Kesubos 77b

כתובות ע״ז ע״ב

Ketubot 77b

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Topic

Why a childless marriage is not in the משנה's list of forced divorces; the disease ראתן; stories of רבי יהושע בן לוי and רבי חנינא בר פפא at their deaths; and the close of the perek.

Overview

The גמרא explains why the משנה's list of forced divorces leaves out a marriage with no children. In the listed cases, even מוכה שחין, a wife who wants to stay can find a way, such as living with him under the watch of witnesses. In a childless marriage she cannot stay at all. A ברייתא from רבי יוסי then teaches that marital relations harm people with skin diseases, and those with ראתן most of all. The גמרא gives the cause of ראתן, its signs, and אביי's dramatic cure. It then tells how the חכמים kept far from people with ראתן, while רבי יהושע בן לוי sat with them and learned תורה, trusting it to protect him. This leads into the stories of how רבי יהושע בן לוי entered גן עדן alive and how רבי חנינא בר פפא tried the same trick. The perek הַמַּדִּיר אֶת אִשְׁתּוֹ closes with why people in בבל did not get ראתן or צרעת, followed by the הדרן.

Opening lines

The steps (30)

1. ResolutionBlemishes versus a childless marriage
2. ChallengeChallenge from the husband with boils
3. ResolutionLiving together under the eye of witnesses
4. Statementרבי יוסי's teaching about twenty-four skin diseases
5. QuestionHow does ראתן come about?
6. ResponseBloodletting before relations
7. Statementרב פפא: only if he ate nothing
8. QuestionWhat are the signs of ראתן?
9. ResponseThe symptoms of ראתן
10. QuestionWhat is the cure for ראתן?
11. Responseאביי's remedy for ראתן
12. ResponseFinishing the treatment: removing the creature from the brain
13. StatementSages who kept far away from people with ראתן
14. Statementרבי יהושע בן לוי sits with the sick and learns
15. Statementרבי יהושע בן לוי takes the knife and jumps into גן עדן
16. StatementThe oath and ה׳'s decision
17. ConclusionThe knife is returned and אליהו announces his arrival
18. StatementThe rainbow question in גן עדן
19. RejectionThere really was no rainbow
20. Statementרבי חנינא בר פפא asks for thirty days
21. StatementHe asks for the knife, and the angel sees through it
22. RejectionDid you sit with people who had ראתן?
23. StatementA pillar of fire at his death
24. Statementרבי אלכסנדרי gets the pillar to leave
25. Statementאביי explains the purpose of the pillar
26. Challengeרב אדא בר מתנא jabs at אביי
27. RejectionThe railing had just blown down
28. StatementWhy there is no ראתן in בבל
29. StatementWhy there is no צרעת in בבל
30. ConclusionHadran — Closing the perek הַמַּדִּיר אֶת אִשְׁתּוֹ