For the source text click/tap here: Ketubot 12
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Our Mishna states: One who eats. It can be inferred from there that there are places also in Judaea where one does not eat and seclude himself with his wife after betrothal. Abaye said: Conclude from this that in Judaea, too, the places differ in their custom, as it was taught in the following braisa: Rabbi Yehudah said: Originally, in Judaea they would leave the groom and the bride alone one hour before their entry into the bridal chamber, so that he may become intimate with her, but in Galilee, they did not do so. Originally, in Judaea they would put up two witnesses, one for him and one for her, in order to examine the groom and the bride when they enter the bridal chamber (so that they should not deceive one another regarding the signs of virginity), but in Galilee they did not do so.
The baraita continues. In Judea, at first the groomsmen would sleep in the house in which the groom and bride sleep, in order to examine the sheet on which the marriage was consummated immediately following intercourse. This was in order to ensure that the groom would not attempt to obscure the blood of the rupture of the hymen and claim that the bride was not a virgin. And in the Galilee they would not do so.
The aramaic for groomsman is “shushvinin” ..
We explore Karnafogel’s paper on
Opposing rabbinic conceptions of marriage and matchmaking in Ashkenaz and Sepharad
as well as Parkin’s review of matchmaking in different cultures.