Ketubot

Our  laundry work  is like their  washing.  And if you will say let us do laundry work,  [my answer is] the smoothing stone will remove it.  Someone came before Rabban Gamaliel the son of Rabbi [and] said to him, 'My master, I have had intercourse [with my newly-wedded wife] and I have not found any blood.' She [the wife] said to him, 'My master, I am still a virgin.' He [then] said to them: Bring me two handmaids, one [who is] a virgin and one who had intercourse with a man. They brought to him [two such handmaids], and he placed them upon a cask of wine. [In the case of] Someone came before Rabban Gamaliel the elder [and] said to him, 'My master, I have had intercourse [with my newly-wedded wife] and I have not found any blood. She [the wife] said to him, 'My master, I am of the family of Dorkati, [the women of] which have neither blood of menstruation nor blood of virginity.' Rabban Gamaliel investigated among her women relatives and he found [the facts to be] in accordance with her words. He [then] said to him: Go, be happy with thy bargain. Happy art thou that thou hast been privileged [to marry a woman] of the family of Dorkati. What is [the meaning of] Dorkati? — A cut-off generation.  — R. Hanina said: Vain consolation Rabban Gamaliel offered  to that man, for R. Hiyya taught: As the leaven is wholesome for the dough, so is blood wholesome for a woman. And one has [also] taught in the name of R. Meir: Every woman who has abundant blood has many children. It has been said: R, Jeremiah b. Abba said: He [Rabban Gamaliel] said to him [the husband]: Be happy with thy bargain. But R. Jose b. Abin said: He said to him: thou hast been punished with thy bargain.  We quite understand Someone came to Rabbi [and] said, 'My master, I have had intercourse [with my newly-wedded wife] and I have not found any blood.' She said, 'My master, I was [and am] still a virgin, and it was [a period of] years of dearth.' Rabbi saw that their faces were black,  [and] he commanded concerning them, and they  brought them  to a bath and gave them to eat and to drink and brought them to the bridal chamber, and he had intercourse with her and found blood. He26  [then] said to him: Go, be happy with thy bargain. Rabbi applied to them the verse:  Their skin is shrivelled upon their bodies,' it is withered, it is become like a stick. MISHNAH. A MAIDEN — HER KETHUBAH IS TWO HUNDRED [ZUZ],  AND A WIDOW — A MANEH.  A MAIDEN, WHO IS A WIDOW, [OR] DIVORCED, OR A HALUZAH  FROM BETROTHAL  — HER KETHUBAH  IS TWO HUNDRED [ZUZ], AND THERE LIES AGAINST THEM THE CHARGE OF NON-VIRGINITY.34 GEMARA. Why [is a widow called] 'almanah'? R. Hana of Bagdad said: because of the maneh.35  But what can be said with R. Hana of Bagdad also said: The rain waters, saturates and manures [the earth] and refreshes  and enlarges  [the fruits]. Raba the son of R. Ishmael, and some say R. Yemar the son of Shelemiah, said: Which is the verse?  [It is this:] Thou waterest the ridges abundantly, thou settlest the furrows thereof, thou makest it soft with showers, thou blessest the springing thereof. R. Eleazar said: The altar removes and feeds, makes beloved, atones.  Have not 'atones' and 'removes' the same meaning?  It removes [evil decrees]  and atones for sins R. Hana of Bagdad also said: Dates warm, satisfy, act as a laxative,  strengthen  and do not make [one] delicate.