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Kesubos 32b

כתובות ל״ב ע״ב

Ketubot 32b

Learn Kesubos 32b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

When a person is liable for both money and מלקות: does he pay or get lashes? (עולא vs. רבי יוחנן)

Overview

The גמרא is settling a clash: our משנה says a man who violates his sister pays a קנס, but the משנה in מכות says he gets מלקות. עולא holds that when both money and lashes apply, a person pays and is not flogged, and he learns this from the word 'תחת' in the rape פסוק and in 'עין תחת עין'. רבי יוחנן answers differently: one משנה is where he was warned (התראה) and gets lashes, the other is where he was not warned and pays. So רבי יוחנן holds that with a warning, lashes win over money, and he learns it from 'כדי רשעתו' placed next to 'ארבעים יכנו'. The גמרא challenges him from חובל בחבירו, since his own ruling shows that a warned injurer who causes real damage pays. The answer, using רבי אילעא's principle, is that the Torah explicitly singled out the injurer for payment, just as it did for עדים זוממין. The גמרא traces רבי אילעא's statement to a מחלוקת of רבי מאיר and חכמים about false witnesses, and shows the extra words 'יד ביד' and 'כן ינתן בו' both point to money. Finally, רבי יוחנן rejects עולא's rule, because it would cancel the lashes for ערות אחותך.

Opening lines

אֶלָּא עוּלָּא ״תַּחַת״ ״תַּחַת״ גָּמַר.

Rather, עולא learns it from 'for' (תחת) and 'for' (תחת).

כְּתִיב הָכָא: ״תַּחַת אֲשֶׁר עִנָּהּ״,

It is written here: 'because he afflicted her,'

וּכְתִיב הָתָם: ״עַיִן תַּחַת עַיִן״.

and it is written there: 'an eye for an eye.'

מָה הָתָם — מָמוֹנָא מְשַׁלֵּם, מִילְקָא לָא לָקֵי;

Just as there, he pays money and is not flogged;

The steps (19)

  1. Resolutionעולא's source: the word 'תחת' links rape to injury
  2. Resolutionרבי יוחנן: the difference is whether he was warned
  3. StatementWhat רבי יוחנן must hold: warned means lashes, not money
  4. QuestionWhere does רבי יוחנן learn this?
  5. ResponseSource: 'כדי רשעתו' next to 'ארבעים יכנו'
  6. ChallengeChallenge: an injurer pays and is not flogged
  7. ResolutionPossible defense: the injurer pays only when not warned
  8. ChallengeRebuttal: רבי יוחנן's own ruling about a blow worth less than a פרוטה
  9. ProofWorking it out: even when warned, real damage means payment
  10. ResolutionThe Torah made a special exception for the injurer
  11. QuestionWhere did רבי אילעא say this?
  12. ResponseFalse witnesses about a debt: רבי מאיר and חכמים
  13. ChallengeWhy not say lashes win instead?
  14. Resolutionרבי אילעא: the Torah chose payment for false witnesses
  15. QuestionWhere does the Torah say this?
  16. Response'Hand for hand' means money
  17. Proof'So shall be given' means money for the injurer
  18. QuestionWhy doesn't רבי יוחנן hold like עולא?
  19. ResponseOtherwise the lashes for ערות אחותך would be cancelled