Gemara Clarity

Nedarim 91a

נדרים צ״א ע״א

Learn Nedarim 91a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

A raped wife of a כהן and her כתובה; whether a wife who says "גרשתני" is believed (רב המנונא vs. רבא); the "השמים ביני לבינך" challenges; and the start of a story about a wife's revealing habit

Overview

The גמרא finishes רבא's question about a כהן's wife who was raped. Does she lose her כתובה, or is it the husband's bad luck, like a man whose field was flooded? The answer comes from the משנה of "טמאה אני לך". The גמרא rules out every other case and shows the משנה must be about a raped wife of a כהן, and she collects her כתובה. Then a new question is raised: is a woman believed when she tells her husband "גרשתני"? רב המנונא says yes, because a woman would not lie to her husband's face about something he knows. רבא says no: "טמאה אני לך" was believed only because she would not shame herself, and a woman in a hard marriage may well be brazen. Each side is challenged from the wife's claim "השמים ביני לבינך", and each defends his own reasoning. The amud ends by beginning a story about a woman who brought her husband water to wash his hands on a night they had not been together. The story continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

וְגַבְרָא הוּא דְּנִסְתַּחֲפָה שָׂדֵהוּ.

And it is the man whose field was flooded.

וְאָמְרִינַן לֵיהּ, מַתְנִיתִין הִיא:

And we said to him: it is our משנה:

הָאוֹמֶרֶת ״טְמֵאָה אֲנִי לָךְ״ —

A woman who says "I am defiled to you"

יֵשׁ לָהּ כְּתוּבָּה.

has a כתובה.

The steps (12)

  1. QuestionThe other side of רבא's question: the husband's bad luck
  2. ResponseThe answer is in the משנה of "I am defiled to you"
  3. QuestionThe משנה cannot be about an ordinary Jew's wife
  4. ProofSo it must be a raped wife of a כהן, and she gets her כתובה
  5. QuestionNew question: a wife who says "You divorced me"
  6. Proofרב המנונא: she is believed, since she would not lie to his face
  7. Rejectionרבא: on the contrary, here she would be brazen
  8. Challengeרב משרשיא challenges רבא from the earlier משנה
  9. Resolutionרבא answers: she must spell out an embarrassing detail
  10. ChallengeThe later משנה seems to challenge רב המנונא
  11. Resolutionרב המנונא answers: she thinks he cannot know this detail
  12. StatementA story about a woman who brought water to wash her husband's hands