The Three Ways a Woman Is Betrothed in Jewish Law

There we learned: a woman is acquired in marriage in three ways: by money, by a document, and by intercourse. From where do we know intercourse? Rabbi Abahu said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: Scripture says, "and she is a married woman" (literally, possessed by a husband; Deuteronomy 22:22), teaching that the husband became her husband through the act of intercourse. Rabbi Zeira said to Rabbi Abahu: this is unseemly; but Rabbi taught from "and he has had relations with her" (Deuteronomy 24:1), teaching that she is acquired through intercourse. If we learned only from there, I would have said that he must first betroth and only then have relations; this verse teaches otherwise. Rabbi Abba bar Mamal objected: if so, the betrothed maiden whom the Merciful One declared to be punished by stoning, how can you find such a case? If he betrothed her and had relations, she is already a non-virgin; and if he betrothed her and did not have relations, his act is nothing. Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said: you find it where he betrothed her with a document, since the document that completes a marriage and the document that releases from one both function to bring her in. As for Rabbi Yochanan, why does he need "and he has had relations with her"? To teach that this woman is acquired through intercourse, but a Hebrew maidservant is not acquired through intercourse. You might have thought, since it is written "if he takes another for himself" (Exodus 21:10), that Scripture likens her to another wife: just as another is acquired through intercourse, so too the Hebrew maidservant; therefore this teaches otherwise. And how does Rabbi derive this principle? If so, let the Merciful One write merely "and he beds her"; what does "and he has had relations with her" add? Learn two things from it. And for Rava, who said that bar Ahina explained to him "when a man takes a wife and has relations with her" (Deuteronomy 24:1) means that betrothal which is fit for intercourse is valid betrothal, and that which is not fit for intercourse is not valid betrothal, what can be said? If so, let the Merciful One write merely "or he beds her"; what does "and he has had relations with her" add? Learn all of it from it. And what does Rabbi do with "possessed by a husband"? He needs it to teach that the husband renders her a non-virgin even through an unnatural act, while another man does not render her a non-virgin in that way. And Rabbi concedes regarding the fine that all who violate her pay it. And how does this differ from the death penalty, concerning which Rabbi said that if ten men had relations with her and she is still a virgin, the first is punished by stoning and all the rest by strangulation? It is different there, for Scripture says, "and the man who lay with her, he alone, shall die" (Deuteronomy 22:25). And how does Rabbi Yochanan derive his principle? If so, let the Merciful One write merely "possessed by a man"; what does "possessed by a husband" add? Learn two things from it.