Yerushalmi Ketubot 6:1 ירושלמי כתובות ו׳:א׳

MISHNAH: What a woman finds or makes with her hands belongs to her husband¹As stated in Mishnah 4:6.. Of what she inherits he eats the yield during her lifetime²He is obligated to administer her property so it retains its value. For this, he is paid with the yield of the property. All these rules can be modified by prenuptial agreements.. [Payments she receives for] settlements for shame and diminution of value belong to her³If she is injured by a third party, Mishnah Baba Qama 8:1 states that the attacker has to pay for injury, pain, medical costs, lost earnings, and mental anguish. The expression “diminution of value” used here covers both injury (permanent impairment) and pain; “shame” is mental anguish. Since the husband has a claim to her handiwork, he also has a claim for payment for the time his wife is unable to work.; Rebbi Jehudah ben Bathyra says, in case it is covered⁴The wife’s injury is covered by her clothing; then the husband’s shame that he was unable to defend his wife is not so great. If the wife’s injury is visible, the husband’s loss of face is serious., she receives two thirds and he one third; in case it is visible, he receives two thirds and she one third. His part shall be given immediately; her part shall be invested in real estate and he eats its yield.

HALAKHAH: “What a woman finds or makes with her hands belongs to her husband,” etc. Rebbi Ḥizqiah in the name of Rebbi Immi: Rebbi Joḥanan and Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish disagree: One said, this is everybody’s opinion, the other said it is in dispute⁵Between R. Meïr and R. Joḥanan the Alexandrian who disagree in Mishnah 5:5 whether a man can dedicate his wife’s work to Heaven.. We do not know who said what. It is reasonable that Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish should be the one who said it is in dispute since he explained that [the husband] provides her with food but does not give her a silver obolus as pocket money⁶Cf. Halakhah 5:5; Nedarim 11:4, Notes 51–55. R. Meïr holds that the obligatory work the wife does for her husband is for her silver obolus and what she does in addition is for her food. Therefore, if he does not provide her with pocket money, he has no right to her work and, similarly, to what she finds. For R. Joḥanan the Alexandrian, the work is for her food and the excess for the pocket money. (This is where R. Joḥanan disagrees.) Therefore, the husband has the right to what she makes and finds., and we did state: “If he does not give her a silver obolus as pocket money, what she makes with her hands is hers.” The work of her hands is parallel to what she finds. Rebbi Jacob bar Immi came in the name of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish: It is everybody’s opinion⁷What she finds belongs to her husband according to everybody, as explained in the next paragraph.. That means that Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish varies in his opinions⁸It seems that he taught different approaches to different students..

For whom is it needed⁹The clause in the Mishnah that the husband has only the usufruct of any inheritance coming to his wife during the marriage.? For Rebbi Meïr! Even though for Rebbi Meïr the hand of the slave is his master’s hand¹⁰Similarly, R. Meïr holds that a wife cannot act legally except as her husband’s representative. It would seem reasonable that a wife can retain separate property by prenuptial agreement (cf. Yebamot 7:1, Note 1), but for R. Meïr one would expect that a wife can only acquire an inheritance as representative for her husband. Therefore, it is essential that the Mishnah state that an inheritance becomes the wife’s sole property for which the husband has to act as administrator. Cf. Nedarim 11:8, Note 70; Ma‘aser Šeni 4:4, Note 95; Babli Nedarim 88b, Qiddušin 23b. and if the wife acquired title the husband should have acquired it; he agrees that his rights over it¹¹The inheritance. are restricted to the use of the yield. There, we have stated¹²Mishnah Baba Meṣi‘a 1:5.: “The finds of his underage son and daughter or of his Canaanite slave¹³It is not required that the slave be Phoenician. Any non-Jewish slave who became semi-Jewish by circumcision (for a male) and immersion in a miqweh is called “Canaanite slave”. In the theory of the Babli, the Canaanite slave’s body is the property of his master; therefore, if the slave lifts a find to acquire it, it is legally his master whose hand took it. or slave-girl as well as his wife’s find belong to him,” for he can direct them to do other work. Why do we say: “The finds of his adult son and daughter or of his Hebrew slave¹⁴While the rules for the treatment of Hebrew slaves (Ex. 21:1–11) are a frequent topic in the Talmudim, the subject is purely theoretical since the institution of Hebrew slavery disappeared with the end of the First Commonwealth. It is asserted that only the working capability of the slave is the master’s, not his body. Therefore, if he lifts a find to acquire it, it is not the master’s hand which lifts the find. or slave-girl belong to them,” because he cannot direct them to do other work¹⁵Obviously, the master can direct the Hebrew slave to perform any task he asks of him; but he cannot direct him not to use his hands for anything else.. But his wife he cannot direct to do other work¹⁶In Chapter 5, an exhaustive list was given of work the husband can demand from his wife. The wife’s body certainly is not her husband’s property. Therefore, one does not understand why her find should be her husband’s. and you say that her find belongs to him! Rebbi Joḥanan said, there is another reason for his wife. What is the other reason for his wife? Rebbi Ḥaggai says, because of quarrel¹⁷One has such a poor opinion of Jewish husbands that one is afraid he would be offended if the wife would not share her find with him [mentioned also in Baba Meṣi‘a 1:5 (8a 1. 15)]. This is the only explanation offered in the Babli, 96a; it is called “because of jealousy”.. Rebbi Yose does not say so, but that she should not smuggle away¹⁸Meaning: stealing. any of her husband’s property and say, I found it. Think of it, if another person gave it to her as a gift¹⁹The gift can be given on condition that the husband have no right to it. Should the wife not be believed if she says she received a gift?! A gift is public knowledge, a find is not public knowledge. Think of it, if she found it in the presence of witnesses! This because of that²⁰R. Yose will agree that in the case of a find in the presence of other people his reason is invalid. He holds that, nevertheless, the rabbinic decree giving the find to the husband stands because ịt would be impractical to admit exceptions.. Rebbi Yoḥanan said, if they²¹This refers to the adult children to whom the Mishnah in Baba Meṣi‘a assigns their finds. This is qualified; the Mishnah applies only if the children are financially independent. In the Babli, this is formulated that “they are not dependent on their father’s table.” Cf. Peah 4:6, Note 107; Baba Meṣi‘a 1:5 (8a 1.3); Babli Baba Meṣi‘a 12b. are not dependent on their father. But if they are dependent on their father, their finds belong to him.

Rebbi Isaac instructed about one who had sent away his wife but not liquidated her ketubah²²Greek φερνή “dowry”. In Halakhah 7:7, the word is used in the meaning of ketubah, the document in which the value of the dowry was recorded. Therefore, it seems reasonable to read the text that R. Isaac obligated the former husband to support his former wife until he had paid the last penny of everything he was obligated to by the ketubah document, not only until he had returned all her dowry., that he has to feed her until the time he liquidated it.

Rebbi Redipha, Rebbi Aḥa, in the name of Rebbi Abun bar Cahana: Because he does not make her lose anything²³This refers to the rules of R. Yehudah ben Bathyra who gives the husband part of the payment for shame and diminution of value. Why should the husband get part of the payment for shame? Since the payment is pure revenue for the recipient, not restitution, she still ends up having more than she did before her injury.. In secret²⁴If the scars of her injury are not visible in public. The Babli, 66a, formulates: His wife is his body., why does he take? Because of the pain he suffers with her.