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Kesubos 39b

כתובות ל״ט ע״ב

Ketubot 39b

Learn Kesubos 39b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

The payments and marriage rules of the אונס and the מפתה: צער, when the fine is paid, refusing the marriage, and the כתובה

Overview

The amud opens at the end of a ברייתא. In it, רבי שמעון says a rapist owes nothing for צער, since every wife feels that pain anyway, and the sages answer that forced relations are not like willing ones. רב נחמן in the name of רבה בר אבוה then defines the צער as the pain of having her legs spread by force. The גמרא asks why a מפתה does not pay this too. A parable about tearing someone's silk is rejected because the money belongs to her father. The final answer is that a willing girl feels hardly any pain, and three אמוראים quote women describing how mild it is. Next the גמרא rereads the משנה's rule on when the מפתה pays. It also discusses how both the girl and her father can refuse marriage to an אונס or a מפתה, with אביי and רבא giving different sources for the father's right. A second ברייתא explains that the wife of an אונס gets no more money if she leaves, and the רבנן and רבי יוסי ברבי יהודה argue over whether she gets a כתובה, depending on why a כתובה exists. The amud ends as רבא מפרזקיא begins a question to רב אשי about the rule that an אונס must keep her, and the question continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

שֶׁסּוֹפָהּ לְהִצְטַעֵר תַּחַת בַּעֲלָהּ.

since in the end she will suffer [this pain] under her husband.

אָמְרוּ לוֹ:

They said to him:

אֵינוֹ דּוֹמֶה נִבְעֶלֶת בְּאוֹנֶס

A woman who has relations by force is not comparable

לְנִבְעֶלֶת בְּרָצוֹן.

to one who has relations willingly.

The steps (26)

  1. StatementEnding of the view that the rapist owes nothing for pain
  2. RejectionForced relations are not like willing relations
  3. ResolutionThe pain is the pain of being forced to spread her legs
  4. ChallengeThen a seducer should pay for pain too
  5. ResolutionA parable: tear my silk and you are free
  6. RejectionIt is not her silk; it belongs to her father
  7. ResolutionA seduced girl feels no real pain
  8. ChallengeBut we see that there is pain
  9. ResolutionThree women describe the pain as mild
  10. ChallengeHow can the seducer 'send her away' if she is not his wife?
  11. ResolutionRead it as 'when he does not marry her'
  12. ProofA ברייתא supports אביי and adds that בושת and פגם are paid right away
  13. StatementBoth the girl and her father can refuse the marriage
  14. StatementGranted: the seducer case has a verse for both father and girl
  15. QuestionFor the rapist, where does the father's right come from?
  16. Responseאביי: a sinner should not profit
  17. Responseרבא: a קל וחומר from the seducer
  18. RejectionWhy רבא rejects אביי: the rapist pays a fine
  19. RejectionWhy אביי rejects רבא: the rapist cannot back out
  20. StatementAnother ברייתא: the אונס pays right away and owes nothing more
  21. ChallengeHow can the אונס send her out?
  22. ResolutionFix the wording: when SHE leaves
  23. StatementIf he dies: the fine counts as her כתובה, and רבי יוסי ברבי יהודה disagrees
  24. QuestionWhat is the root of their argument?
  25. ResponseWhy a כתובה exists, and whether it applies here
  26. QuestionBack to the משנה: רבא מפרזקיא begins a question