With the enormous number of responsa that have been written over the past thousand years, you are bound to find some rather interesting questions. How about this one: What is the halachah if a man offers his bride an egg instead of a ring under the chuppah? Are they halachically married? Who hatched up that question?
A number of years ago I wrote an article about a rather odd use of eggs: paying one’s mikveh fee. Yet from the Tosefos Rid it seems that this was commonplace at one point in time.
But why exactly would a chassan offer his wife an egg? Presumably, the chassan had egg on his face when he realized he left the ring at home. Someone scrambled over to the caterer to ask him if he had anything that could be used in its place. “Why not use an egg?” The chassan was a little chicken. “I don’t think that will go over easy. My kallah will think I’m an egghead.” “Nonsense, I know your kallah. She is not hard-boiled; she’ll accept the egg. Worst-case scenario, she’ll crack up.”
What is the halachic question surrounding the use of an egg for kiddushin? Only an item that is worth a perutah may be used for kiddushin. In ancient times, the perutah was the smallest coin. It would seem that an egg is not worth a perutah. In ancient times, the price for a small fruit was a perutah. An egg generally costs less than a fruit. My brother, Rabbi Yosef Sebrow, estimated that the purchasing power of a perutah stated in today’s currency would be around $0.20. I heard in the name of another rav that $0.25 is a good estimate. If we assume that a dozen jumbo eggs cost $1.99, the value of each jumbo egg is less than $0.20. Granted they are not a dime a dozen, but each egg is still worth less than two dimes.
Rebbe Yosi (Eiruchin 27a) says that one may use an egg instead of coins to redeem an item that was consecrated to the Beis HaMikdash. Tosefos explain that an egg was worth a perutah in ancient times. Presumably they weren’t even referring to jumbo eggs. Commentators cried fowl: “How is it possible that a standard egg was worth a perutah back then? Were egg purveyors poaching their customers?”
The Piskei Tosefos suggests that an egg was only worth a perutah in Yerushalayim. There was a rabbinic decree that one may not raise chickens in Yerushalayim, for fear they might spread tumah. They may pick up an impure item from a refuse heap and deposit it on a walkway before coming home to roost. A kohein or Yisrael may unwittingly walk over the item and become tamei. To forestall this possibility, the sages forbade raising chickens in Yerushalayim. Hence, all eggs had to be imported from elsewhere. This led to eggs in Yerushalayim being worth a perutah.
However, a mishnah in Yoma says that the courtyard of the Temple in Yerushalayim was already full on holidays by the time of “k’riyas gever.” Rebbe Shelah says (Yoma 20b) that this refers to an actual rooster’s call. Evidently, some chickens were allowed in Yerushalayim. The Dovev Meisharim explains that people in Yerushalayim were allowed to raise chickens in coops. Only free-range chickens were prohibited. This still reduced the supply of eggs enough to raise the price to a perutah.
In ancient times, if someone tried to use an egg for kiddushin in a city outside Yerushalayim, we would tell him that an egg is not worth a perutah. Anyway, it’s a rotten thing to use for kiddushin; he should shell out money for something worth more. However, according to the Rosh, the Rambam holds that as long as the item is worth a perutah somewhere in the world, it is still valid for use in kiddushin. The Rosh himself says that if an item was used for kiddushin that is not worth a perutah in the locale of the wedding, but is worth a perutah somewhere else, the couple would be considered married rabbinically. So even though the man used an egg for kiddushin in Tveryah, he would be married at least rabbinically.
However, if we determine the value of a perutah by the amount of silver it bought back then, then a perutah today would be worth $0.02 (based on $33.45 per troy ounce). Expressed in today’s dollars, silver in ancient times used to be worth around $330 a troy ounce (per R’ Yosef Sebrow). Using this system, a chassan may use any item that is worth over $0.02 as kiddushin. So if his brain is fried, he can attempt to use an egg for kiddushin. But please don’t egg him on. As an aside, a friend of mine told me that his wife was befuddled when she was asked by the mesadeir kiddushin under the chuppah, “Is this ring worth 25 cents?” She certainly hoped it wasn’t worth 25 cents! Properly phrased, the question should have been, “Is this ring worth at least 25 cents?”
I hope you found this article eggciting!

Rabbi Sebrow leads a daf yomi chaburah at Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park in West Hempstead. He can be contacted at ASebrow@gmail.com.