• Democracy/Halacha Pamphlet
  • Orr Party
  • Talk Reason
  • Reference
  • Support Us
  • Newsletter
שפות
  • English
    • עברית
    • Русский
    • Yiddish
    • Français
Daat Emet
  • Torah, Science & Ethics
    • Pamphlets
    • Scientific Errors in Torah
    • Religion & Ethics
    • Mitzvahs
    • Religion Caught in Its Own Net
  • Torah & Talmud
    • Weekly Portion
    • Torah Text
    • Talmud Issues
    • Daily Peppers
  • Questions & Answers
  • Who We Are
    • About Daat Emet
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
  • Torah, Science & Ethics
    • Pamphlets
    • Scientific Errors in Torah
    • Religion & Ethics
    • Mitzvahs
    • Religion Caught in Its Own Net
  • Torah & Talmud
    • Weekly Portion
    • Torah Text
    • Talmud Issues
    • Daily Peppers
  • Questions & Answers
  • Who We Are
    • About Daat Emet
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
Daat Emet
  • Torah, Science & Ethics
    • Pamphlets
    • Scientific Errors in Torah
    • Religion & Ethics
    • Mitzvahs
    • Religion Caught in Its Own Net
  • Torah & Talmud
    • Weekly Portion
    • Torah Text
    • Talmud Issues
    • Daily Peppers
  • Questions & Answers
  • Who We Are
    • About Daat Emet
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
  • Torah, Science & Ethics
    • Pamphlets
    • Scientific Errors in Torah
    • Religion & Ethics
    • Mitzvahs
    • Religion Caught in Its Own Net
  • Torah & Talmud
    • Weekly Portion
    • Torah Text
    • Talmud Issues
    • Daily Peppers
  • Questions & Answers
  • Who We Are
    • About Daat Emet
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
Switching of virgin brides after the wedding; can they become pregnant?
Home » Daily Peppers
Yaron Yadan 08/10/2009
Switching of virgin brides after the wedding; can they become pregnant?

Two men married two women under the same chuppah, and after the wedding ceremony the brides were switched and had sexual relations with the other man. They committed the accidental sin of adultery and cannot remarry immediately; they have to wait three months lest a bastard child be in their wombs. (This is how they used to check for pregnancy; after three months one can see, by the size of the belly, whether the woman is pregnant.)
The scholars asked: A virgin cannot become pregnant from her first sexual intercourse, so why do the brides have to wait three months lest they had become pregnant? One sage, Rav Nachman, answered that the grooms had sex with the switched brides twice, and the fear that the women had become pregnant stems from the second act of intercourse. But if there had only been a single act of intercourse the women are permitted to remarry without a waiting period. The scholars continued, and asked: it is related in the Torah (Genesis 38:24) that when Tamar had sexual intercourse with Judah she was a virgin, but she became pregnant. This would imply that a virgin can become pregnant the first time she has sex. Rav Nachman responded: Tamar broke her hymen with her finger before she had sexual intercourse with Judah, and that is why she became pregnant. Rav Nachman brought support for his claim that Tamar broke her hymen with her finger by citing the virgins of the household of Rabbi (editor of the Mishnah) who broke their own hymens with their fingers before their marriages and who were called “Tamar” after the Biblical Tamar, who broke her own hymen. The scholars then asked: Tamar met Judah and had sexual relations with him after she had already been married twice, to two different men — Er and Onan. So why do the sages claim that Tamar was a virgin? The scholars answered that in her marriages to Er and to Onan, Tamar had anal sex only, and so remained a virgin.
Why did Er and Onan only have anal sex with Tamar? Onan did not want children, and Er feared that if Tamar became pregnant her beauty would fade.
(Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Yevamot 33b-34b)

About the Author

ירון ידען View all posts by Yaron Yadan

ירון ידען (נולד בטבריה ב-8 בדצמבר 1961) הוא פעיל חברתי ומייסד ארגון "דעת אמת" העומד בראש מפלגת אור.

Additional Peppers
How do we know that we are forbidden to eat the egg of an impure bird? From the ostrich

How do we know that we are forbidden to eat the egg of an impure bird? From the ostrich

One who thought he heard the braying of a donkey but really heard a shofar has not fulfilled his obligation

One who thought he heard the braying of a donkey but really heard a shofar has not fulfilled his obligation

What did G-d do to keep the large animals from multiplying?

What did G-d do to keep the large animals from multiplying?

How long is a snake pregnant?

How long is a snake pregnant?

One who removes a nut from his house on the Sabbath and places it in a vessel floating on a river: liable or exempt?

One who removes a nut from his house on the Sabbath and places it in a vessel floating on a river: liable or exempt?

Where is the sun at night? Above the roof of the skies or on its north side?

Where is the sun at night? Above the roof of the skies or on its north side?

A person who builds a sukkah of which one of the walls is an elephant

A person who builds a sukkah of which one of the walls is an elephant

daat-emet-logo-white-small-2להצטרפות לרשימת התפוצה   |   תמכו בנו

מייל: daatemet.org@gmail.com
כתובת: ת"ד 1019 קרית טבעון 36015
טלפון: 6106688 - 03

© 2016 כל הזכויות שמורות לדעת אמת.
Skip to content
Open toolbar Accessibility Tools

Accessibility Tools

  • Increase TextIncrease Text
  • Decrease TextDecrease Text
  • GrayscaleGrayscale
  • High ContrastHigh Contrast
  • Negative ContrastNegative Contrast
  • Light BackgroundLight Background
  • Links UnderlineLinks Underline
  • Readable FontReadable Font
  • Reset Reset