Yerushalmi Ketubot 6:4 ירושלמי כתובות ו׳:ד׳

MISHNAH: If she decided to bring him money, each tetradrachma is turned into six denars⁵¹This is 150%, as stated in the preceding Mishnah. and the groom engages himself for ten denars for the perfume box for each mina⁵²He will provide her with perfumes and accessories worth one tenth of the cash dowry.; Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel says, all follows local custom.

HALAKHAH: “If she decided to bring him money,” etc. “If she decided to bring him 500 denars by appraisal, he makes it 400. If he did not do that but made it 1’000; if she made an agreement⁵³This meaning is conjectural, based on the meaning of קצצא in Syriac (cf. Tosefta ki-Fshutah Ketubot p. 245). In the commentary on the Tosephta which is parallel to the text here (6:6–7), S. Lieberman reads in the text נקִיצּוּתָהּ “what she had decided”, based on the Tosephta text (6:6), and explains that the woman takes all if she actually delivered what she had promised. But in the ms. it is clear that in the Yerushalmi the word ends in the definite article תא, and Lieberman’s identification of Tosephta and Yerushalmi texts (pp. 278–279) cannot be accepted (or the ending תה in the Tosephta should be interpreted as תא.). In the Babli, קִיצוּתָא is “a fixed date”, קִיצְוְתָא “a fixed price.” The explanation given here is close to that proffered by R. Moses Margalit.
Since the groom doubled the original appraisal and deviated from the norm, acceptance of this deviation is valid only if explicitly endorsed either in the ketubah or in an accompanying document. In the ketubot published by A. M. Friedman, the sums are regularly acknowledged by the bride’s representatives. It is to be assumed that in every case where one speaks of an agreement made “by the bride,” it means an agreement signed by her father or in his absence another duly authorized member of her family., she collects everything; if not, he deducts five denars for each tetradrachma, but he cannot touch the addition⁵⁴This follows the Mishnah, for each 5 denars of appraised value, the husband (or his estate) is obligated only for 4 denars, one sela. But what he added over and above the appraised value is his irrevocable gift since in Galilee one did not routinely double the appraisals (cf. Note 41.) The widow collects from the estate 400 denars for the appraisal and 500 additional, for a total of 900.. If she decided to bring him 500 denars in coin, he makes it 750⁵⁵As prescribed by the Mishnah.. If he did not do that but made them 1’000; if she made an agreement, she collects everything; if not, he deducts six denars for each tetradrachma⁵⁶If the amount actually given as dowry cannot be ascertained, the husband’s estate is entitled to deduct 6 denars for every 4 in dispute. But the additional 250 denars have to be paid in full., but he cannot touch the addition. If she decided to bring him 1’000 zuz, he must turn them into fifteen minas. If he did not do that but wrote over to her a field worth 12 minas in place of the 1’000 zuz⁵⁷He offers only 1200 in place of the 1500 for which he was obligated by the rules. If the wife accepts this in writing, because she prefers 1200 in real estate to 1500 in silver coin whose silver content depends on the policies of the government, she takes everything that is written in the ketubah.. If she made an agreement, she collects everything; if not⁵⁸And the amount of her claim is in dispute., one does not decrease for a virgin to less than 200 and for a widow to less than a mina.” Here, you say, he deducts. But there, you say, he does not deduct⁵⁹In all cases except the last, definitive rules are given as to how to compute the claim on the estate. Only in the last case can the entire dowry be lost.. Here, if she invalidated part of it, there if she did not invalidate part of it⁶⁰Following the reading בבטלה conjectured by S. Lieberman (loc. cit. p. 279) instead of בְּבִטְּלָה ,בנטלה “she invalidated” instead of בְּנָֽטְלָה “she took”.. Here, you say, he touches the addition but there, you say, he does not touch the addition⁶¹In all cases except the last one, the estate has to pay the full amount of the addition over and above the value of the dowry. Only in the last case, there is no clause that protects the addition. By taking real estate for 1’200 zuz she renounced 300 zuz that would have come to her, putting the entire ketubah in question.. Here, he added but did not subtract; there, he subtracted but did not add. It was stated: Both for appraisal and for coin⁶²They follow the same rules.. Why for appraisal? Corresponding to what he subtracts, corresponding to what what he adds, corresponding to what she brings⁶³All this needs confirmation by the parties in writing..

So is the Mishnah: “And a perfume box for every mina⁶⁴The corrected text is not that of the Mishnah (and the Tosephta, 6:6), “ten denars for the perfume box for each mina” but “ten denars and a perfume box for each mina.” Cf. J. N. Epstein, ²מבוא לנוסח המשנה p. 494; תלמוד בבלי עם שינויי נוסחאות כתובות, vol. 2, p. קיב, Note 25; תוספתא כפשוטה כתובות p. 277.
One has to interpret הַכֹּל מְנָה as לְכָל־מְנָה. It is not necessary to change the text; cf. the author’s The Scholar’s Haggadah, Northvale 1995, p. 322..” Rebbi Joḥanan said, they made usufruct of perfumes like usufruct of money⁶⁵It is not clear what is referred to. From the next sentence, it seems that the paragraph refers to the statement of Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel that in the absence of explicit written agreement, all monetary aspects are judged based on local customs. Spices and perfumes given as articles of trade have the status of money (are better than money in an inflationary environment, and still are equal to money after Diocletian’s stabilization of the Roman currency.) In the Babli, 67a, this is restricted to Antiochene spices and perfumes (which, probably, were of guaranteed quality.). Rebbi Avin said, they made usufruct of procreation like usufruct of money⁶⁶The groom can be generous in the conditions of the ketubah since he or his children will inherit the money. It is left to local custom (in the Middle Ages mostly: local regulations) to deal with the disposition of the dowry if the couple remain childless; a clause which denies the husband the inheritance of his childless deceased wife is authorized by R. Yose and the end of Halakhah 9:1; cf. M. A. Friedman, Jewish Marriage in Palestine, vol. 1, VE, pp. 391–418.. As the following: The students of Rebbi Yose went to Qaddišin; they found them childless. They said to them: Did you stipulate between you? If you stipulated, it is fine⁶⁷The rule that the husband inherits from his wife, being a money matter, can be set aside by stipulation. The biblical root of the rule is not explicit; cf. Sifry Deut. 134.; otherwise everything follows the local custom.