For the source text click/tap here: Kiddushin 7
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Rava raises an apparent oddity in a situation of marriage. According to Rava, if a man says to a woman “you are betrothed to half of me” the marriage takes effect; if he says to her, however, “half of you is betrothed to me” the marriage does not work.
In response to Abaye’s objection that the Torah describes marriage in the words, “Ki yikah ish ishah – when a man takes a woman as his wife” – indicating that both husband and wife are full and complete, Rava explains that since according to the letter of the law a man can marry more than one woman, therefore the statement “you are betrothed to half of me” has meaning.
We present Boaz Cohen’s monograph (1948-9) of the development of Betrothal in Jewish and Roman Law.