Kiddushin

MISHNAH. A WOMAN IS ACQUIRED [IN MARRIAGE] IN THREE WAYS AND ACQUIRES HER FREEDOM1 IN TWO. SHE IS ACQUIRED BY MONEY, BY DEED, OR BY INTERCOURSE. ‘BY MONEY’: BETH SHAMMAI MAINTAIN, A DENAR2 OR THE WORTH OF A DENAR; BETH HILLEL RULE, A PERUTAH OR THE WORTH OF A PERUTAH.3 AND HOW MUCH IS A PERUTAH? AN EIGHTH OF AN ITALIAN ISSAR.4 AND SHE ACQUIRES HER FREEDOM BY DIVORCE OR BY HER HUSBAND'S DEATH. A YEBAMAH5 IS ACQUIRED BY INTERCOURSE, AND ACQUIRES HER FREEDOM BY HALIZAH6 OR BY THE YABAM'S DEATH.7 GEMARA. A WOMAN IS ACQUIRED. Why does he [the Tanna] state here, ‘A WOMAN IS ACQUIRED,’ Whilst elsewhere8 he teaches ‘A man may betroth’ [etc.]?9 — Because he wishes to state ‘MONEY’; and how do we know that money effects betrothal? By deriving the meaning of ‘taking’ from the field of Ephron:10 Here it is written: If any man take a wife;11 whilst there it is written: I will give thee money for the field: take it of me.12 Moreover, ‘taking’ is designated acqui sition, for it is written, the field which Abraham acquired;13 Talmud, is the first stage of marriage. A betrothed woman could not be freed without a divorce, though cohabitation was still forbidden. V. Glos. s.v. erusin. As far as practicable in this translation, ‘betrothed’ is employed to denote this first stage, and ‘marriage’ to denote the second (nissu'in), after which the couple may live together. whereby the use of the same word in two passages indicates that their laws or connotations are similar. betrothed by money.