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Week 62 - Monday - 29 January 2001

KETUBOT: CHAPTER 4: MISHNAH 6

The father is not liable for his daughter's maintenance. Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah expounded this before the Sages in Kerem BeYavneh: "The sons inherit and the daughters are maintained" - just as the sons inherit only after the death of their father, so, too, are the daughters maintained only after the death of their father.

Kehati

Our mishnah further elaborates the rights of the father regarding his daughter, discussing the maintenance of the daughter, and it teaches that even though the daughter is maintained from her father's estate after his death, on the basis of "the conditions of the ketubah," her father is not obligated to provide for her maintenance during his lifetime. One is obligated to support children above the age of six years only as an act of charity. Rambam, based on the Gemara, writes as follows: "Just as a man is obligated to provide for his wife's maintenance, so too is he obligated to provide for his sons and daughters, until they are six years old. Henceforth, he provides for them until they grow up, as enacted by the Sages. If he refuses, they rebuke, shame, and urge him. If he still declines, they announce in public that "So-and-so is cruel, and refuses to maintain his children, wherefore he is lower than an unclean bird, that maintains its young." But they do not compel him to maintain them after six - to whom does this refer? To a person who is not wealthy, and it is not known whether he is capable of giving charity or not. But if he is wealthy, and has sufficient funds for charity to cover their maintenance, they force him to provide as an act of charity, and they maintain them until they grow up" (Hil. Ishut 12:1415).

The father is not liable for his daughter's maintenance -- they do not compel him to provide for his daughter. On the day that he was appointed head of the Sanhedrin, Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah expounded this before the Sages in Kerem BeYavneh - the Academy of Yavneh, called "Kerem" (vineyard), because the Sages would sit in rows, that recalled a vineyard: There are two enactments regarding the conditions of the ketubah: (1) "The sons inherit" - their mother's ketubah, (below, mishnah 10; (2) "and the daughters are maintained" - from the father's estate, until they are betrothed, (below, mishnah 11). Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah deduced the one enactment from the other:

Just as the sons inherit - their mother's ketubah, only after the death of their father - the sons only become heirs after their father's death, so, too, are the daughters maintained - from the father's estate, on the basis of "the conditions of the ketubah," only after the death of their father - during his lifetime, however, the daughters and the sons do not receive any maintenance, as was explained in our introduction.

KETUBOT: CHAPTER 4: MISHNAH 7

If he did not write her a ketubah - a virgin collects two hundred, and a widow a maneh, because this is a condition of the Court. If he wrote her a field worth a maneh instead of two hundred zuz, and he did not write her, "All the property that I own is surety for your ketubah" - he is liable, because this is a condition of the Court.

Kehati

Our mishnah and the remaining mishnayot of this chapter, are based on the legal principle that the ketubah is a "condition of the Court," i.e., all the statutory obligations of the ketubah are binding on the husband, even if they are not expressly written in the ketubah. This mishnah deals with the principal purpose of the ketubah, and contains two laws: (1) the amount of the ketubah may not be less than two hundred dinars for a virgin or less than one hundred for a widow, and (2) the husband's property is mortgaged to pay the ketubah. As mentioned (in our Introduction to this Tractate) it was Shimon ben Shetah who enacted that the husband write to his wife, "All the property which I possess is surety for your ketubah" (Gemara, Ket. 82b).

If he - the husband, did not write her - his wife, a ketubah - he did not write her the essential part of the ketubah, i.e., the amount which he is liable to pay her - a virgin - if his wife wed him as a virgin, and she was divorced or was widowed from him, she collects - as her ketubah - two hundred - dinars, and - if she wed him as - a widow - she collects as her ketubah - a maneh - one hundred dinars, because this is a condition of the Court - which does not rest on agreement between the parties, but rather is a legal obligation, and even though the husband did not write this condition in the ketubah, he is nevertheless bound by it.

If he - the husband, wrote her - his wife, whose ketubah is two hundred, that he mortgaged - a field worth - only - a maneh - one hundred zuz, to pay her ketubah, - instead of two hundred zuz, and he did not write her, "All the property that I own is surety for your ketubah" - according to others, "and he did not write her", is interpreted as "or he did not write her," i.e., even if he wrote her a field worth two hundred, but did not write her surety on his remaining property (Melekhet Shelomo; Rashash), he is liable - to fulfill this condition, that all his property is surety for her ketubah, even though he did not specify this, because this is a condition of the Court - and he cannot say, "You can only take from the field assigned to you in the ketubah."

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