The Elliot B. Sitt edition, an audio series of the Talmud Bavli, Masechet Ketubot, has been dedicated by our dear friend Mr. Elliot Shasha, Hashem yishmerehu vechayehu. May the zechut of the limud of Masechet Ketubot stand for him, that he should have be'ezrat Hashem a shana tova umevorechet, osher ve'osher vechavod, shalom bayit, and success in all his endeavors vehatzlacha bechol ma'aseh yadav. Ve'be'ezrat Hashem, may he continue to be a supporter of Torah and all holy projects. Amen.
We are beginning Masechet Ketubot, daf bet. Today's daf is being studied le'ilui nishmat Ora bat Zakiya. Ruach Hashem tenichena be'gan eden. Amen. Today is the yahrtzeit. We are also studying today's daf le'ilui nishmat Avraham ben Ester. Ruach Hashem tenichenu be'gan eden. Amen. And for refuah sheleima Yosef ben Sara, Rachamim ben Adel, and Sara bat Rachel. El na refa na lahem, el na refa na lahem, el na refa na lahem. Refuat hanefesh u'refuat haguf, refuah sheleima bikarov. Amen ve'chen yehi ratzon venomar amen.
We begin at the beginning of the first Mishnah: Betula nisset leyom harevi'i. In the olden days, the custom was, the Mishnah tells us, that a betula, a virgin, would get married leyom harevi'i, which means on Wednesday, the fourth day. Rashi explains: Takanat hachamim hi shetinaseh berevi'i beshabat. This was a takana of the hachamim. The Mishnah will explain the reason shortly. A ve'almana, a widow, which is not a betula, leyom hachamishi. So she would get married on Thursday, according to the custom.
The Mishnah explains: shepa'amayim beshabat batei dinin yoshvim ba'ayarot. The beit din, the court, sits in the cities beyom hasheni uveyom hachamishi. As we know, Monday and Thursday are considered the days when the beit din convenes. Rashi notes: shepa'amayim beshabat habetula ka'ee. The Mishnah is now going to explain the reason why betula nisset leyom harevi'i, basheni uvachamishi. Why did they establish Mondays and Thursdays? Well, achat me'eser takanot shetiken Ezra. This is one of the ten institutions that Ezra Hasofer established, beferek meruba. Mefarish lekulu. All ten are explained in Masechet Bava Kamma, and thus they enacted that she should get married on Wednesday velachen tiknu shetinaseh berevi'i.
Rashi provides the logic: Why should she get married on Wednesday? She'im hayu lo ta'anat betulim, let's say he was with her and then he comes along claiming petach patuach matzati. What is petach patuach? I found that she was open, which means she is not a betula. He married a betula and therefore she’s not, and thus he has a claim. So what's going to happen? Yashkim leveit din. He gets married on Wednesday, and the next day is already beit din day, so he can rush to the beit din be'od ka'aso alav. We want him to rush to the beit din when he's still angry.
If there is a delay Ve'im yesh shehut beintayim, which means if, let's say, they get married on Tuesday, he then has two days to simmer down until he comes to the beit din on Thursday. Yesh lachush shema yitpayes. We worry that he might get appeased, vetitkorer da'ato, and he will calm down, and veyikayemena. He might say, "You know what, I'll stay married." And perhaps veshema zanta tachtav. The concern is that maybe after the erusin, which means after they were engaged, she went with someone else. Now she becomes asura to be with the husband. He might cool down and say, "You know what, it's okay," but he is not allowed to do that.
Furthermore, U'mitoch sheyavo leveit din, again, he is not believed on his own. For him to come and say petach patuach matzati that he found, let's say, she is not a betula. The reason what will cause when he comes to the beit din, Rashi explains, is that there will be a kol that will be sent. There’s going to be talk: "Oh, you heard someone came to the beit din, he has a claim against his wife." Shema yavo'u eidim. Now it will cause witnesses to come and say, "Yes, we know that this lady over here went with so and so after she was an arusah," and that will solidify the claim.
The Gemara asks a question: v'tinnasei b'echad b'shabbos? If you tell me beit din sits, then why not allow her to get married on a Sunday? That will be the Gemara's question, so let's read the Mishnah. Beis din yoshvin b'sheini u'v'yom chamishi she'im haya lo ta'anat betulim, if he had a claim of betulim and he did not find, haya mashkim leveit din. He would get up early the next morning to the beit din.
The Meforshim comment on this, and the Shita Mekubetzes quotes, and I quote, "I'm looking into the Biurei HaRishonim. The Mishnah does not state b'yom harevi'i. Why does it not say b'yom, on the fourth day? It hints to us that even though she is ready to get married on Sunday, however, we wait until yom daled shacharis. You have to wait until the fourth day. Even if she is ready from before, the Rabbis did not want them to get married on a Sunday.
Next, Tosafot raises a question on the semantics: Why doesn't it say habetula, the betula? Tosafot asks why not use the definite article like we see in other contexts? The reason is that here it is not based on pesukim regarding betula in this context. Therefore, we do not say habetula, we just say betula.
Now Tosafot asks, "If the whole thing is for the beit din, why not marry on Wednesday night?" Wednesday night is really called leil chamishi. So some Rishonim want to say you're right, the novelty of the Mishnah is that even on Wednesday, which means definitely Wednesday night, which is much closer to the day of the beit din, he will be hot. The novelty is even earlier on Wednesday, still considered early enough for her to get married. That’s how some learn.
Tosafot learns the opposite. Tosafot says v'lo b'leil chamishi as it was stated in perek basra d'niddah that there is no kesuvah that does not have disputes. The Gemara states that there is no kesuvah that does not involve arguments. Thus, if you are going to do the wedding on Wednesday night, there is a concern that you may be distracted from the wedding and kesuvah and not consummate the marriage. Therefore, we want to give enough time to settle any disputes regarding the kesuvah and all the details, so do it on Wednesday and then already Wednesday night he will have the biah and Thursday he will be ready to go to the beit din in the event that he does not see that she is a betula.
The Gemara continues, and Rav Yosef says, Amar Rav Yehuda Amar Shmuel. He said in the name of Rav Yehuda Amar Shmuel: "What is the reason they said betula nisset leyom harevi'i? What is the reason for this?" Now Tosafot has to explain to us what the real question is. The Mishnah already states the reason. So what practical difference does it make? The Gemara explains it is because we learned later on in daf mem-chet: higia zman. If a lady and a man were engaged, meaning erusin, and now the normal custom was they would set a date, and normally the nissuin was a year later. This gave the lady time to prepare herself, to beautify herself, to buy tachshitin and things like that. Once the year is up, if the husband delays the wedding, he starts to support her. Because already it is time. During the erusin, he does not have to support her. However, once the nissuin date comes, he has to start supporting her.
The Gemara states that if the year ends on a Sunday, since she can only get married on a Wednesday, he would not have to support her. This is a practical difference that arises from this law. The Gemara states: l'fi sheshaninu, we learned later on, higia zman, meaning the time came, and they did not get married, ochelet mishelo. She starts to eat from him, meaning she eats parnassah from him, and ve'ochelet b'terumah, and she can start eating terumah if she is a Bat Yisrael married to a Kohen.
The Gemara now considers: higia zman b'echad b'shabbat. If the year is up on Sunday, will he be obligated to provide her mezonot? The Gemara explains that in such a case, the husband is not held liable because he is unable to marry her on that day due to the takana of the hachamim. Thus, when the year is up on a Sunday, he does not have to start supporting her.
The Gemara continues to explore the implications of this ruling, particularly regarding circumstances of ones. Rava posits that if the husband is an ones, such as being sick, he does not have to provide mezonot. However, the Gemara raises questions about the implications of this ruling, particularly in cases where the wife may also be sick or if the couple is unable to marry due to other reasons.
Ultimately, the Gemara concludes that the principle of ein ones begittin applies, meaning that regardless of the circumstances preventing a marriage, the get remains valid. This serves to protect both the modest women who may otherwise find themselves in difficult situations and those who may attempt to manipulate the system for their own benefit.
This discussion highlights the careful consideration given by the hachamim to ensure that the laws surrounding marriage and divorce maintain the integrity of the family unit and provide protection to all parties involved. The implications of these rulings continue to resonate in contemporary discussions of marriage and divorce within the Jewish community.