For the source text click/tap here: Kiddushin 46
To download, click/tap here: PDF
The very first Mishna in Massekhet Kiddushin taught that if marriage is to be carried out by an exchange of money (or an object of value), it must minimally be worth a peruta.
If a man says to a woman, “Become betrothed to me with this date” (which he gives her), and then (giving her another date), he says, “Become betrothed to me with this one,” if any one of the dates was valued as a perutah, she is mekudeshes. But if not, even if together they equal a perutah, she is not mekudeshes. If, however, he says, “Become betrothed to me with this, with this and with this,” if the dates combined are valued at a perutah, she is mekudeshes, but if not, she is not mekudeshes. If she was eating them one by one (as soon as one was given to her, she ate it), she is not mekudeshes unless one of the dates was valued at a perutah.
We explore the The historical context within which to read the Talmudic discussions of kiddushin by Prof. Michael L Satlow
And Rabbi Dov Linzer’s analysis.