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I remember once hearing that even though the mishnah & gemara in Maseches Ketubah state that a besulah/ virgin maiden gets 200 zuz for a ketubah (and a a be'ulah/non-virgin maiden gets 100 zuz)-- nevertheless so as not to embarrass the bride (ie if she were a ba'al teshuva etc),
the practice nowadays for a first marriage is to write 200 zuz in every ketubah.

Is this true/ source?

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    My parents were both deaf. I'll have to check their Ketubah, again. I think their amount was different, and I'm uncertain of that's because a Cheresh may have a different status or it could be because the Bet Din acted as the intermediary for the Ketubah. I also am quit certain that a convert has a lower value. I'll see if my friend recalls this.
    – DanF
    Commented May 28, 2019 at 19:56
  • This is definitely not universally true. If the woman is forbidden to a Kohein (eg. she slept with a gentile, which is not uncommon amongst Baalot Teshuva) then it's forbidden to write Betula since if she is widowed they won't know she's forbidden to a Kohein. If she has only slept with her fiance then there's what to talk about fudging the numbers, if everyone is on board.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented May 28, 2019 at 20:05
  • see also judaism.stackexchange.com/q/28537/170
    – msh210 ♦
    Commented May 28, 2019 at 20:20
  • If in the Ketuba it's not written betula, the amount has not a sense of proof. Not sure
    – kouty
    Commented May 28, 2019 at 21:11
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    I agree. This was my intent. I added that there is no risk that someone makes it a proof she was betula because in the Ketuba the word betula is not written
    – kouty
    Commented May 28, 2019 at 21:20

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I located a M.Y. question that I asked a while ago about my parents' cherish ketubah. See this text for sample ketubot for chershim in various forms and combos. In each, you'll notice that the amount given is 100 zuz.

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Speaking from personal experience, this is not universally true, but is often the case. I was recently at the wedding of a couple (already had a child) that had converted to Judaism and remarried Jewishly (first Jewish wedding), and they called her "Giyurta Da", and her kesubah sum was 100 zuz. See also DanF's answer above.

However, I heard from a local Rav that in cases where the girl had engaged in relations before she was married, but it was not publicly known, they still write 200 zuz and call her a virgin in the Kesubah, due to Kavod Haberiyos. I would assume if she was visibly pregnant or something along those lines they would not write 200 zuz.

While I don't have an explicit source for this (no access to fancy databases right now, or even a Hebrew Keyboard to google things with), Rav Shternbuch in Teshuvos Vehanhagos 1:755 talks about making Sheva Brachos meals for a couple when she was not a virgin, and allows a "beracha levatalah" so that she will not be embarrassed. See there further for a chiddush of his regarding the definition of a virgin in this regard.

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  • Is R Sternbuch talking about not a virgin with the fiance or not a virgin more broadly
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented May 28, 2019 at 21:51
  • @double I don't remember, and no longer have it in front of me. Based on his chiddush there it shouldn't matter, but I understand why people would be more strict if she wasn't a virgin with the fiance...
    – רבות מחשבות
    Commented May 28, 2019 at 21:55

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