study Ketubot folio 3B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מאי ״שקדו״? דתניא: מפני מה אמרו בתולה נשאת ליום הרביעי? שאם היה לו טענת בתולים, היה משכים לבית דין. ותנשא באחד בשבת, ואם היה לו טענת בתולים היה משכים לבית דין! שקדו חכמים על תקנת בנות ישראל, שיהא אדם טורח בסעודה שלשה ימים: אחד בשבת ושני בשבת ושלישי בשבת, וברביעי כונסה.
The Talmud asks: What is the meaning of: The rabbis were assiduous? It is as it is taught in a baraita: Due to what reason did the rabbis in the Mishnah say that a virgin is married on Wednesday? It is so that if the husband had a claim concerning the bride’s virginity, he would go early the next day to court and make his claim. The baraita continues: But if that is the reason, let her marry on Sunday, as then too, if the husband had a claim concerning the bride’s virginity, he would go early the next day to court and make his claim. The Talmud answers: The rabbis were assiduous in seeing to the well-being of Jewish women and preferred Wednesday, so that the husband would exert himself in arranging the wedding feast for 3 days, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and on Wednesday, he marries her.
ומסכנה ואילך נהגו העם לכנוס בשלישי, ולא מיחו בידם חכמים. ובשני לא יכנוס. ואם מחמת האונס — מותר. ומפרישין את החתן מן הכלה לילי שבת תחלה, מפני שהוא עושה חבורה.
The baraita continues: And from the time of danger and onward, the people adopted the custom to marry on Tuesday as well, and the rabbis did not reprimand them. And on Monday one may not marry even in time of danger. However, if it is due to the coercion, it is permitted. The baraita concludes: One isolates the groom from the virgin bride, so that he will not have sex with her for the first time on Shabbat evening, because by rupturing the hymen he inflicts a wound, which is a labor prohibited on Shabbat.
מאי סכנה? אילימא דאמרי בתולה הנשאת ליום הרביעי תיהרג — נהגו?! לגמרי ניעקריה!
The Talmud elaborates: What is the danger mentioned in the baraita? If we say it is referring to a situation where the government said that a virgin who is married on Wednesday will be executed, would the response be merely that they adopted the custom to marry on Tuesday? Let them totally abolish the ordinance to marry on Wednesday in the face of life-threatening danger.