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Kesubos 59a

כתובות נ״ט ע״א

Ketubot 59a

Learn Kesubos 59a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Who owns a wife's extra work, and how שמואל's ruling on a wife's קונם fits with the rule that one cannot consecrate what does not yet exist.

Overview

The amud opens with a מחלוקת about what the husband's food (מזונות) and weekly coin (מעה כסף) pay for. רב ושמואל say food pays for her regular work and the coin pays for her extra work (מותר). רב אדא בר אהבה says the reverse, so the husband who feeds her owns the מותר. The גמרא explains that one side pairs common with common and the other pairs fixed with fixed. A ברייתא and a משנה are each brought as challenges, and both are answered by rereading them. Then שמואל rules like רבי יוחנן הסנדלר, that a husband cannot consecrate earnings that do not exist yet. This seems to clash with his ruling like רבי יוחנן בן נורי about a wife's קונם on her earnings. The גמרא tries several answers: רב יוסף says vows are different, and רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע says she vowed on her hands, which already exist. That answer leads to a debate, using the case of a sold field, about whether a הקדש can take effect later when it cannot take effect now. רב פפא's comparison continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

מְזוֹנוֹת תַּחַת מַעֲשֵׂה יָדֶיהָ,

[They set up] food in exchange for her work,

וּמָעָה כֶּסֶף תַּחַת מוֹתָר,

and a silver מעה in exchange for the extra work,

וְכֵיוָן דְּלָא קָא יָהֵיב לַהּ מָעָה כֶּסֶף —

and since he is not giving her a silver מעה,

מוֹתָר דִּידַהּ הָוֵי.

the extra work is hers.

The steps (23)

  1. Statementרב ושמואל: food pays for her work, the coin pays for her extra work
  2. Statementרב אדא בר אהבה: food pays for the extra work, the coin pays for her work
  3. QuestionWhat is the reason behind the disagreement?
  4. ResponseCommon matched with common, or fixed matched with fixed
  5. ChallengeA ברייתא says food is for her work
  6. ResolutionRead it as 'the extra of her work'
  7. ChallengeA משנה ties the coin to her work
  8. ResolutionRead it as 'the extra of her work is hers'
  9. ChallengeThe משנה's next line is about her required work
  10. ResolutionThe fixed amount tells us where the extra begins
  11. Statementשמואל rules like רבי יוחנן הסנדלר
  12. Challengeשמואל seems to contradict himself about the קונם case
  13. Resolutionשמואל agreed only about the extra
  14. ChallengeWhy did שמואל not say it more clearly?
  15. Resolutionרב יוסף: vows are different
  16. Challengeאביי: a vow cannot forbid to someone else
  17. ResolutionShe vowed on her hands, which already exist
  18. ChallengeHer hands are tied to her husband, so how can she consecrate them?
  19. ResolutionShe meant it to take effect once she is divorced
  20. ChallengeCan something become הקדש later if it cannot become הקדש now?
  21. Resolutionרבי אלעאי: a field consecrated for after it is bought back
  22. Rejectionרבי ירמיה: the field case is different
  23. Rejectionרב פפא: the already-sold field is different too