Kesubos - Daf 9

  • האומר פתח פתוח מצאתי נאמן לאוסרה עליו

Rebbe Elazar said: האומר פתח פתוח מצאתי נאמן לאוסרה עליו – One who says regarding his kallah, “I found an open entrance,” (suggesting that she has already had relations with someone else) is believed to make her forbidden to him. Rashi explains that there is no taanis besulim, either because she is from a family that does not have dum besulim, or because the cloth that would have shown the blood was lost. Even though his claim cannot be verified, לגבי נפשיה הוי מהימן לשוייה עליה חתיכה דאיסורא – he is believed as it applies to himself to make her into something that is forbidden to him. He is not believed to the extent that it would make her lose her kesubah. The Gemara asks why she should be forbidden, given that it is a case of ספק ספיקא – a double doubt. It is a safek whether she had relations while she was engaged to him, and even if she did, ספק באונס ספק ברצון – it is a safek whether she was forced or did it willingly. The Gemara answers that Rebbe Elazar’s ruling would apply to a Kohen’s wife, who does become forbidden even if it was by force, and it even applies with a Yisrael’s wife, where her father accepted kiddushin for her when she was less than three years old and a day.

  • Why Batsheva was permitted to Dovid

As part of the analysis of Rebbe Elazar’s ruling, the question is asked regarding the incident with Bat Sheva and Dovid, why Bat Sheva was not forbidden to Dovid, since, Rashi explains, there were many witnesses. The Gemara brings two answers. She was an אונס, and a woman does not become forbidden in such a case. Or, it is in accordance with that which Rebbe Shmuel bar Nachmani said in the name of Rebbe Yonasan: כל היוצא למלחמת בית דוד גט כריתות כותב לאשתו – Whoever would go out to fight in a war of Beis Dovid would write a get for his wife, as it is written in regard to instructions that Dovid received from Yishai his father, "ואת אחיך תפקד לשלום ואת ערבתם תקח" – And look into your brothers’ well-being and take their “arubah.” What does it mean to “take their arubah”? Rav Yosef taught the following Baraisa: דברים המעורבין בינו לבינה – It refers to things which are mixed between him and her, which Rashi explains means, taking the kiddushin away by means of a get. The get was given conditionally, to take effect from the time of writing, if the husband were to die in battle. Uriah died on the battlefield, and therefore, Batsheva was permitted to Dovid.

  • האומר פתח פתוח מצאתי נאמן להפסידה כתובתה

Rav Yehudah said in the name of Shmuel: האומר פתח פתוח מצאתי נאמן להפסידה כתובתה – If a man says, “I found an open entrance,” he is believed to make her lose her kesubah. Rashi makes reference to the Gemara on the following Daf which asks what did the Chochomim achieve by instituting a kesubah if the husband can free himself of payment by claiming, פתח פתוח מצאתי, and Rava’s answer that we are not concerned because it is a חזקה אין אדם טורח בסעודה ומפסידה – it is chazakah that a man will not go through the effort of preparing the seudah for the chasunah, and then waste it.