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Kesubos 78a

כתובות ע״ח ע״א

Ketubot 78a

Learn Kesubos 78a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Kesubos 78a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Can a woman sell property she inherited before or during her engagement or marriage, and when does her husband get rights to it?

Overview

This amud is about property a woman inherits (נכסים שנפלו לה) and when her husband gains rights to it. If she inherited before אירוסין, everyone agrees she may sell it. If she inherited after אירוסין, בית שמאי say she may sell and בית הלל say she may not, but both agree a sale already made stands. If she inherited after נישואין, the husband can take it back from the buyers. The חכמים challenge רבן גמליאל twice: since the husband acquired the woman, shouldn't he acquire her property too? Each time רבן גמליאל refuses to extend the husband's rights to old property. רבי שמעון instead divides property by whether the husband knows about it. The גמרא then asks why the timing of the inheritance matters. It concludes that before אירוסין the property is surely hers, while after אירוסין it is a doubt whose rights it came under. Finally the גמרא asks whether רבי יהודה's report of the חכמים' challenge was aimed at selling from the start or at a sale already made, and the discussion continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

הָאִשָּׁה שֶׁנָּפְלוּ לָהּ נְכָסִים

A woman to whom property fell

עַד שֶׁלֹּא תִּתְאָרֵס —

before she became betrothed

מוֹדִים בֵּית שַׁמַּאי וּבֵית הִלֵּל

Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel agree

שֶׁמּוֹכֶרֶת וְנוֹתֶנֶת וְקַיָּים.

that she may sell and give it away, and it is valid.

The steps (14)

  1. StatementProperty inherited before engagement: everyone agrees she may sell
  2. StatementProperty inherited after engagement: Shammai and Hillel argue
  3. ChallengeThe חכמים challenge רבן גמליאל: he acquired her, so why not her property?
  4. Resolutionרבן גמליאל: we are already embarrassed about the new property
  5. StatementProperty inherited after marriage: the husband can take it back
  6. StatementInherited before marriage, then married: רבן גמליאל says the sale stands
  7. ChallengeThe same challenge again, this time about marriage
  8. Resolutionרבן גמליאל gives the same answer
  9. Statementרבי שמעון: property the husband knows about vs. property he does not
  10. QuestionWhy do they agree in the first case but argue in the second?
  11. ResponseFirst case: her rights; second case: his rights
  12. ChallengeIf the rights were his, why does her sale stand?
  13. ResolutionAfter אירוסין, it is unclear whose rights came first
  14. QuestionWas רבי יהודה's report about selling from the start or after the fact?