Daf Yomi 161: What's a Jewish Bride Really Worth, in Hard Currency?

Literary critic Adam Kirsch is reading a page of Talmud a day, along with Jews around the world.

Betrothal, or kiddushin, is the topic of the Talmudic tractate that Daf Yomi readers began two weeks ago. Marriage, under Jewish law, is a two-step process: First the groom must “acquire” the bride through kiddushin, then he marries her by means of a contract or ketubah. Earlier, in Tractate Ketubot, we saw that Jewish marriage is, among other things, a financial arrangement, in which the bride and groom have certain obligations to one another. For instance, a husband must support his wife with food and clothing, while a wife must turn over any money she finds or earns to her husband. There are further financial arrangements having to do with divorce and widowhood; in these cases, too, a woman has rights, which are spelled out in her marriage contract, to a monetary settlement and/or ongoing support. Marriage and divorce, in other words, are mutual agreements. While men and women are not equal under Jewish law (most notably, only a husband can initiate divorce), they are both bound by a contract into which they enter voluntarily.

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