[Avodah] Vayeitze "Watch Whom You Marry"

[Zev Sero]

T613K at aol.com wrote:

>> The idea of an ORAL kesubah is possible of course because
>> after all the Mishna itself discusses it<< [--RRW]


> If the Mishna discusses it I guess such a thing is possible but to me it 
> sounds like an impossibility by definition.  Doesn't the very word 
> "kesuba" /mean/ "something written"?  It's like talking about "an oral 
> manuscript" or "an unwritten document."

Nevertheless, the custom in some places was not to write a kesuba, but
to rely on the takonas chachomim that every marriage is subject to the
terms of the standard kesuba.  This is not a custom that exists anywhere
nowadays, but it did exist in the times of the Mishna, and therefore
there is no reason to be certain that the Avos (who only kept the mitzvos
derabanan in the first place as a personal hiddur, not as an obligation)
gave their wives written kesubos.
 

> And how could the wife keep an oral kesuba in a safe hiding place, to be 
> produced when needed?

She couldn't.  If there was a dispute over whether they were ever
married, she'd have to bring witnesses to prove it.  Similarly if
there was a dispute over whether the terms were those of a besula
she'd have to produce witnesses who saw her go to the chupah under
a veil, which was only customary for besulos, etc.  This was
obviously a less-than-desirable situation, which is why a written
kesuba is much to be preferred, and is now universally required.

-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas