Kesubos 2:9-10

Kesubos 2:9

Let’s say that a woman is imprisoned by non-Jews. If it’s for financial reasons (like a debt), she remains permitted to her husband (even if he is a kohein – because we do not suspect that her captors will rape her and risk forfeiting their financial claim). If she is imprisoned because she committed a capital crime, then she is prohibited to her husband (even if he is a Yisroel – because we suspect that she may have allowed her captors to have their way with her in order to secure her freedom). If a city is conquered by an invading army, all the wives of the kohanim become prohibited to them but if they have a witness – even a male or female servant – then they are believed, but a person is not believed about himself. Such a situation occurred to Rabbi Zechariah ben HaKatzav and he swore that he never let go of his wife’s hand from the time the invaders entered Jerusalem until they left. The Sages informed him that a person is not believed when he testifies about himself.

Kesubos 2:10

The following are believed when they testify as adults about things they saw when they were children: to identify his father’s signature, his teacher’s signature or his brother’s signature; that a certain woman went to her wedding wearing a veil with her hair uncovered (in the style of virgins); that a certain person used to leave school to go immerse in order to eat terumah and that he would share terumah on the threshing floor (both signs that he is a kohein); that a certain place contains a grave that was plowed; where the Shabbos boundary was. A person is not believed if he testifies that a certain person had right of access in a certain place, or about the places involved in a certain person’s funeral procession. (The reason he is not believed in these latter questions is because they have financial consequences. Accordingly, they require two adult witnesses and his testimony regarding what he saw as a child is of no consequence.)