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Kesubos 111a

כתובות קי״א ע״א

Ketubot 111a

Learn Kesubos 111a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

The special value of living, dying and being buried in ארץ ישראל (and בבל), including the three oaths and תחיית המתים outside the Land.

Overview

The amud opens with the argument between רב יהודה, who forbids leaving בבל for ארץ ישראל, and רבי זירא, who wants to go up. Each time רב יהודה brings a פסוק, רבי זירא shows it is needed for something else, ending with the famous three oaths of רבי יוסי ברבי חנינא and the six oaths of רבי לוי. The גמרא then gathers many praises of ארץ ישראל: living there brings forgiveness, burial there is like burial under the מזבח, and leaving it is treated very seriously. It adds a parallel ladder for בבל: leaving בבל for other lands is also forbidden, and living in בבל is like living in ארץ ישראל. Next, רבי אלעזר teaches that only the dead of ארץ ישראל will come back to life. רבי אבא בר ממל challenges him, and the גמרא explains that the righteous outside the Land reach it through tunnels, which is why יעקב and יוסף still wanted burial there. The amud ends with a letter from רבה's brothers urging him to come up and learn from רבי יוחנן, plus health advice in case he stays, and that last discussion continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

״בָּבֶלָה יוּבָאוּ וְשָׁמָּה יִהְיוּ

"They shall be brought to Babylonia, and there they shall be

עַד יוֹם פׇּקְדִי אוֹתָם נְאֻם ה׳״.

until the day that I remember them, says ה׳."

וְרַבִּי זֵירָא —

And Rabbi Zeira?

הָהוּא בִּכְלֵי שָׁרֵת כְּתִיב.

That one is written about the service vessels.

The steps (50)

  1. Proofרב יהודה's verse: they will stay in בבל until God recalls them
  2. Rejectionרבי זירא: that verse is about the Temple vessels
  3. Proofרב יהודה brings a second verse: the oath in שיר השירים
  4. Rejectionרבי זירא: the oath only forbids going up as a mass
  5. Resolutionרב יהודה: there is another 'I adjure you'
  6. Resolutionרבי זירא: the extra oath is needed for the three oaths
  7. Resolutionרב יהודה finds his source in the doubled phrase
  8. Resolutionרבי זירא uses the doubled phrase for רבי לוי's six oaths
  9. StatementThe warning hidden in "gazelles and hinds of the field"
  10. StatementLiving in ארץ ישראל brings forgiveness
  11. Rejectionרבא limits the promise to people who suffer illness
  12. StatementBurial in the Land is like burial under the altar
  13. Statementעולא dies outside the Land
  14. ChallengeBut his coffin is being brought to the Land
  15. ResolutionLiving in the Land is not like being buried there after death
  16. QuestionMay a man leave the Land to do יבום?
  17. Responseרבי חנינא says not to follow the brother out
  18. StatementDo not leave בבל for other lands
  19. StatementEven a short move from פומבדיתא to בי כובי
  20. Proofרב יוסף excommunicates a man who moved
  21. ProofA scholar moves to אסתוניא and dies
  22. Statementארץ ישראל takes in the worthy of בבל
  23. QuestionIn what way are they taken in?
  24. ChallengeIt cannot be about family lineage
  25. ResolutionIt is about burial
  26. StatementLiving in בבל is like living in ארץ ישראל
  27. Statementבבל will be spared חבלי משיח
  28. StatementThe tradition refers to הוצל דבנימין
  29. StatementThe dead outside ארץ ישראל will not come back to life
  30. ChallengeA verse that seems to say the dead outside the Land also rise
  31. RejectionReading רבי אלעזר's verse as being about נבוכדנצר
  32. Resolutionרבי אלעזר learns from a different verse
  33. ChallengeBut what about 'my dead bodies shall arise'?
  34. ResolutionThat verse is about stillborns
  35. QuestionHow does רבי אבא בר ממל use רבי אלעזר's verse?
  36. ResponseEven a Canaanite maidservant in ארץ ישראל has a share in עולם הבא
  37. StatementWalking four אמות in ארץ ישראל earns עולם הבא
  38. ChallengeWhat about the righteous who die outside the Land?
  39. ResolutionThey will roll to the Land
  40. ChallengeRolling would be painful
  41. ResolutionTunnels are made for them
  42. StatementWhy יעקב wanted to be buried in the Land
  43. StatementThe same idea about יוסף
  44. StatementA letter to רבה repeats the teaching
  45. StatementThe man who would not leave the Land
  46. StatementLearning from a teacher beats learning alone
  47. StatementHealth advice: split time between sitting, standing and walking
  48. StatementSitting without support is worse than standing
  49. ChallengeBut standing was just called harmful to the heart
  50. ResolutionBeginning to correct the wording