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Kesubos 22b

כתובות כ״ב ע״ב

Ketubot 22b

Learn Kesubos 22b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Conflicting witnesses (תרי ותרי) about a husband's death, a divorce, or a betrothal, and whether a woman who remarried must leave.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing an earlier rule: a woman who gives a sensible excuse (אמתלא) for changing her claim is believed. Even so, שמואל, who reviewed this rule forty times, would not rely on it for himself. Next a ברייתא discusses two witnesses against two (תרי ותרי) about whether a husband died or whether a woman was divorced. She may not remarry, but if she did, the תנא קמא says she stays and רבי מנחם בר יוסי says she must leave. The גמרא asks how she can stay when the couple faces an אשם תלוי. It answers that she married one of her own witnesses and she says 'בָּרִי לִי'. רבי יוחנן then rules that after the fact she stays in the death case but must leave in the divorce case. The גמרא gives three explanations: אביי (one witness against one, and a death witness counts as two), רבא (in divorce she can contradict her husband), and רב אסי (the witnesses said 'just now,' so a divorce can be checked by asking for the גט). The amud ends with a ברייתא contrasting split testimony about betrothal, where she stays, with split testimony about divorce, where she must leave.

Opening lines

אַמַּתְלָא לִדְבָרֶיהָ — נֶאֱמֶנֶת.

[If she gives] a reason for her words, she is believed.

תְּנָא מִינֵּיהּ אַרְבָּעִים זִימְנִין,

He learned it from him forty times,

וַאֲפִילּוּ הָכִי לָא עֲבַד שְׁמוּאֵל עוֹבָדָא בְּנַפְשֵׁיהּ.

and even so, Shmuel did not act on it for himself.

תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן:

The Rabbis taught:

The steps (20)

  1. ConclusionHer excuse makes her believed
  2. Statementשמואל learned it forty times but did not rely on it himself
  3. StatementTwo witnesses against two: she may not remarry
  4. Statementרבי מנחם בר יוסי limits his ruling to when the witnesses came first
  5. ChallengeBut the new husband is in doubt and needs an אשם תלוי
  6. Resolutionרב ששת: she married one of her own witnesses
  7. ChallengeBut she herself is in doubt
  8. ResolutionShe says 'I am sure'
  9. Statementרבי יוחנן: the death case and the divorce case are different
  10. QuestionWhat is the difference between the two cases?
  11. Responseאביי: In the death case, one witness counts as two
  12. ChallengeThen she should be allowed to remarry from the start
  13. ResolutionBecause of רב אסי: keep away from questionable situations
  14. Responseאביי: In the divorce case, both witnesses agree she was married
  15. Responseרבא: It is two against two, and divorce is different because she can argue
  16. ChallengeWould a woman really be that bold in front of her husband?
  17. ResolutionWith witnesses backing her, she would be bold
  18. Responseרב אסי: the witnesses said it happened just now
  19. StatementTwo against two about betrothal
  20. StatementTwo against two about divorce