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Kesubos 59b

כתובות נ״ט ע״ב

Ketubot 59b

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Topic

A wife's קונם on her work, and the household tasks a wife does for her husband

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a discussion about how a woman's קונם on her work can take effect, when her husband has rights to that work. רב שישא בריה דרב אידי and then רב אשי reject two comparisons to a mortgaged field, because a woman can never free herself from her marriage. רב אשי answers instead that a קונם is קדושת הגוף, and as רבא taught, הקדש cancels a שיעבוד. Still, the רבנן strengthened the husband's rights, so the קונם only takes effect after the marriage ends. A new משנה then lists the jobs a wife does for her husband and explains how maidservants she brings into the marriage reduce them. רבי אליעזר and רבן שמעון בן גמליאל stress that total idleness is harmful. The גמרא explains how a woman 'grinds' and notes that the משנה does not follow רבי חייא. It then concludes that the משנה's rule that a wife nurses her child does not follow בית שמאי. The amud ends by quoting the ברייתא's phrase 'if the baby recognized her,' which the discussion takes up next.

Opening lines

״שָׂדֶה זוֹ שֶׁמִּשְׁכַּנְתִּי לְךָ,

"This field that I mortgaged to you,

לִכְשֶׁאֶפְדֶּנָּה מִמְּךָ — תִּיקְדַּשׁ״,

when I redeem it from you, let it be consecrated",

דְּקָדְשָׁה.

where the law is that it is consecrated.

מַתְקֵיף לַהּ רַב שִׁישָׁא בְּרֵיהּ דְּרַב אִידִי:

Rav Sheisha, son of Rav Idi, objects to this:

The steps (24)

  1. ResolutionThe mortgaged field comparison
  2. ChallengeThe field owner can redeem, but the woman cannot divorce herself
  3. ResolutionA better comparison: a field mortgaged for ten years
  4. ChallengeAfter ten years he can redeem, but she can never free herself
  5. ResolutionA new answer: קונמות are קדושת הגוף
  6. Proofרבא's rule: הקדש, חמץ and שחרור cancel a lien
  7. ChallengeThen Let the קונם Take Effect Right Now
  8. ResolutionThe Sages Strengthened the Husband's Rights
  9. StatementThe Tasks a Wife Does for Her Husband
  10. StatementMaidservants Lighten Her Load
  11. Statementרבי אליעזר: She Must Always Work With Wool
  12. Statementרבן שמעון בן גמליאל: A Vow Forbidding Her All Work
  13. ChallengeDoes She Really Grind?
  14. ResolutionShe Arranges the Grinding
  15. ResolutionOr: With a Hand Mill
  16. StatementThe משנה does not follow רבי חייא
  17. StatementMore teachings of רבי חייא about a wife's beauty
  18. ChallengeNursing: does the משנה disagree with בית שמאי?
  19. StatementEnd of the ברייתא: a divorced mother
  20. Resolutionבית שמאי are talking about a vow the husband let stand
  21. ChallengeThen why argue about nursing and not the כתובה in general?
  22. ChallengeA ברייתא says outright that בית שמאי free her from nursing
  23. ConclusionConclusion: the משנה is not like בית שמאי
  24. StatementQuoting the phrase 'if the baby recognized her'