룻기 4:11의 탈무드

A bride¹Here used in the sense of a betrothed girl. In the Talmudic period betrothal (’erusin) and marriage (ḳiddushin) denoted two stages different from what they are now. ’Erusin took place in the bride’s home and ḳiddushin subsequently in the bridegroom’s home. It is important to note that the ceremony of ’erusin was binding upon the bridal couple and could not be dissolved without a bill of divorce. Later the current custom prevailed whereby the two ceremonies were combined and performed at the same time (cf. P.B., pp. 298f., the benediction on the first of the pages being of ’erusin). is forbidden to her husband without the [marriage] benediction²This consisted of seven benedictions. For the wording cf. K.R. I, 1, below p. 415f.; Keth. 7b-8a (Sonc. ed., pp. 31ff.); P.B., p. 299. in the same manner as a niddah.³In Biblical law the period of menstrual impurity lasted seven days (Lev. 15, 19ff.) but was extended by the Rabbis to eleven days. At the end of the period immersion in a ritual bath was necessary. Just as a niddah⁴Whose period of purification has ended. who has not immersed [in the ritual bath] is forbidden to her husband, so likewise is a bride forbidden to her husband without the [marriage] benediction. Whence is the benediction of bridegrooms derived from the Torah? As it is stated, And they blessed Rebekah.⁵Gen. 24, 60. And whence do we derive that even a widow is so forbidden?⁶On remarriage without the benediction, cf. Keth. 7a (Sonc. ed., p. 26). As it is stated, And he took ten men of the elders of the city … And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders said, We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman … and let thy house be like the house of Perez.⁷Ruth 4, 2, 11f.