Kesubos 15b

כתובות ט״ו ע״ב

Ketubot 15b

Learn Kesubos 15b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Kesubos 15b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Majority (רוב) and the abandoned baby: lineage, saving a life, and practical laws. Then the opening of chapter two on proving a virgin's כתובה.

Overview

Just before this passage, רב was reported to rule like רבי יוסי: a girl attacked in a city where most people have proper lineage may still marry a כהן. The גמרא challenges this from a משנה about an abandoned baby, where רב says a majority only helps to keep the baby alive, not for יוחסין. It answers that the girl's case happened among the wagons of ציפורי, where there were two majorities. רב חנן בר רבא's view that it was a one-time emergency ruling must come from a different tradition. Then the גמרא studies the abandoned-baby משנה itself. It moves שמואל's statement so that we clear rubble off the baby on שבת even in a mostly non-Jewish city, because we never follow the majority when a life is at stake. רב פפא and ריש לקיש explain what each clause means in practice: feeding him נבילות, returning his lost item, and paying damages. The first chapter ends with a הדרן. The second chapter opens with a משנה about a widow or divorcee who claims she married as a בתולה, and about רבי יהושע agreeing that a man who says 'this field was your father's and I bought it' is believed.

Opening lines

The steps (19)

1. StatementThe case of the abandoned baby in a mixed city
2. Challengeרב limits the majority to saving the baby's life, not lineage
3. ResolutionThe original case had two majorities, in the wagons of ציפורי
4. ChallengeA problem for רב חנן בר רבא's 'emergency ruling' view
5. ResolutionTwo different traditions about the same case
6. StatementGoing back to the baby משנה itself
7. ChallengeDoes שמואל follow a majority for saving a life?
8. Resolutionשמואל's statement belongs on the first clause
9. QuestionWhat does 'he is a non-Jew' mean in practice?
10. ResponseWe may feed him non-kosher food
11. QuestionWhat does 'he is a Jew' mean in practice?
12. ResponseWe must return his lost item
13. QuestionWhat law follows from the half-and-half case?
14. Responseריש לקיש: It matters for damages
15. ChallengeThe case where the foundling collects cannot be meant
16. ResolutionThe case where the foundling's ox did the damage
17. ConclusionHadran — Closing בתולה נשאת
18. StatementProving she married as a virgin
19. Statementרבי יהושע agrees about the field bought from your father