Ketubot 55 - August 30, 3 Elul

Today’s daf is sponsored by Sue Talansky in loving memory of her mother Ruth Stromer, Shifra Raizel bat Tzvi v'Sarah. “She was a Holocaust survivor whose first task upon arriving in America was to ensure that her daughters got a yeshiva education. It is my mom who began my journey into learning." The additional amount the husband can add to the ketuba has the same status as the ketuba itself. This has relevance for a woman who sells, forgoes, or receives part of or demands her ketuba, and various other situations. There are four issues upon which the rabbis of Pumbedita and Mata Mechasia disagreed. One, do the male children collect their mother's ketuba from their father's inheritance as an inheritance, which cannot be collected from liened property, or as buyers, which can be collected from liened property. Two, if the husband set aside moveable property for collection of the ketuba and they are no longer in existence or able to be found, can she collect her ketuba without needing to swear that she didn't receive any part of it yet? Three, if the husband delineated property from which the wife can collect her ketuba, but only identified one of the borders, does she need to swear that she didn't receive any part of her ketuba before collecting the full amount from the land? Four, if someone said to write and sign a deed of a gift and give the gift to a particular person but there was no kinyan (a formal act of acquiring), does the messenger need to check again with the giver that they actually intend to give the gift? There was a debate in the Mishna and Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria held that a woman who is betrothed and received a ketuba and then got divorced or widowed, she can only collect the 200 or 100 zuz, but not the additional amount. Rav and Rabbi Natan debated whether we hold that may or not. The Gemara derives that Rabbi natan must have held like him as in a different halacha it is clear he holds by umdena, making an assessment about what we believe the person's intentions must have been, which is exactly what Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria holds - we assess that the husband only promised her extra for the benefit of being married to her. That would mean that Rav doesn't hold by umdena. However, the Gemara brings a debate between Rav and Shmuel where Rav does seem to hold by umdena, making an assessment.