
The sages drew a distinction between a woman who is a virgin and one who is not when it comes to the rights granted her under her marriage contract (ketubah). A man obligates himself to pay a virgin whom he weds 200 zuz but only half that amount if the woman he weds is not a virgin. The early sages (Tanaaim) discussed the case of a woman whose hymen was torn by an injury and not by sexual relations, for example, if a stick penetrated her sexual organ and tore her hymen. According to one sage, Rabbi Meir, she is considered a virgin with all a virgin’s rights because her hymen was not torn as a result of sexual activity. According to other sages she is not considered a virgin because her hymen was torn by the penetration of a stick, which is similar to the penetration of a sexual organ, and therefore she receives only half the rights of a virgin, “One who has been injured by a stick of wood has a ketubah of a maneh.” The scholar Rav Judah ruled that if a small child, under the age of nine, has sexual relations with a woman she is considered as a woman whose hymen was tore by a stick of wood. According to a different sage, Samuel, considers her a virgin and gives her full rights as a virgin, for “‘injured by a piece of wood’ does not apply to flesh.” One of the scholars, Rav Oshaia, said that from the words of the early sages it appears that a woman who has had sexual intercourse with a boy of under nine, she retains the rights of a virgin, for the early sages were not divided about anything but the case of one whose hymen was torn by the penetration of a stick. Answer: The words of the early sages should be interpreted to mean that a young lady who has sexual relations with a boy is to be considered as one who had her hymen torn by injury. The scholars added that a woman whose hymen was torn by injury is given full rights as a virgin if her spouse knew in advance that her hymen was so torn. If, however, he married her in the belief that her hymen was intact and then found out, after the wedding, that her hymen had been torn by injury, her rights are completely abrogated and she receives nothing. One of the scholars, Rav Nachman, said that from the words of the early sages (Tanaaim) it appears that even if the husband did not know in advance that her hymen had been torn by injury she still has rights. They said that if a man marries a woman and finds she had no hymen, and if he then accuses her of having had sexual relations before the marriage but she claims her hymen was torn by injury before the marriage, some of the sages believe her, meaning that she does have rights. Because of this remark one of the scholars, Rava, ruled that according to the early sage Rabbi Meir it does not matter if the husband knew or did not know that she had no hymen.
(Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Ketubot 11a-b)