Kesubos 61a

כתובות ס״א ע״א

Ketubot 61a

Learn Kesubos 61a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Pregnancy foods, a wife's duty to nurse, the maidservant exemptions, the three personal tasks and נדה, and sharing food with the waiter

Overview

This amud opens by finishing a list of foods a pregnant woman eats and the good traits they give her children, with a story about the fragrant daughter of שבור מלכא. Then רב הונא reports a question about nursing: when husband and wife disagree, whose family custom decides? The answer is the rule that a wife 'goes up with her husband but does not go down with him,' backed by two פסוקים. Next the גמרא returns to the משנה about maidservants a wife brings into the marriage. It explains step by step why one, two, or three maidservants free her from only some housework, and why four free her from all of it. Even then, רב הונא says she still pours his cup, makes his bed, and washes his face, hands, and feet. A wife who is a נדה skips exactly these three personal tasks, with some limits and changes. The amud ends with rules and stories about sharing food with the waiter at a meal, so that he does not suffer from craving. A story at the king's gate begins and continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (36)

1. StatementFoods during pregnancy and the children's traits
2. ProofThe fragrant daughter of King Shapur
3. StatementShe wants to nurse and he does not
4. QuestionHe wants her to nurse and she refuses
5. ResponseIf it is not her family's custom, we follow her
6. QuestionHer family nurses, his does not: whom do we follow?
7. ResponseShe goes up with him but not down with him
8. Proofרב הונא's source: 'בעולת בעל'
9. Proofרבי אלעזר's source: 'mother of all living'
10. StatementThe משנה about one maidservant: she still does the other tasks
11. ChallengeShouldn't the maidservant count as her replacement?
12. ResolutionThe maidservant works to cover herself, so who covers the wife?
13. StatementTwo maidservants: no cooking or nursing, but other tasks remain
14. ChallengeWhy can't she say the two maidservants cover everything?
15. ResolutionSomeone still has to serve the guests
16. StatementThree maidservants: no bed-making, but other tasks remain
17. ChallengeWhy doesn't the third maidservant handle the guests?
18. ResolutionA bigger household brings more guests
19. ChallengeThen even with four she should have to work
20. ResolutionFour maidservants help each other
21. StatementIt is enough that she could afford to bring maidservants
22. ProofA ברייתא: bringing them or saving up for them is the same
23. StatementEven a wife who sits in a chair still does three personal tasks
24. StatementA נדה may do every task for her husband except the three personal ones
25. StatementMaking the bed is only a problem when he is there
26. StatementHow the wives of the אמוראים changed the way they gave the cup
27. StatementA waiter may be made to wait for everything except meat and wine
28. StatementOnly fatty meat and aged wine
29. StatementFatty meat all year, aged wine only in summer
30. Statementרב ענן's story: the mushroom dish
31. Statementרב אשי's story: turnip in vinegar
32. Statementרב פפא: even a fragrant date
33. ConclusionThe general rule: smell or sharp taste
34. StatementTwo brothers: one gave from every dish
35. StatementTwo pious men: feeding the waiter first or later
36. StatementThree Sages at the king's gate: the story begins