Resources for Kesubos daf 10

1.     The גמרא says that the חכמים were מתקן כתובת אשה for every Jewish woman with a בתולה getting two hundred זוז and an אלמנה getting one hundred. תוספות in ד"ה אמר רב נחמן points out that it sounds like כתובה is דרבנן. The גמרא in יבמות on דף פּ"ט that says that the חכמים were מתקן a כתובה so that a man would not divorce his wife capriciously also sounds like it is a דין דרבנן. The problem is that we write in our כתובות (at least Ashkenazim do) that the money is "חזי ליכי מדאורייתא". Based on that, תוספות concludes that it must be that כתובה is דאורייתא and we pasken like רשב"ג against those גמרות as we usually pasken like רשב"ג when he is mentioned in משניות. The רא"ש in סימן י"ט brings that all גאונים disagreed with this and held כתובה was דרבנן. The words “דחזי ליכי מדאורייתא” just mean that the husband must pay in כסף צורי which is the type of money we use for a דין דאורייתא (it is more expensive). The רמב"ן on דף ק"י ע"ב ד"ה נשא also holds that כתובה is דרבנן but adds that anyone who writes דחזי ליכי מדאורייתא is making a mistake and it shouldn’t be there. Theרמב"ן  goes a step further. He suggests that even רשב"ג doesn’t mean it’s a regular דין דאורייתא! All the פּסוקים brought are just an אסמכתא. What he means is that it is a הלכה למשה מסיני to have some kind of כתובה, but the amount to be paid is not preordained. It was the חכמים who came up with amount. That’s why it says in our גמרא the words חכמים תקנו לבתולה מאתים ולאלמנה מנה. Theרמב"ם  in הלכות אישות פּרק י הל׳ ז sounds like he holds כתובה is דרבנן as well. However, in other places he seems to define marriage as קידושין וכתובה even in a דאורייתא context such as when defining the איסור קדשה and the concept of פּלגש. It is possible that he holds like theרמב"ן ’s understanding of רשב"ג’s שיטה.

2.     The גמרא says that a woman from a משפּחת דורקטי will not see blood and will not have a lot of children. There is a תשובה in אגרות משה in אבן העזר חלק ג סימן כ"ז about a woman who was twenty years old and had never gotten her period. However, the doctor said that he expected that once she got married she would start to get a normal וסת like everyone else. They asked Reb Moshe ז"ל if they were obligated to tell the חתן about this in advance. Reb Moshe ז"ל brought a ראיה from our גמרא. The גמרא sounds like once רבן גמליאל heard the woman was from a משפּחת דורקטי he said they should go back and be married and did not say it was a מקח טעות. Rather, it sounds like that while this woman may not have a lot of kids but she can still have some children or else it would be a מקח טעות. This fits with רש"י in נדה דף ס"ד ע"ב ד"ה דור who says that people from משפּחת דורקטי don’t have a lot of kids. However, the רמב"ם  in פּירוש המשניות in מסכת נדה פּרק ט and the רמ"א in סימן ס"ח סעיף ה say that משפּחת דורקטי cant have any kids. Nonetheless, Reb Moshe ז"ל explains that it can’t mean that literally or else the lady would never have been born since she came from a משפּחת דורקטי. Furthermore, the גמרא clearly implies the marriage wasn’t a מקח טעות. Therefore, it must be that even according to those שיטות our גמרא means that there are some people who will be unable to have any children from that type of family but not all. In this case, the doctor thinks she will stop being that way once she gets married. He therefore concludes that they don’t have to mention it to the חתן, at least מעיקר הדין.  He gives a suggestion there about how to go about it.

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