Kesubos 109b

כתובות ק״ט ע״ב

Ketubot 109b

Learn Kesubos 109b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Losing a claim by making a field a boundary marker, the lost path to a field, and a palm tree left to a daughter

Overview

This amud opens by finishing a point about documents: judges may sign one without reading it, because they only confirm the witnesses' signatures. Next comes the משנה's case of someone who described a field as another person's by using it as a boundary marker (סימן). אביי says he loses his claim only if he wrote this in someone else's document. If he wrote it in his own purchase deed, he can say the seller would not have sold otherwise, and he could not make a secret protest (מודעא), since secrets spread. In a real case, אביי first rules that the man lost his claim. The orphans' steward then wins back the field with two claims from רבי יוחנן: 'I marked only one furrow' and 'I bought it back.' A new משנה follows about a man whose path to his field was lost. אדמון lets him take the shortest route, while חכמים say he must buy a path, and רב and רבא explain when they disagree. The amud ends with two cases of a father who left 'a palm tree' to his daughter. In one, the heirs must give her a tree and divide the estate again. In the other, two half-trees count as 'a palm tree.'

Opening lines

The steps (24)

1. StatementJudges may sign without reading the document
2. Statementאביי limits the boundary-marker rule to a document for someone else
3. StatementWhy the buyer keeps his claim
4. ChallengeShould he have made a secret protest?
5. ResolutionSecrets always spread
6. Statementאביי rules on a real case: the man lost his right
7. ResolutionThe steward argues the father marked only one furrow
8. Proofאביי accepts the one-furrow argument
9. ResolutionThe steward argues the father bought the furrow back
10. Proofאביי accepts the bought-back argument
11. Conclusionאביי praises the steward as a model
12. StatementThe lost path to a field: אדמון and חכמים disagree
13. ChallengeWhy do חכמים disagree with אדמון?
14. Resolutionרב: the field is surrounded by four different owners
15. ChallengeThen what is אדמון's reason?
16. Resolutionרבא narrows the dispute to one owner who bought from four
17. ResolutionThe reasoning of אדמון and חכמים
18. StatementA palm tree left to a daughter
19. Proofרב יוסף compares it to the path case
20. Rejectionאביי: the cases are not alike
21. ConclusionThe fix: give her the tree and divide again
22. StatementA father leaves 'a palm tree' to his daughter but owns only two half-trees
23. Questionרב אשי asks whether two half-trees are called 'a palm tree'
24. Responseרב מרדכי quotes רבא: two half-trees are called 'a palm tree'