Super-Kosher Sex: The Virginity Test
Unpious.com Staff Writer2011Briefly NotedSuper-Kosher Sex
Credit: James F Clay
Super-Kosher Sex features a selection of sex-related material from the Talmud and other Jewish sources. Consider it the Unpious Daf Yomi, bringing you the titillating, the romantic, and the kinky from our holy sages.
Today, we present:
How to test a woman’s virginity by placing her on a barrel of wine (Kesubos 10b)
Someone came before Rabban Gamaliel the son of Rabbi [and] said to him, “My master, l had intercourse [with my newly-wedded wife] and I didn’t see any blood.”
She [the wife] said to him, “My master, I am still a virgin.”
Rabban Gamliel then said to them: “Bring me two handmaidens; one, a virgin, and the other, one who has had intercourse with a man.” They brought him two such handmaidens, and he sat them upon a barrel of wine.
In the non-virgin’s case, the smell passed through her. (From her mouth came the smell of wine, which entered through her vagina. -Rashi)
With the virgin, there was no smell.
Rabban Gamliel then placed the young wife on the wine barrel, and the smell did not pass through. He then said to the man: “Go, be happy with your bargain.”
Question: Why didn’t he examine [the wife] straight away (instead of first testing the handmaidens -Ed)?
Answer: He had heard of the tradition [on how to test for virginity], but he had not seen it done in practice. And he figured: The matter might not be certain, and it would be improper to deal lightly with daughters of Israel.
10 Responses
that section reminds of my old days as a young boy in cheder, and later in yeshiva, when I used to search for all “fishy” gemara passages that could offer some information on sexual activity, the most taboo issue in the Chassidic community.
If my memory serves me well, I think the smell did NOT pass through the virgin, and vice versa. Her virginity would block the odors from passing through, whereas the non virgin’s “plumbing” is wide open…
Dunno about virginity, but it’s possible to tell if a woman has had good sex by the way she walks.
And what counts as virginity, anyhow? A young woman who had been working for a gonzo porn site for years. She has been in dozens of movies performing with men and women. Oral sex. Anal sex. Public humiliation. Toys. Probably things you and I can’t imagine. But she’s never had Tab A in Slot B and made a lot of money for the company “losing her virginity” on film a little while back.
Kaf — Thanks for pointing it out. You’re right about that, of course. Guess the mix-up fell in during the translation. It’s now corrected.
Wait a second… the man says, “My master, I had intercourse [with my newly-wedded wife] and I didn’t see any blood.” So then, if she had sex with her husband, how could she still be a virgin?
Sarah — The woman is trying to explain why there is no blood. She’s claiming that she was not penetrated, hence, still a virgin.
The reason for doing the “test” first with both a virgin and non-virgin was so that the husband would understand and would be convinced of his wife’s virginity.
As to how the wife could still be a virgin – maybe he did not penetrate before he came and pulled out. And maybe she was not a virgin and the test was just to allpw the 2 of them to stay married, for shulom baiyes (peace of the house).
And maybe Rabbi Gameliel was simply looking for an “out”, and found one. Sometimes it is better to avoid making trouble.
Or maybe he had a wine barral fetish and would rather play with 3 bitches vs. 1
I posted about this on my blog a few years back with some additional information, see http://jewishworker.blogspot.com/2005/12/how-do-you-tell-if-woman-is-virgin.html