Kesubos 67b

כתובות ס״ז ע״ב

Ketubot 67b

Learn Kesubos 67b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Kesubos 67b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

צדקה: how much a poor person must be given (דֵּי מַחְסוֹרוֹ), how to help someone who refuses, and giving without causing shame

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a rule: when an orphan girl and an orphan boy both need help marrying, the girl comes first. Two ברייתות then read the פסוק 'דֵּי מַחְסוֹרוֹ אֲשֶׁר יֶחְסַר לוֹ'. You must give a poor person what he is missing, but you do not have to make him rich. For someone used to luxury, what he is missing can even include a horse and a servant. Stories about הלל הזקן, the people of the Upper גליל, רבי נחמיה and רבא show how far this goes, and also the danger of getting too used to luxury. Next the גמרא discusses how to help a poor man who refuses צדקה, and a man who has money but will not spend it. Here רבי מאיר, חכמים, רבי שמעון and רבי יהודה each give a view, and רבי יהודה reads the double wording 'הַעֲבֵט תַּעֲבִיטֶנּוּ' as two cases. The amud ends with stories about giving with dignity. In one, מר עוקבא and his wife hide in a hot furnace, because it is better to be burned than to shame someone in public, as we learn from תמר. In others, מר עוקבא gives away half his money as he is dying, which is allowed despite the one-fifth limit, and רבי אבא gives in a hidden way. The story of רבי חנינא's wife begins at the end and continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (44)

1. StatementOrphan girl is married off before orphan boy
2. StatementAn orphan groom gets a house, furniture, then a wife
3. ProofProof that the word 'לוֹ' can mean a wife
4. StatementSupport him, not make him rich, but even a horse and servant
5. Proofהלל הזקן runs before a poor man
6. StatementThe people of the Upper גליל buy daily meat
7. QuestionWhat is so special about a pound of meat?
8. Responseרב הונא: It was expensive poultry
9. ResponseSecond answer: regular meat bought for a ליטרא of coins
10. Responseרב אשי: A whole animal was wasted for him daily
11. StatementA spoiled poor man eats lentils with רבי נחמיה and dies
12. ChallengeShouldn't he have said 'Woe to נחמיה'?
13. ResolutionThe poor man was to blame for spoiling himself
14. StatementA poor man asks רבא for fattened hen and aged wine
15. ProofProof from the פסוק: each person gets food 'in its time'
16. Conclusionרבא's sister arrives with the exact same food
17. StatementHow to help a poor man who refuses צדקה
18. ChallengeHow can it be a gift if he refuses to take it?
19. Resolutionרבא: start by offering it as a gift
20. StatementSomeone who has money but will not use it
21. ChallengeIf they collect from him, he will stop taking
22. ResolutionThey collect only after he dies
23. Statementרבי שמעון's different approach
24. Statementרבי יהודה reads the double wording as two cases
25. StatementThe חכמים: no duty to the man who has money
26. ChallengeThen what is 'תעביטנו' for?
27. ResolutionThe Torah speaks the way people speak
28. Statementמר עוקבא's daily secret gift
29. StatementThe poor man wants to know who it is
30. StatementThe poor man chases them, and they hide in a hot furnace
31. StatementHis wife's feet are not burned, and she explains why
32. QuestionWhy go to such extremes?
33. ResponseBetter to enter a fire than to shame someone in public
34. ProofThe source: תמר
35. StatementA new story: מר עוקבא's yearly gift before יום כיפור
36. StatementThe son reports that the poor man lives in luxury
37. Statementמר עוקבא doubles the gift
38. StatementOn his deathbed, מר עוקבא gives away half his money
39. ChallengeIsn't giving more than a fifth forbidden?
40. ResolutionThe one-fifth limit applies only during a person's life
41. Statementרבי אבא gives coins without the poor having to face him
42. Statementרבי חנינא's wife reports that the poor man does not need the money
43. Questionרבי חנינא asks his wife what she saw
44. ResponseThe wife begins describing what she overheard