Yerushalmi Ketubot 1:2 ירושלמי כתובות א׳:ב׳

MISHNAH: The ketubah¹⁰⁶The minimum payable to the bride at the dissolution of the marriage either by divorce or by the husband’s death. This does not exclude that the ketubah document may stipulate higher amounts. of a virgin is 200 and that of a widow one mina¹⁰⁷100 zuz. The Mishnah remains noncommittal about the nature of the coin involved.. The ketubah of virgins who after a preliminary marriage⁵³Mishnah 1:2. In all three cases the husband died before the ḥuppah ceremony and the women are presumed to be virgins. become widows, divorcees, or who received ḥalîṣah, is 200 and they are subject to a claim of non-virginity¹⁰⁸To invalidate the document if they are found not to be virgins.. The ketubah of a proselyte, a prisoner, and a slave who were redeemed¹⁰⁹It is assumed that a female kidnap victim will be raped as a matter of course. But a girl raped at age less than 3 years still is a virgin., freed¹¹⁰Since slaves can have guiltless sexual relations with Gentiles, it is assumed that they do have such relations., or converted¹¹¹There is no presumed minimal age for sexual activity of Gentiles. Therefore, a proselyte aged more than 3 years at conversion is presumed not to be virginal. at less than three years and one day of age, is 200 and they are subject to a claim of non-virginity¹⁰⁸To invalidate the document if they are found not to be virgins..

HALAKHAH: “The ketubah of a virgin is 200 and that of a widow one mina,” etc. Huna in the name of Samuel: In the Temple šeqel¹¹²The Temple šeqel coins struck in Jerusalem during the first war with the Romans are silver coins weighing between 13.5 and 14.3 g. The corresponding Tyrian coinage is about 13.5 g. A Temple šeqel in Babylonian theory is twice the weight of a common šeqel, which is the name of the two-denar coin. This means that the Temple šeqel is equal, both in the Yerushalmi and in the Babli, to the Roman tetradrachma (סֶלַע), based on an unadulterated silver denar (drachma, זוּז) of 3.4 g. Tyre ceased to mint coins between the reigns of Augustus and Septimius Severus, meaning that Tyrian coins in the Mishnaic period were unadulterated silver. Samuel requires that the ketubah be adjusted for the inflation caused by the debasement of the currency in circulation. It may be that he holds that the basic ketubah amount is a biblical requirement (cf. Halakhah 13:11).. Rebbi Abba bar Bina said, circulating coin¹¹³The value of the ketubah has to be computed on the basis of the currency in circulation.. A Mishnah supports Rebbi Abba bar Bina¹¹⁴Mishnah Bekhorot 8:7; cf. Tosephta Ketubot 12:6.: “The five tetradrachmas of the firstborn¹¹⁵The redemption of the firstborn, Num. 3:47, identifying the biblical šeqel as tetradrachma. are in Tyrian coinage, the 30 of the slave¹¹⁶30 šeqel weregilt for the killing of another person’s slave by one’s ox, Ex. 21:32., the 50 of the rapist and the seducer¹¹⁷50 šeqel bride money paid by the rapist (Deut. 22:29) and, by inference, the seducer (Ex. 22:15–16) of a girl., the 100 of the slanderer¹¹⁸The fine imposed on a man wrongly accusing his wife of committing adultery during her preliminary marriage period, Deut. 22:19., are all computed in Temple šeqels in Tyrian coinage.” A woman’s ketubah is not stated with them. Rebbi Abin said, did they not learn the ketubah of a woman from the rapist and the seducer¹¹⁹Since the 50 tetradrachmas due from the rapist and the seducer are exactly 200 denarii; either these 200 denarii are the “bride money” described in the verse Ex. 22:16 or at least they are the inspiration for the rabbis to fixate the minimum ketubah at 200 zuz.? Since the rapist and the seducer are mentioned, it is as if women’s ketubah was stated with them¹²⁰The Mishnah from Bekhorot does not prove anything..

So far about a virgin. What about a widow? Rav Ḥinena said, it is enough for a widow that she take half of a virgin’s portion¹²¹Everybody agrees that the ketubah of a widow is a rabbinic institution..

Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Ada said, even if “a woman’s ketubah” was stated with them¹²²Even if the Mishnah did state that the ketubah of the virgin is a biblical institution, practice could not follow that Mishnah since all amoraic authorities hold that the ketubah is a purely rabbinic institution. The Babli (Qiddušin 10b) quotes Mishnah Bekhorot 8:7 with the addition that “all money due by rabbinic institutions is local coin”, following R. Abba bar Bun. A similar statement underlies the text here., do not all these rabbis disagree? Rebbi Ḥananiah and Rebbi Jonathan both say, circulating¹²³This can be debased coin. However, if merchants refuse to accept debased silver coin but require to be paid in gold, it would not be possible to liquidate a ketubah debt in legal but not circulating coin. coin. Rebbi Joshua ben Levi said, circulating coin. Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa, Rebbi Immi, Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish in the name of Rebbi Jehudah Neśia: Current coin. Rebbi Joḥanan said¹²⁴The history of interpretation of this sentence is documented by D. Sperber, Roman Palestine200–400, Money & Prices, Ramat Gan 1974, p. 223. I follow Sperber in identifying the coins referred to as those of Severus Alexander, whose Antiochene coins, following those of Elagabalus, earned the attribute of “good”, returning to earlier standards after the debasement of the gold minting by Caracalla., good Severan tetradrachmas, Jerusalem ones¹²⁵This must refer to the full weight Jerusalem Temple šeqels of the war against the Romans, not the copper coins of Aelia Capitolina. R. Joḥanan here holds with Samuel that the ketubah goes by biblical standards.. These are saying so, those are saying otherwise¹²⁶In general, R. Jonathan, R. Joshua ben Levi, and R. Joḥanan are the leading authorities; it is difficult to decide if they disagree.! But he¹²⁷R. Joḥanan changed his mind and agreed that the ketubah has to be satisfied by rabbinical standards. also changed his mind and thought like them. Are not always these saying so, those are saying otherwise¹²⁸The standing of the ketubah is no different from most other rabbinic institutions.? Here, even he changed his mind and thought like them.

There came a case before Rebbi Ḥanina of a woman whose ketubah was less than 200 zuz¹²⁹The rabbinic commentaries all explain that the ketubah was written for 200 (debased) silver denars, as R. Ḥanina lived in the first half of the third Century C.E., at the end of the Severan dynasty and the early military anarchy. It could also be that the document was written in terms of a foreign currency, Persian or other, which when translated into local currency turned out to be less than the statutory 200 zuz. In any case, it is clear that the ketubah did not amount to the value of 50 Temple šeqel when it became due., and he said, she should take what he had written for her. He said to Rebbi Mana¹³⁰R. Mana I., sit down and sign. He answered, follow your argument and sign yourself, did not Rebbi Ḥiyya¹³¹This probably is a scribal error since R. Ḥiyya the Elder preceded Samuel and R. Ḥiyya bar Abba lived two generations later. One should read (Rav) Ḥuna, student of Samuel’s contemporary Rav (Note 112). say in the name of Samuel, by the Temple šeqel? Rebbi Eudaimon of Sepphoris in the name of Rebbi Ḥuna: Because of a renunciation¹³²Since the woman had agreed at the moment of marriage to be satisfied with the smaller amount. [In Mishnah 5:2, R. Meïr states that living with a woman without guaranteeing her the minimum support of the ketubah is immoral and cannot be tolerated. The Babli, 57a, decides that practice follows R. Meïr, against the opinion of R. Yose (usually the higher authority) that money matters between consenting adults are their private business. The Yerushalmi discusses R. Meïr’s opinion in Halakhah 4:9 in a non-committal way; the discussion here shows that it accepts R. Yose’s opinion as determining practice.]. Now, should a woman whose ketubah was for less than 200 [zuz] not hide her ketubah in order to collect by the Temple šeqel? They said in the name of Rebbi Ḥuna, at a place where one does not write a ketubah¹³³It seems that there were places in Galilee where nobody could read or write. At such a place, the ketubah by default is 200 full weight silver denar. (A standard ketubah, as explained later, contains additions which exceed the legal minimum. Such additions are impossible if the ketubah is not written.). But at a place where one writes a ketubah, what she presents she collects. Rebbi Joḥanan said, it was stated thus: If a deaf-mute man married a hearing wife, she has no claim for support nor ketubah, but if she died, he inherits from her, for she wanted to connect him with her property, but he could not want to connect her with his property¹³⁴One must assume that the deaf-mute is also illitterate since, if he could communicate in writing, he would be able to conduct business. If he cannot write, he cannot transact business, cf. Yebamot, Chapter 14. The woman who marries him can accept all financial consequences of marriage, but her husband is incompetent to do so. (Naturally, the question could be asked, how can an incompetent person inherit? The question is asked for the next statement; it could have been asked here. The Babli, Yebamot 113a, notes that if the husband is healed and becomes able to conduct business, the marriage ceremony has to be repeated.). If a hearing male married a deaf-mute woman, she has a claim to support and ketubah, but if she died, he does not inherit, for he wanted to connect her with his property, but she could not want to connect him with her property. But can a deaf-mute woman acquire and have ketubah?¹³⁵It is clear that the deaf-mute woman has a claim to support since she lives with her husband. The question is only, how can the deaf-mute woman acquire a claim to the ketubah that could be enforced against her husband’s legal heirs, whose claim to the inheritance is biblical?
In contrast, the Babli, Yebamot 113a, holds that in this case of a deaf-mute bride her legal status is irrelevant; since the groom dedicated the ketubah money to her, the court will transfer it to her guardians. This must also be the theory of the Tosephta, 1:3, which prescribes 200 zuz for the virgin deaf-mute or insane bride. Rebbi Jeremiah in the name of Rebbi Eleazar, explain it that at the moment he married her, she was hearing. Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa in the name of Rebbi Eleazar, he married her when she was hearing but she turned deaf-mute¹³⁶The two statements in the name of R. Eleazar are identical in meaning.. In any case, did he not marry her when she was hearing¹³⁷The explanation cannot work: if the woman was competent when she married, she acquired all the rights of a married woman and her later loss of hearing and speech cannot change that.? Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa in the name of Rebbi Eleazar, explain it that she was deaf-mute and turned hearing; he married her when she was hearing and she turned deaf¹³⁸She was deaf-mute before the marriage, she is deaf-mute now. But in between there was a period in which she could communicate with the outside world; she acquired all the rights of a married wife if the husband lived with her during her lucid period.. That you should not say, because at the start she was deaf-mute she has [no] ketubah, therefore it is necessary to say that she (does not have) [has]¹³⁹The words in parentheses are those of the ms.; the words in brackets are those of the editio princeps. Only the latter make sense.. Rebbi Yose does not say so, but since if one has sexual relations with a deaf-mute, is he not liable for a fine¹⁴⁰The fines of the rapist and the seducer (Note 117) of an underage girl. The Tosephta (3:5) states that the deaf-mute has no claim to a fine. The existing mss. and the editio princeps of the Babli (36a) quote the Tosephta to the effect that she has a claim, but Tosafot RID quotes “she has no claim”. S. Lieberman concludes that the original version of the Babli (if there existed a uniform original version) cannot be reconstrued. He also accepts the emendation of M. Margalit: אִילּוּ מִי שֶׁבָּא עַל הַחֲרֶשֶׁת שֶׁמָּא אִית לָהּ קְנָס. וְכָל־שֶׁאֵין לָהּ קְנָס אֵין לָהּ כְּתוּבָּה. “If one has sexual relations with a deaf-mute, would he be not liable for a fine? Since there is no fine there is no ketubah.” Even though this changes only one letter in the text, one should hesitate to accept emendations of M. Margalit without very convincing reasons.? Only if there were no fine would there be no ketubah. Rebbi Yudan said, does that depend on a fine? Look, the adult woman¹⁴¹Who marries as a virgin. collects no fine but her ketubah is 200, the virgin after marriage collects a fine¹⁴²If she still has not reached 12 years and 6 months of age. The argument of R. Yose is shown to be wrong. but her ketubah is a mina⁶²If the husband died immediately after the final marriage ceremony, the widow is still a virgin but in her next marriage she can claim only the widow’s mina for her ketubah, the same as a widow who is not a virgin. Therefore, for R. Eleazar there is no reason why she should marry on a Wednesday.!

¹⁴³Tosefta 1:3; a slightly different wording in the Babli, Yebamot 113a.”A deaf-mute or an insane male who were taken in¹⁴⁴Married. by a hearing woman. Even if the deaf-mute became hearing, or the insane sane, she has no ketubah. If he wants to keep her, her ketubah is one mina¹⁴⁵Even if at the start she was a virgin, now, at the moment her husband is legally able to contract a marriage, she is no virgin..” Rebbi Eleazar in the name of Rebbi Ḥanina: Only if he slept with her after he became hearing or sane. If he did not sleep with her after he became hearing or sane, she does not even have a ketubah of a mina¹⁴⁶Since there never was a legal marriage..

At less than three years and one day of age¹⁴⁷This explains the statement of the Mishnah that girls violated less than three years of age are still virgins., Rebbi Yose in the name of [Rav] Ḥiyya bar Ashi, Rebbi Jonah, Rav Ḥiyya bar Ashi in the name of Rav: What is this like? One makes a dimple in the flesh which straightens out by itself. Rebbi Ḥiyya stated: Like one who muddies a source which becomes clear again. Rebbi Yose said, a Mishnah says so¹⁴⁸Niddah 5:4: Younger than that, it is as if one puts a finger on an eye. ¹⁴⁹From Nedarim 6:13, Notes 138-141. Variant readings: ונמלכין ׀ נמלכו, אין הבתולין ׀ אינן, הבתולין ׀ בתולין. Rebbi Abun said: “I am calling to Almighty God, to the God who decides with me.” If a girl is three years and one day old, if the Court decided to lengthen, her hymen repairs itself, otherwise her hymen does not repair itself.