Kesubos 53a

כתובות נ״ג ע״א

Ketubot 53a

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Topic

Pressuring a father over a dowry, and when a wife's sale or forgiveness of her כתובה affects the כתובת בנין דכרין, her מזונות, and the כתובה of an אֲרוּסָה who dies.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a story. רב פפא brings יהודה בר מרימר to the house of אבא סוראה. יהודה refuses to go in because his presence would pressure the father into a bigger dowry. When he is made to enter, he sits silently, and the father writes over everything he owns. יהודה says he never wanted this, but he tells the father not to become someone who goes back on his word. Next, רב יימר and רבא discuss whether a wife who sells or forgives her כתובה keeps the כתובת בנין דכרין for her sons. רבא concludes that selling, even to the husband, keeps it, because money pressure is behind it, while freely forgiving loses it. A challenge from the יבמות case is answered: there, the loss is a special קנס. רבי אלעזר then rules that a wife who forgives her כתובה also loses her מזונות, and רב חסדא protests strongly. Finally, the גמרא asks whether an אֲרוּסָה who dies has a כתובה, and אביי begins a response to ריש לקיש's ruling that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (26)

1. Questionרב פפא guesses why יהודה does not want to go in
2. ResolutionA dowry is itself an enactment of the Sages
3. Challengeיהודה: the enactment only applies when the father gives willingly
4. Resolutionרב פפא: go in, but do not pressure him
5. Rejectionיהודה: my very entering is pressure
6. Statementיהודה goes in silently and the father gives everything
7. QuestionThe father begs יהודה to speak
8. Responseיהודה: I did not want this at all
9. ConclusionDo not become someone who goes back on his word
10. QuestionA wife sold her כתובה to her husband: do her sons lose their right?
11. ChallengeWhy not also ask about a wife who forgives her כתובה?
12. ResolutionSelling is the real doubt; forgiving is obviously worse
13. Statementרבא's two clear cases: selling to others versus forgiving to the husband
14. QuestionSelling to the husband: which case is it like?
15. Conclusionרבא decides: selling to the husband is like selling to others
16. Challengeרב אידי בר אבין brings a source about a woman who lost her rights
17. ChallengeWhy not excuse her because desire forced her
18. ResolutionThat case is a special penalty
19. StatementA wife who forgives her כתובה loses her support
20. Challengeרב חסדא protests: this repays good with evil
21. StatementA man whose betrothed wife died is told to bury her or pay her כתובה
22. ChallengeA ברייתא shows a betrothed woman who dies has no כתובה
23. QuestionWhy does her כתובה end when she dies?
24. Responseרב הושעיא: the wording of the כתובה cannot apply to her
25. Statementרבין reports from ריש לקיש: a betrothed woman who dies has no כתובה
26. Challengeאביי begins his response to רבין