Kesubos - Daf 90
- נשא את הראשונה ומתה נשא שניה ומת הוא
The opening Mishnah of the tenth perek states: מי שהיה נשוי שתי נשים ומת – If one was married to two wives and he died during their lifetime, and there were not enough funds to pay for both of their kesubos, הראשונה קודמת לשניה ויורשי הראשונה קודמין ליורשי שניה – the first wife has priority over the second wife in collecting her kesubah, and the heirs of the first wife have priority over the heirs of the second wife, if both women die before the payment is made. נשא את הראשונה ומתה נשא שניה ומת הוא – If he married the first wife and she died, and he then married a second wife and he died in her lifetime, שניה ויורשיה קודמין ליורשי הראשונה – the second wife or her heirs have priority over the heirs of the first wife in collecting the kesubah. Rashi explains that since the husband died while the second wife was still alive, she or her heirs come to collect her kesubah as baalei chov, whereas the kesubas b’nin dichrin of the heirs of the first wife is being collected as a yerushah, an inheritance. Therefore, the claim of the second wife takes priority since in cases of inheritance, the heirs must pay off debts first before they can keep the remainder of the inheritance.
- יש להן כתובת בנין דכרין ולא חיישינן לאינצויי
The Gemara says that three things can be learned from the Mishnah’s case where the first wife died, and then the husband dies after marrying a second woman, where her heirs take precedence over the first one’s heirs. שמע מינה אחת בחייו ואחת במותו – Learn from this that if a man’s two wives died, one during his lifetime and one after his death, that the heirs of the first wife יש להן כתובת בנין דכרין – have rights to the kesubas b’nin dichrin ולא חיישינן לאינצויי – and we are not concerned that this will lead to quarrelling. Rashi explains that one might have thought they only have rights to the kesubas b’nin dichrin when both wives die before the husband. This way, they each collect the kesubas b’nin dichrin of their mother, and then the remainder of the father’s estate is divided equally. But in the case where the second wife died after the husband, her sons are coming to collect their mother’s kesubah as a debt from the father’s estate, and not as an inheritance from the father. The sons of the second wife might claim that the sons of the first wife should not receive their kesubas b’nin dichrin since they are receiving a larger share of the father’s inheritance. Nonetheless, we see from our Mishnah that we are not concerned about quarrelling and the sons of the first wife do receive the kesubas b’nin dichrin.
- כתובה נעשית מותר לחברתה
The second law that can be learned from the Mishnah is that - כתובה נעשית מותר לחברתה a kesubah can become the surplus for the other kesubah. Rashi explains that kesubas b’nin dichrin does not go into effect unless there is a surplus of a dinar above the value of the two kesubos to be divided as an inheritance,דלא מעיקרא נחלה דאורייתא – so that that the d’Oraysa law of inheritance is not uprooted. We see from this Mishnah that even if the kesubah of the first wife is equal to the entire remainder of the estate, and nothing will remain for the heirs of the second wife other than their mother’s kesubah after it is collected, it can nevertheless be collected. The payment they receive as creditors is considered an inheritance that was received by all the father’s heirs, which is now being used to pay off the father’s kesubah debt to the second wife. This law can be inferred from the fact that the Mishnah did not teach that the heirs of the first wife collect their kesubas b’nin dichrin אם יש שם מותר דינר – if there is a surplus dinar there.
