Masechet Kiddushin, Perek Bet (Chapter 2), Mishnah Vav. We learned earlier in this Masechet that when a man does Kiddushin (gets engaged) with Kesef (money), it has to be at least Shaveh peruta (a peruta worth of money). If a man gives less than a peruta worth of money, then Kiddushin has not been effectuated. The Mishnah says, “Hamekadesh Shtei Nashim Beshaveh peruta”—somebody gets engaged to two women with one peruta. So the division there would be that each woman gets half a peruta. Or if somebody gets engaged to one woman with less than a peruta, even though he sends her gifts afterwards, and those gifts are worth more than a peruta, we say she’s not Mekudeshet (married). Why? Because what’s the husband? What’s the husband sending these gifts for? He’s not sending these gifts afterwards so that they should be the Kiddushin. Rather, he’s doing it because he thinks he’s already married. There was an original Kiddushin that was done with whatever he gave her, which was less than Shaveh peruta. Then he’s sending her gifts. He’s sending her bridal gifts later on just as a gift. He didn’t intend whatsoever for those bridal gifts to be part of the Kiddushin. Therefore, we say she is not married. And the new money that’s coming in, it’s simply gifts.
“Vechen katan shekidesh.” The same halacha (Jewish law) applies to a katan, a minor. A minor, a katan, is not allowed to do Kiddushin; it doesn’t work. It’s invalid if he does Kiddushin before 13. So let’s say he does Kiddushin with any money when he’s less than 13. But then later on, he sends bridal gifts. He sends those Sivlonot (bridal gifts) later on, when he becomes an adult. So maybe you’d think, ah, since he sent the Sivlonot later, you could just count those gifts as the Kiddushin. What we say over here is no. We say that he only sent these gifts later on because he thought that he was married with the original Kiddushin, and that what he sent later on wasn’t part of the Kiddushin. And therefore, since he did not intend for those gifts to be part of the Kiddushin, we say, Eina Mekudeshet (she is not married).