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Kesubos 28b

כתובות כ״ח ע״ב

Ketubot 28b

Learn Kesubos 28b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

What an adult may testify about from his childhood (כהונה, rabbinic laws, family lineage), and where such testimony is not accepted.

Overview

The גמרא continues through the משנה's list of things an adult may testify about from what he saw as a child. It answers a challenge about a slave who reads Torah: only a child sent to school like a son is a sign. It limits the immersion testimony to תרומה דרבנן. It explains that receiving תרומה at the threshing floor counts because the משנה follows רבי יהודה, and it ties his dispute with רבי יוסי to local custom. It reworks רבי אלעזר ברבי יוסי's story so that a צדיק never actually caused a slave to become a כהן. Childhood memory is accepted for בית הפרס and תחומין because they are only דרבנן, but never to take property away from its owner. A ברייתא adds more such cases and shows that רבי יוחנן בן ברוקא disputes only whether a convert or freed slave is believed. The amud ends by explaining the קצצה ceremony and closing the chapter האשה שנתארמלה.

Opening lines

אַפּוֹטְרוֹפּוֹס, אוֹ שֶׁהִנִּיחַ תְּפִילִּין בִּפְנֵי רַבּוֹ,

a steward, or who put on tefillin in front of his master,

אוֹ שֶׁקָּרָא שְׁלֹשָׁה פְּסוּקִים בְּבֵית הַכְּנֶסֶת —

or who read three verses in the synagogue —

הֲרֵי זֶה לֹא יָצָא לְחֵירוּת.

he has not gone out to freedom.

הָתָם דְּאִיקְּרִי עֶבֶד מִדַּעְתּוֹ.

There, it is where the slave read on his own initiative.

The steps (31)

  1. ChallengeEnd of the challenge: a slave who reads Torah is still a slave
  2. ResolutionThe slave learned on his own; the משנה means a child raised like a son
  3. StatementImmersing for תרומה means only rabbinic תרומה
  4. ChallengeMaybe the man at the threshing floor was a כהן's slave
  5. ResolutionThe משנה follows the view that a slave gets תרומה only with his master
  6. ProofThe ברייתא: רבי יהודה and רבי יוסי argue
  7. StatementThe argument depends on local custom
  8. Statementרבי אלעזר ברבי יוסי's one testimony
  9. ChallengeCould a צדיק really cause a slave to become a כהן?
  10. ResolutionThey only tried to raise the slave to priesthood
  11. QuestionWhy is he believed about a בית הפרס
  12. Responseבית הפרס impurity is only rabbinic
  13. ProofProof from blowing away the dust
  14. ProofProof from a trodden-down בית הפרס
  15. Statementשבת limits are rabbinic for this תנא
  16. QuestionWhy is he not believed about a path or eulogy area
  17. ResponseWe don't take money away based on this
  18. StatementA grown child may repeat what his father said about families
  19. ChallengeCan a family really be called pure or impure?
  20. ResolutionIt means fit and unfit lineage
  21. StatementEating at a קצצה and bringing חלה to a כהן
  22. StatementA convert or freed slave is not believed
  23. StatementNo testimony about a path or eulogy place, and a dissenting view
  24. QuestionWhich ruling is רבי יוחנן בן ברוקא arguing with?
  25. RejectionIt cannot be the path case, because that would take away money
  26. ResponseHe is arguing about the convert and freed slave
  27. QuestionWhat is the reason behind the disagreement?
  28. ResponseDid he pay close attention before converting?
  29. QuestionWhat does the word קצצה mean?
  30. ResponseThe Barrel-Breaking Ceremony
  31. ConclusionHadran — Closing the Chapter of the Widowed Woman