For the source text click/tap here: Ketubot 9
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Our daf begins with a case of a chatan who finds a petach patuach, an "unobstructed opening" when consummating marriage with his kalah.
Either he believes that the vaginal opening is too... open, or there is no blood. Is he believed?
The Gemara walks through the options. If his claim is that this happened since their betrothal, when she was supposed to be faithful to him, then he believes that she had consensual intercourse or that she was raped. If she was raped, she is still permitted to her husband. However, if this chatan is a Priest, she is forbidden to him whether it was consensual intercourse or rape.
Was she warned? The Gemara looks at similar cases that require warning.
We explore the rabbinic traditions regarding virginity including latter day poskim like Reb Moshe Feinstein.
We also review David Malkiel’s work on the cross cultural ethnography of defloration.