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Bava Basra 132a

בבא בתרא קל״ב ע״א

Bava Batra 132a

Learn Bava Basra 132a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

A gift of all a man's property to his wife: is it real ownership or just management, and when does such a gift cost her the כתובה?

Overview

Earlier, the גמרא taught that when a שכיב מרע writes all his property to his wife, he only makes her an אפוטרופוס, so that people will respect her. רבא asks whether the same is true of a healthy man (בריא). The גמרא tries to answer from a ברייתא. There, a man gave his wife all his property and then an earlier שטר חוב appeared. The חכמים rule that she loses both her כתובה and the gift. The proof is that, without the creditor, the gift would have been hers, so the ברייתא seems to be about a healthy man. The proof is pushed off: the ברייתא can be about a שכיב מרע in cases where the wife really does acquire. רב נחמן then rules like the חכמים. The גמרא asks whether he ignores אומדנא, since he follows רבי שמעון בן מנסיא elsewhere. It answers that a wife wants it known that she was given everything. Finally, the גמרא quotes a משנה: a wife who is written a bit of land while the sons get the property loses her כתובה. רב, שמואל, and רבי יוסי ברבי חנינא each explain what case that means.

Opening lines

בָּעֵי רָבָא:

Rava asked:

בְּבָרִיא הֵיאַךְ?

In the case of a healthy person, what is the law?

בִּשְׁכִיב מְרַע הוּא דְּנִיחָא לֵיהּ –

Is it only a person on his deathbed who prefers

דְּלִישְׁתַּמְעוּן מִלֵּהּ,

that her word be listened to,

The steps (15)

  1. QuestionDoes a healthy man also just appoint his wife as manager?
  2. ProofA ברייתא: gift of produce or of part of the property
  3. StatementAll the property was given, then a debt appears
  4. ProofA real case: the חכמים ruled she gets nothing
  5. ProofInferring from the ברייתא that a healthy man's gift works
  6. RejectionThe ברייתא can still be about a dying man
  7. Statementרב נחמן rules like the חכמים: she loses everything
  8. ChallengeDoes רב נחמן ignore what she really intended?
  9. ChallengeA ברייתא Showing רב נחמן Does Follow Obvious Intent
  10. ResolutionThe Wife Wants It Known She Was Given Everything
  11. StatementA משנה: Land to the Wife Costs Her the כתובה
  12. ChallengeWhy Would a Small Gift Erase Her כתובה?
  13. Resolutionרב: She Helped Transfer the Property to the Sons
  14. Resolutionשמואל: She Watched in Silence
  15. Resolutionרבי יוסי: He Gave Her the Land as Her כתובה