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Kesubos 3a

כתובות ג׳ ע״א

Ketubot 3a

Learn Kesubos 3a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Kesubos 3a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Whether אונס counts in a conditional גט, how רבנן can cancel קידושין, and when the Wednesday wedding rule applies

Overview

The גמרא finishes explaining רבא's first version, that אונס does not cancel a conditional גט. One explanation is the worry about צנועות, who could wrongly stay stuck. The other is the worry about פרוצות, who could wrongly remarry. The גמרא asks how רבנן can free a woman whom the תורה would keep married. It answers that every man marries on the terms of רבנן, so they can cancel the קידושין, and if the קידושין were made through ביאה, they make it בעילת זנות. A second version of רבא says the opposite: אונס does count in גיטין. The גמרא tests this version against a משנה about 'if I don't return within twelve months' and against שמואל's case of the man stopped by the ferry. Each challenge is answered: death is a special case, and a common אונס is the husband's own fault for not planning. Finally, רב שמואל בר יצחק explains that the Wednesday wedding rule depends on courts sitting on Monday and Thursday. Where courts sit every day and the groom has already prepared the feast, a woman may marry on any day.

Opening lines

זִימְנִין דְּלָא אֲנִיס

Sometimes he was not held back by forces beyond his control

וְסָבְרָה דַּאֲנִיס,

but she thinks that he was held back,

וּמִיעַגְּנָא וְיָתְבָה.

so she stays stuck and sits as an עגונה.

וּמִשּׁוּם פְּרוּצוֹת —

And because of careless women —

The steps (20)

  1. StatementThe concern for virtuous women: she may wrongly stay an עגונה
  2. StatementThe concern for licentious women: her children could become ממזרים
  3. ChallengeHow can רבנן permit a married woman to others?
  4. ResolutionEvery marriage depends on רבנן, so they can cancel it
  5. Challengeרבינא asks: what about קידושין done through ביאה?
  6. Resolutionרבנן made the ביאה into בעילת זנות
  7. StatementAnother version: רבא says אונס does count for a גט
  8. ChallengeA challenge from the משנה about 'if I don't come back in twelve months'
  9. ResolutionSickness also cancels it; death was mentioned to teach no גט after death
  10. ChallengeBut 'no גט after death' was already taught earlier
  11. ResolutionThe repetition comes to reject the view of רבותינו
  12. ChallengeThe later clause of the משנה: he said 'from now' and then died
  13. ResolutionDeath is special because he wants to spare her from the יבם
  14. ChallengeThe man stopped by the ferry: שמואל says it is not called coming
  15. ResolutionA common אונס is different: he should have planned for it
  16. StatementThe Wednesday wedding rule began with תקנת עזרא
  17. ChallengeWhy talk about the past?
  18. ResolutionThe statement gives a rule for today
  19. ChallengeThe feast-preparation reason still applies
  20. ResolutionWhere the groom already prepared