Kesubos 45a
כתובות מ״ה ע״א
Ketubot 45a
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Topic
Does a change in a נערה's status after she sins change her death penalty? A dispute between תנאים
Overview
The ברייתא finishes its rules about a betrothed נערה who sinned. It says where she is stoned. It also says that if she sinned and then became a בוגרת, she gets חנק instead of סקילה. The גמרא asks whether this means her punishment always changes when her body changes. It brings a contradicting ברייתא about מוציא שם רע, where she is still stoned even after growing up. Along the way, it fixes that ברייתא's wording to 'either she or her זוממין.' רבא answers that מוציא שם רע is a חידוש, so we cannot learn from it. רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע pushes back: maybe the חידוש covers only a girl who has not grown up. So רב נחמן בר יצחק gives a new answer. The two ברייתות follow two sides of a dispute between תנאים, seen in the משנה about a כהן גדול or king who sinned before being appointed.
Opening lines
סוֹקְלִין אוֹתָהּ עַל פֶּתַח בֵּית אָבִיהָ,
they stone her at the entrance of her father's house,
כְּלוֹמַר: רְאוּ גִּידּוּלִים שֶׁגִּידַּלְתֶּם.
as if to say: see the child you have raised.
בָּאוּ לָהּ עֵדִים בְּבֵית אָבִיהָ
If witnesses came against her while she was in her father's house
שֶׁזִּינְּתָה בְּבֵית אָבִיהָ
saying that she committed adultery in her father's house,
The steps (9)
- StatementWhere the guilty betrothed girl is stoned
- StatementShe sinned, then grew up: strangulation
- ChallengeContradiction from the case of the defaming husband
- ChallengeBoth of them stoned? Impossible
- ResolutionFixed reading: either she or her witnesses
- Resolutionרבא: the defamer case is a special exception
- RejectionMaybe the Torah's special rule only covers a girl who did not grow up
- ResolutionA new answer: this is a dispute between תנאים
- Proofרבי שמעון: if they found out only after being appointed, they are exempt