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Kesubos 14b

כתובות י״ד ע״ב

Ketubot 14b

Learn Kesubos 14b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

אלמנת עיסה and how silence under accusation affects lineage, followed by the משנה of the girl attacked at the spring

Overview

This amud continues a ברייתא about אלמנת עיסה, a widow from a family whose lineage is mixed and uncertain. רבי מאיר says he heard that a family with no doubt of ממזרות, נתינות or עבדי מלכים may marry into כהונה. רבי שמעון בן אלעזר, quoting רבי מאיר, says instead that the worry is a hidden ספק חלל, because people track ממזרים but not חללים. The גמרא asks three questions: why should חלל be treated differently, why does רבי מאיר repeat the תנא קמא, and how can the ברייתא contradict itself. רבי יוחנן answers that the argument is about a person who stays silent when accused. The תנא קמא counts any silence as an admission. In one report of רבי מאיר, silence about חלל means nothing. In רבי שמעון בן אלעזר's report, only silence about ממזר means nothing. This also explains two ברייתות that rule in opposite ways on silence. Then a new משנה tells of a girl attacked at a spring, and רבי יוחנן בן נורי rules by the town's majority. רבא asks how that fits רבן גמליאל or רבי יהושע, and רב נחמן begins an answer from רב that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

שָׁמַעְתִּי,

I heard:

כֹּל שֶׁאֵין בָּהּ אֶחָד מִכׇּל אֵלּוּ —

any [family] that has none of all these [doubts]

מַשִּׂיאִין לַכְּהוּנָּה.

we let her marry into the priesthood.

רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן אֶלְעָזָר אוֹמֵר מִשּׁוּם רַבִּי מֵאִיר,

Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says in the name of Rabbi Meir,

The steps (15)

  1. StatementA family with none of these doubts may marry into כהונה
  2. Statementרבי שמעון בן אלעזר's report of רבי מאיר: the real worry is a hidden ספק חלל
  3. StatementThe reason: ממזרים are known, חללים are not
  4. StatementThe גמרא infers from the first view: a doubt about חלל is fit
  5. ChallengeWhy is a doubt about חלל different from the others?
  6. Challengeרבי מאיר seems to repeat the first opinion
  7. ChallengeThe end of the ברייתא contradicts the beginning
  8. Resolutionרבי יוחנן: the argument is about staying silent
  9. Resolutionרבי מאיר: silence about חלל does not count
  10. Resolutionרבי שמעון בן אלעזר's version of רבי מאיר on silence
  11. ChallengeTwo ברייתות contradict each other on silence
  12. ResolutionEach ברייתא follows a different version of רבי מאיר
  13. StatementNew משנה: the girl attacked at the spring
  14. Challengeרבא asks whose view רבי יוחנן בן נורי follows
  15. Resolutionרב נחמן begins his answer by quoting רב