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Kesubos 10a

כתובות י׳ ע״א

Ketubot 10a

Learn Kesubos 10a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Whether the כתובה is from the תורה or rabbinic, and how far a husband is believed when he claims his bride was not a בתולה.

Overview

The amud opens with a teaching from רבי שמעון בן אלעזר. It says חכמים set the כתובה at two hundred for a בתולה and a מנה for an אלמנה, yet a husband who claims 'פתח פתוח' is believed. רבא explains that believing him does not undo the enactment, because a man does not go to the trouble of a wedding feast only to ruin it. A ברייתא then says that since the כתובה is a rabbinic enactment, it is collected only from the worst land (זיבורית), while רבן שמעון בן גמליאל holds the כתובה is from the תורה. Another ברייתא seems to quote him saying the opposite. The גמרא answers either by switching the names, supported by his ruling about money from קפוטקיא, or by saying that only a widow's כתובה is rabbinic. Next come stories about husbands who make the claim: רב נחמן has an unmarried man flogged, and the גמרא explains how this fits with his ruling that the husband is believed. רבן גמליאל questions such a claim with a parable of a door in the dark. רבן גמליאל בר רבי washes a cloth and finds hidden blood, proving the bride was a בתולה. The amud ends as הונא מר asks רב אשי whether they should do the same, and רב אשי's answer comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

אִיתְּמַר, אָמַר רַב נַחְמָן

It was stated: Rav Nachman said

אָמַר שְׁמוּאֵל מִשּׁוּם רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן אֶלְעָזָר:

that Shmuel said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar:

חֲכָמִים תִּקְּנוּ לָהֶם לִבְנוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל,

The Sages instituted for the daughters of Israel:

לִבְתוּלָה מָאתַיִם, וּלְאַלְמָנָה מָנֶה.

for a virgin two hundred, and for a widow one hundred.

The steps (22)

  1. StatementThe Sages set up the כתובה, but the husband is believed
  2. ChallengeWhat good is the enactment if he is believed?
  3. Resolutionרבא: no one wastes his own wedding feast
  4. StatementA ברייתא: collected only from the worst land
  5. ChallengeWhy call the כתובה a penalty?
  6. ResolutionRead it as 'enactment', not 'penalty'
  7. Statementרבן שמעון בן גמליאל: the כתובה is from the תורה
  8. ChallengeA contradiction: another ברייתא reverses רבן שמעון בן גמליאל's view
  9. ResolutionSwitch the names in the ברייתא
  10. ChallengeWhy switch the second ברייתא and not the first?
  11. ResolutionA משנה shows רבן שמעון בן גמליאל holds the כתובה is from the Torah
  12. ResolutionSecond answer: the ברייתא is missing words about a widow
  13. StatementA man claims פתח פתוח before רב נחמן
  14. Rejectionרב נחמן orders the man to be punished
  15. ChallengeDidn't רב נחמן say the husband is believed?
  16. ResolutionBelieved, but still flogged
  17. ResolutionA bachelor versus a man who was married before
  18. Statementרבן גמליאל's parable of the door at night
  19. StatementAnother version: he did it on purpose
  20. StatementA husband and bride argue before רבן גמליאל בר רבי
  21. ConclusionWashing the cloth reveals the blood
  22. QuestionShould we also wash the cloth?