Yerushalmi Ketubot 5:2 ירושלמי כתובות ה׳:ב׳

MISHNAH: Rebbi Jehudah says, if he wants he writes for a virgin a contract of 200 [zuz] and she writes “I received 100 from you”, or for a widow a mina and she writes “I received 50 from you.⁴⁴Obviously the woman must agree to the smaller sum.” Rebbi Meïr says, anyone who diminishes [the ketubah] of a virgin below 200 or that of a widow below 100 is engaging in whoring copulation⁴⁵For him, the sums of 100/200 zuz are the absolute minimum. He admits that there are places where one does not write a ketubah document; this fact does not diminish the amount of ketubah due..

HALAKHAH: “Rebbi Jehudah says, if he wants he writes,” etc. Does Rebbi Jehudah think that the minimum for a virgin is a mina and for a widow 50 zuz⁴⁶Since those are the amounts he settles for.? Should he not write so from the start? But it must be a diminution afterwards⁴⁷R. Jehudah cannot alter the established practice that at the time of the wedding the amounts must be 200/100 zuz. The Babli disagrees (57a) in the name of Bar Qappara.. Why can he not write that “I received from you such and such”? It was found that bar Kappara stated: “I received from you such and such⁴⁸Any amount is possible if the wife agrees.”. Rebbi Joḥanan said: Rebbi Jehudah formulated this only for the end; but at the start, even Rebbi Jehudah agrees⁴⁷R. Jehudah cannot alter the established practice that at the time of the wedding the amounts must be 200/100 zuz. The Babli disagrees (57a) in the name of Bar Qappara.. What is the beginning and what is the end? The colleagues in the name of R. Joḥanan: Before he had intercourse⁴⁹This is the definition of beginning., and after he had intercourse. Rebbi Ze‘ira in the name of R. Joḥanan: Before he took her in, and after he took her in⁵⁰“Taking in” is the ceremony of the definitive marriage; in this second version the wife can write a partial receipt even before they sleep together.
In a different setting, the Babli (57a) quotes these two possibilities and in addition “beginning” as before the definitive marriage and “end” as after sexual relations. This is theoretical since the Babli decides that practice follows R. Meïr.. If he did not have intercourse with her, divorced her, and took her in again; that is before and after⁵¹Since a woman divorced after the definitive marriage but before sexual relations can claim only a ketubah of a mina, it is at the end. But since she still is a virgin, it is the beginning. The definition of R. Ze‘ira leads to the construction of a self-contradictory case; it should be rejected..

What is a wife and what is a concubine⁵²Since the institution of pilegeš does not exist in rabbinic practice, the question is of purely theoretical character, an inquiry into the essence of the biblical institution of legal concubine.? Rebbi Meïr says, a wife has a ketubah, a concubine has no ketubah⁵³Since R. Meïr in the Mishnah forbids any marriage without a full ketubah, he must hold that a concubine is not married. This is the position of the Babli, Sanhedrin 21a, articulated by Rav. (For rabbinic practice in Medieval Spain, cf. Menaḥem ben Aaron ben Zeraḥ, צדה לדרך Part 3, Chapter 2.). Rebbi Jehudah says, both have a ketubah. A wife has a ketubah and the ketubah stipulations; a concubine has a ketubah but no ketubah stipulations⁵⁴Since he permits any modification of the financial aspects of marriage by written mutual consent, he also admits a situation in which a female of lower social rank signs away her rights.. Rav⁵⁵The context requires this translation. Jehudah in the name of Rav: These are the opinions of Rebbi Meïr and Rebbi Jehudah. But the words of the Sages⁵⁶Tosephta 4:7.: “A man may marry a woman and stipulate with her not to feed her and not to provide for her⁵⁷This Tosephta has two aspects. It implies that the institution of concubines has no place in rabbinic law but that the parties are free to decide on the material aspects of their marriage (while retaining the formal requirement of a ketubah of 200/100 zuz). It also recognizes that a woman of higher social standing can buy herself a husband on her terms. Cf. Tosefta ki-Fshutah, part 6, p. 244.. Not only that, but that she should feed and provide for him and teach him Torah⁵⁸This may mean that she pays for him so he can go and study full time. However, R. Petaḥya of Regensburg reports that a daughter of the Gaon of Baghdad was a lecturer in his Academy, and the Yerushalmi looks approvingly on women’s Torah study; cf. Berakhot 3:3, Note 137.. It happened that Rebbi Joshua, son of Rebbi Aqiba, married a woman and stipulated with her not to feed her and not to provide for her. Not only that, but that she should feed and provide for him and teach him Torah. But when years of famine came and they distributed the properties among themselves⁵⁹It is not clear what this means; it could be that her family’s property was distributed among the heirs and her part was no longer sufficient., she started complaining about him to the Sages of Israel. He⁶⁰R. Aqiba’s son said to the Sages. said to them, for me she is trustworthy more than anybody. She told them, it is true that thus I stipulated with him. [They said to her]⁶¹Inserted from the Tosephta, not in the Yerushalmi text., nothing comes after acquisition⁶²Since there are contracts written for the future, such as the ketubah, the execution of the contract alone does not make it valid or irrevocable. For this it needs an act of acquisition, exemplified by Ruth 4:7, where the acquirer (Boaz) takes his sandal and lets the seller (the redeemer) move it in front of witnesses. {In the Tosephta, the expression is קיצה “contract”.} After acquisition, a contract can only be modified by a written rider agreed to by the parties..”