Gemara Clarity

Kesubos 62b

כתובות ס״ב ע״ב

Ketubot 62b

Learn Kesubos 62b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Kesubos 62b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The עונה (set schedule of marital relations) for different husbands, especially Torah scholars, and stories about the cost to wives when scholars leave home for years to learn.

Overview

This amud finishes showing that the משנה's rule about a husband who makes a נדר against relations applies to every husband, even a sailor, because knowing relations are forbidden hurts a wife more than ordinary waiting. אביי rules that a husband may not switch to a job that keeps him away longer without his wife's agreement, since a woman prefers less money with her husband close by. On the sailors' line in the משנה, רב ברונא reports that the הלכה follows רבי אליעזר. רב אדא בר אהבה reports instead that the חכמים let Torah students leave for two or three years without permission. רבא warns that rabbis who relied on this paid with their lives, as the story of רב רחומי shows. The גמרא then sets the weekly Friday night עונה for תלמידי חכמים and backs it with a פסוק and the story of יהודה son of רבי חייא. A series of stories follows about scholars who left home for twelve years: רבי's son, רבי חנניה בן חכינאי, and רבי חמא בר ביסא. Each shows the cost to the wife and family. The amud ends as the story of רבי עקיבא and his wife begins, and that story continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אַכּוּלְּהוּ.

[The tanna taught it] about all of them.

וְהָא שִׁשָּׁה חֳדָשִׁים קָאָמַר?

But [for sailors] it says six months?

אֵינוֹ דּוֹמֶה מִי שֶׁיֵּשׁ לוֹ פַּת בְּסַלּוֹ

One who has bread in his basket is not comparable

לְמִי שֶׁאֵין לוֹ פַּת בְּסַלּוֹ.

to one who has no bread in his basket.

The steps (35)

  1. ResolutionThe vow rule applies to every husband
  2. ChallengeBut a sailor's schedule is six months
  3. ResolutionBread in the basket
  4. QuestionCan a donkey driver become a camel driver?
  5. ResponseA woman prefers less money with closeness
  6. StatementThe ruling on sailors follows רבי אליעזר
  7. StatementThe חכמים let Torah students leave for years
  8. StatementRabbis relied on this and suffered for it
  9. Proofרב רחומי misses his yearly trip home
  10. ConclusionA wife's tear and the roof's collapse
  11. QuestionWhen is the marital time for Torah scholars?
  12. Responseשמואל: every Friday night
  13. ProofThe verse 'gives its fruit in its season'
  14. Proofיהודה son of רבי חייא and the pillar of fire
  15. Conclusionיהודה stays to learn, and dies
  16. Statementרבי's son's match with רבי חייא's family fails
  17. ResponseChecking the family lines
  18. StatementA new match, with twelve years of study
  19. StatementThe groom shortens the time, then marries first
  20. StatementThe son is embarrassed; his father reassures him
  21. ProofProof from the פסוקים that ה׳ also moved His plan up
  22. StatementThe son learns twelve years and his wife becomes infertile
  23. Questionרבי's dilemma: divorce her or take another wife?
  24. ResponsePrayer heals the wife
  25. Statementרבי חנניה בן חכינאי leaves for twelve years
  26. StatementHe finds his daughter by the river
  27. StatementHis wife sees him and dies from shock
  28. ConclusionHis prayer brings her back to life
  29. Statementרבי חמא בר ביסא returns home carefully
  30. StatementA sharp young scholar impresses him
  31. StatementThe father stands up for his own son
  32. ConclusionThe threefold cord
  33. Statementרבי עקיבא's engagement on condition of learning
  34. StatementHer father throws her out
  35. Statementרבי עקיבא returns with twelve thousand students