As is well known, there are two stages of marriage, kiddushin and nissuin. Kiddushin is referred to in the Torah as erusin, and nissuin is referred to as either kicha, taking (“Who is the man who has betrothed a woman and not taken her” – Deut 20:7) or beulat ba’al, a woman who has had sex with her husband (see Deut 22:22-23). The first stage is the formal, legal status of the marriage, with all its halakhic implications to the outside world (she is considered a married woman and the laws of adultery apply), whereas the latter is the actualized