For the source text click/tap here: Kiddushin 51
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Will a marriage that cannot lead to a sexual relationship, referred to by the Gemara as kiddushin she-lo nimseru le-bi’ah, have any validity? The Talmudic sages Rava and Abaye disagree on this point. Abaye believes that such kiddushin will lead to marriage; according to Rava such kiddushin will have no significance.
Rava’s source is a teaching that he received from bar Ahina who pointed out that the Biblical passage describing marriage states clearly that a man takes a woman and sleeps with her (see Devarim 24:1), indicating that without the potential for a sexual relationship the marriage has no meaning.
We explore the history of courtly love including C.S. Lewis' analysis in the Allegory of Love.