Kesubos - Daf 78
- The difference when a woman inherits properties before or after erusin
The opening Mishnah of the eighth perek discusses the ability of a wife to sell נכסי מלוג in four different cases. It begins: האשה שנפלו נכסים עד שלא תתארס – If a woman inherited property before becoming an arusah and then became an arusah, Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel agree שמוכרת ונותנת וקיים – that she may sell or give them away, and the transfer stands. נפלו משנתארסה – If she inherits the properties after becoming an arusah, Beis Shammai say: She may sell them, but Beis Hillel say: She may not sell them. אלו ואלו מודים שאם מכרה ונתנה קיים – They both agree that if she sells them or gives them away, the transfer stands. The Gemara asks what the difference is between inheriting the property before or after erusin, and concludes that in the reisha נפלו בזכותה - the properties were bequeathed to her when she had rights to the property, whereas in the seifa, אימר בזכותה אימר בזכותו – one can say she has rights and or perhaps he has rights to it. Rashi explains דארוסין עושה ספק נישואין - that erusin creates a safek nisuin, for perhaps he will end up marrying her, perhaps he may not. Therefore, לכתחלה לא תמכר – initially she should not sell them, but if she sold them or gave them away, the transfer stands.
- רבן גמליאל: על החדשים אנו בושים אלא שאתם מגלגלין עלינו את הישנים
The Mishnah continues: Rebbe Yehudah said: אמרו חכמים לפני רבן גמליאל – The Chochomim argued before Rabban Gamliel: הואיל וזכה באשה לא יזכה בנכסים - Since he gained possession of the woman, in that she is his arusah, should he not gain possession of the properties? Rabban Gamliel replied: על החדשים אנו בושים אלא שאתם מגלגלין עלינו את הישנים – Concerning the new properties she acquired after becoming a nesuah, we are ashamed that the Rabbanon permitted the husband to retrieve them from the buyers, and you wish to impose on us the old properties, a limitation on her ability to sell the properties she acquired and sold as an arusah? The Gemara asks if Rebbe Yehudah is referring to Beis Shammai’s ruling permitting the woman לכתחלה to sell the property, or to Beis Hillel’s ruling, which upholds the sale בדיעבד, and brings a Baraisa that is conclusive that Rebbe Yehudah was stating the question in reference to Beis Hillel’s ruling of upholding the sale בדיעבד.
- The difference between the takanah in the Mishnah and what was enacted in Usha
The Mishnah stated regarding a nisuah who inherited properties משניסת אלו ואלו מודים שהבעל מוציא – If she inherited them after becoming a nisuah, everyone agrees that if she sold them or gave them away, the husband can take them from the buyers. The Gemara asks: לימא תנינא לתקנת אושא – Shall we say we have learned a takanah from Usha? This does not make sense, for in Usha, the Rabbanon enacted האשה שמכרה בנכסי מלוג בחיי בעלה ומתה הבעל מוציא מיד לקוחות – If a woman sells נכסי מלוג in her husband’s lifetime and later dies, the husband may take the property from the possession of the buyers, and the Rabbanon in Usha lived after the Rabbanon in our Mishnah? The Gemara answers: מתניתין בחייה ולפירות – Our Mishnah is dealing with the status of the field during her lifetime, and refers to the produce of the land, whereas the takanah of Usha בגופה של קרקע ולאחר מיתה – deals with the land itself and refers to its status after his wife’s death. Rashi explains that the Mishnah does not mean that the sale is totally void. It is only void with regard to the husband’s right to remove the produce. If she then dies, the husband loses that right. In Usha, they enacted that the husband inherits even the property itself.
