Torah Community Connections

Week 62 - Thursday - 1 February 2001

KETUBOT: CHAPTER 4: MISHNAH 12

"You shall live in my house and shall be maintained from my estate all the days that you are a widow in my house"-he is liable, because this is a condition of the Court. Thus the people of Jerusalem would write. The people of Galilee would write as the people of Jerusalem. The people of Judea would write, "Until the heirs agree to give you your ketubah," therefore if the heirs agree, they give her her ketubah and dismiss her.

Kehati

A further condition of the ketubah is that a widow be maintained from the estate of her husband during the period of her widowhood until she takes her ketubah. Our mishnah teaches that this obligation is a condition of the Court.

If he did not write for her, "You shall live in my house and shall be maintained from my estate all the days that you are a widow in my house" - he is liable - to act accordingly, because this is a condition of the Court - and the husband is bound by it, even if it is not written in the ketubah.

Thus the people of Jerusalem would write - in the ketubah, "You shall live in my home and shall be maintained from my property all the days that you are a widow in my house" (as above).

And similarly, the people of Galilee would write as the people of Jerusalem - this version of the ketubah implies that if the widow refuses to take her ketubah, the heirs cannot insist that she take it in order to be exempt from her maintenance.

But the people of Judea would write, "You shall live in my house and shall be maintained from my estate until the heirs agree to give you - the money of - your ketubah," therefore if the heirs agree, they give her her ketubah and dismiss her - according to the Judean version, the heirs can pay the ketubah to their father's widow even against her will, in order to free themselves from her maintenance, whereas according to the Galilean and Jerusalem version, as long as the widow does not claim her ketubah in the Court and does not remarry, she is maintained from her husband's estate according to the condition of the ketubah.

The Jerusalem Talmud states, "The people of Galilee were concerned about their honor but not about their money; the people of Judea were concerned about their money but not about their honor." The law is in accordance with the people of Jerusalem and Galilee.

KETUBOT: CHAPTER 5: MISHNAH 1

Even though they said, A virgin collects two hundred and a widow a maneh, he may add. If she was widowed, or divorced, whether after betrothal, or after marriage -- she collects the whole. Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah says, After marriage she collects the whole; after betrothal -- a virgin collects two hundred and a widow a maneh, for he only wrote for her in order to wed her. Rabbi Yehudah says, If he so desires, he writes for a virgin a document of two hundred, and she writes, "I received from you a maneh; and for a widow a maneh, and she writes, "I received from you fifty zuz." Rabbi Meir says, Whoever assigns for a virgin less than two hundred or for a widow less than one hundred, this constitutes wanton intercourse.

Kehati

Our mishnah discusses the case of one who desires to increase or reduce the principal of the ketubah.

Even though they -- the Sages, said, A virgin collects two hundred -- dinars, in payment of her ketubah, and a widow -- who remarries, collects a maneh -- one hundred dinars, as taught above (4:7), if he -- the husband, desires to add -- to the fixed amount of his wife's ketubah, even one hundred maneh -- ten thousand dinars, he may add -- according to the Gemara the mishnah teaches that the Sages did not fix a maximum amount of the ketubah so as not to embarrass those who could not afford to add, rather every husband is permitted to add as much as he desires. This addition is called the "tosefot ha-ketubah," the "supplementary to the ketubah." Some commentators learn from the mishnah that the tosefot (addition) and the principal of the ketubah may be written together as one amount (Rabbeinu Nissim; Tiferet Yisrael). According to other opinions, it is not proper to combine them since the word "mohar" mentioned in the text of the ketubah refers only to the "principal," and the amount of the tosefet must be written separately; nevertheless, the mishnah needs to teach us that whoever wishes to assign an additional sum may do so and we are not concerned that it will embarrass those who cannot afford to add (Hameiri; Hamordekhai; see Rema on Even HaEzer 66:7).

If she was widowed, or divorced, whether after betrothal -- if he wrote the ketubah at the time of the betrothal, or after the marriage -- she collects the whole -- including the supplement which he added for her.

Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah says, If she was widowed or divorced after marriage she collects the whole -- in accordance with the opinion of the First Tanna; but if she was widowed or divorced after betrothal -- a virgin collects two hundred and a widow a maneh -- the principal of the ketubah, but not the supplement (tosefet) which he added for her, for he only wrote -- the supplement -- for her in order to wed her -- and since he did not wed her, she does not receive the supplement. The halakhah follows Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah.

Rabbi Yehudah says, If he -- the husband, so desires -- to reduce the amount of the ketubah, he writes for a virgin a document -- a ketubah, of two hundred -- as enacted by the Sages who prohibit any reductions in the amount of the ketubah, and she -- his wife, writes -- "I received from you a maneh -- i.e., she foregoes the payment of part of her ketubah, and writes that she received part of her ketubah, in this case a maneh, even though he did not give her anything; and -- similarly, the husband writes for a widow -- a ketubah of -- a maneh -- one hundred zuz, as enacted by the Sages, and she writes, "I received from you fifty zuz" -- even though she did not receive anything, as we explained in the case of the virgin, and thus he reduces the fixed amount of the ketubah.

Rabbi Meir says, the principal of the ketubah may not be reduced under any circumstances, even by the method of "I received," and whoever assigns for a virgin less than two hundred or for a widow less than one hundred -- even though his stipulation is void and she has her ketubah, nevertheless, since she thinks that the stipulation is valid, this is accounted wanton intercourse. -- For Rabbi Meir holds that "a man is forbidden to be with his wife even for a brief spell without a valid ketubah," and the ketubah is not valid when less than two hundred for a virgin or less than one hundred for a widow. The halakhah follows Rabbi Meir.

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