Kesubos 80a

כתובות פ׳ ע״א

Ketubot 80a

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Topic

A husband's expenses on and benefit from his wife's property: what counts as 'eating', repayment rules, sharecroppers, and selling the produce

Overview

The גמרא continues the משנה's rule about a husband who spends money on his wife's property. If he 'ate' even a little from it, he cannot claim his expenses back. It defines how little counts: even a cluster of dates. Date dough is a תיקו. If he did not eat in a dignified way, two אמוראים disagree whether it takes an איסר's worth or a דינר's worth. רב יהודה ruled that using vine branches also counts, which fits his view on חזקה. רב חסדא rules that a husband of a קטנה is repaid like an outsider, so that he will take care of her property. A story with רבי אמי teaches that taking from the principal is not 'eating', so the husband swears and collects. רבי אסי, explained by אביי and then רבא, limits what he collects to the value of the improvement, and only with an oath. Finally the גמרא asks whether sharecroppers the husband hired leave when he leaves; רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע says it depends on whether the husband could farm himself. The amud ends by starting a new question: whether a husband may sell the produce of his wife's land.

Opening lines

The steps (23)

1. StatementEven a cluster of dates counts as eating
2. QuestionWhat about dough made of dates?
3. ConclusionThe question stays unresolved
4. QuestionWhat if he did not eat in a dignified way?
5. ResponseAn איסר's worth or a דינר's worth
6. Statementרב יהודה's ruling about bundles of vine branches
7. Proofרב יהודה is consistent with his view on חזקה
8. StatementSpending on a קטנה wife's property is like spending on a stranger's
9. ResponseThe reason: so he will not let her property decline
10. StatementThe husband who fetched his wife's inheritance from בי חוזאי
11. ChallengeThe רבנן object: he used principal, not produce
12. Conclusionרבי אמי agrees: he swears and collects
13. Statementרבי אסי limits the oath rule to matching improvement
14. QuestionWhat practical difference does רבי אסי's condition make?
15. Responseאביי: no oath when improvement exceeds expense
16. Challengeרבא: that would let the husband cheat
17. Responseרבא: expense is capped at the improvement, with an oath
18. QuestionDo the husband's sharecroppers leave when he leaves?
19. ChallengeEven someone who plants without permission gets paid
20. ResolutionHere the husband would have done the work himself
21. QuestionWhat is the final ruling?
22. ConclusionIt depends on whether the husband is a sharecropper himself
23. QuestionCan the husband sell the produce of his wife's land?