Kiddushin 79: Determining When A Change Occurs in Status

A new Mishna (begun in yesterday's daf) teaches about what should be done when a man or his agent - and then his daughter or her agent - betroth the daughter.  If a man or his daughter send out an agent to betroth her, and the father or the daughter find a suitable husband while the agent is away, which betrothal is valid?  We are told that in both cases, the daughter should receive ketubot from both potential husbands.  If all agree, the daughter receive a ketubah from one man and may marry the other.

The Gemara focuses on what should be done if the daughter becomes a woman while the agent (or her father, or her father's agent) is away.  According to halacha, her father or his agent may betroth her while she is a katana, a girl up to age twelve and a half. From the age of twelve until twelve and a half, she is a na'ara, and her father can still betroth her.  At the age of twelve and a half, and/or when she develops two pubic hairs, she is a bogeret.  As a bogeret, her father no longer finds her husband; she betroths herself. *

So the question that we face: what if this na'ara becomes a bogeret while her father/agent is away, and she has betrothed herself while he is gone?  Is her status as a na'ara maintained?  If she is examined and found to be a bogeret, how long has she been a bogeret?  Since her father left?  Since her last examination where she was a na'ara or a katana?  Since three days before the examination?  

In their wisdom, the rabbis look to other circumstances that require similar determinations.  The mikvah, for example.  If a mikvah is found to be lacking the required amount of water required, are the previous immersions invalid after the fact?  In that  case, the mikvah is considered to be ineffective from the time that it was last checked.  However, only things immersed according to Torah law must be reimmersed.  Rabbinic immersions are considered to be valid.  Another example is a barrel of wine where some but not all teruma has been separated - and when it is checked again, the barrel has turned to vinegar.  In this case, the wine is thought to have been vinegar only for three days earlier.  

The rabbis understand that these examples are not perfectly analogous to a girl becoming a woman.  To ensure that her betrothals are valid, the rabbis go to great lengths.  

Our daf ends with a new Mishna that teaches us about a man who returns from overseas with a new wife, new children, or combinations thereof.  When does he have to bring proof of their lineage?  If a husband and wife leave and then return with children, they are believed to be these children's parents without proof of lineage.  If the wife is new or the children are new to the father, proof is required.  The rabbis note that children might hang on a woman even though she might not be their mother - she might have raised them, but not given birth to them.  Thus checks are required.

* It should be noted that our daf includes information about gender and education in antiquity: the rabbis assume that men are experts on lineage but that women are not.  Of course, everyone would know the rumours about everyone else's lineage.  However, men had the Torah learning about which forbidden relationships created which consequences and for how long.  Thus even though a woman was said to be able to choose her own husband, she could not be trusted with her choice as she was not given the information required to know the questions to ask about lineage.