Kesubos 26b

כתובות כ״ו ע״ב

Ketubot 26b

Learn Kesubos 26b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Restoring a כהן through witnesses who came separately, and whether a woman jailed by gentiles stays permitted to her husband.

Overview

The amud opens in the middle of a case. One witness said a man is a כהן, so the court raised him up. Two witnesses then said he is a בן גרושה or בן חלוצה, so the court brought him down. Then another single witness said he is a כהן. The first explanation says everyone agrees the two single witnesses join together, and the argument is only about זילותא דבי דינא, disrespect to the court when it reverses itself. רב אשי rejects this, since then they should argue even about two witnesses against two. Instead, he says they argue about whether witnesses who testify at different times can be joined, which matches a ברייתא where רבי יהושע בן קרחה requires testifying together and רבי נתן allows separate days. A new משנה then rules that a woman jailed by gentiles over money stays permitted to her husband, but one jailed over a capital matter is forbidden. רב limits the leniency to times of Jewish power, and רבא challenges him from a woman held as collateral in אשקלון, a gentile-ruled city. The challenge continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (10)

1. StatementFinishing the case: up, down, and another witness
2. StatementThe argument is about embarrassing the court
3. Challengeרב אשי: then they should argue even with full pairs
4. Resolutionרב אשי's new explanation: joining separate witnesses
5. ProofThe ברייתא about witnesses who saw separately
6. Proofרבי נתן: the court may even hear the two witnesses on different days
7. StatementNew משנה: a woman imprisoned by gentiles
8. Statementרב limits the משנה to a time of Jewish control
9. Challengeרבא challenges רב from the woman held as collateral in אשקלון
10. ChallengeAshkelon was under gentile control, yet the ruling was lenient