KESUBOS - 059b – אף על פי – פרק חמישי – כתובות, נט ע”ב

This field which I mortgaged to you — when I redeem it from you, let it be consecrated — it is consecrated.^[1]

Rav Shisha the son of Rav Idi objected: Are they comparable? There it is in his power to redeem it; here it is not in her power to divorce herself.

This is comparable only to one who says to his fellow: This field which I mortgaged to you for ten years — when I redeem it from you, let it be consecrated — it is consecrated.

לא דמיא אלא להא - it is not like this field which I mortgaged to you without a term, but like one who says: this field which I mortgaged for ten years, which he has no power to redeem and consecrate now.

דקדשה - for it is his.

Rav Ashi objected: Are they comparable? There, after ten years at least it is in his power to redeem it; here it is never in her power to divorce herself.

Rather, Rav Ashi said: You speak of konamos?^[2] Konamos are different, for they are a sanctity of the body,

דקדושת הגוף נינהו - like the sanctity of the altar, which has no redemption; so too a konam has no redemption that would permit it to the one it was forbidden to, for it is not full hekdesh whose redemption money takes its place, but a prohibition on one person. And since it is a sanctity of the body, it removes it from the lien by which she is bound to her husband, and it takes effect. Later it asks: if so, why does it say lest he divorce her — it should take effect now!

and like Rava, for Rava said: Hekdesh, chametz and freeing a slave remove from a lien.^[3]

הקדש - for example, where he pledged his ox to a creditor and then consecrated it: it removes the creditor's lien, and he collects his debt from elsewhere, and this one is fit for an offering and is not stolen, for he acquired it only for collection. And this is only a sanctity of the body; but a monetary sanctity of the Temple upkeep does not remove a lien, as we learned in Arachin (23b): he adds another dinar and redeems these properties, etc.

חמץ - he made his chametz a designated security for an idolater, and Pesach arrived: the prohibition of chametz removes it from the idolater's lien, and it becomes forbidden for benefit. And what we learned (Pesachim 30b): an idolater who lent to a Jew on his chametz — after Pesach it is permitted for benefit, we established there where he pawned it with him, handing it over as a pledge.

ושחרור - he made his slave a designated security and then freed him: he is free, and this one collects his debt from elsewhere.

Then let them be consecrated now!

ונקדשו מהשתא - why does it say lest he divorce her — it should be consecrated now as well!

The Rabbis strengthened the husband's lien, so that it should not be consecrated now:

אלמוה רבנן לשעבודיה דבעל - while she is under him, for the Rabbis made him like a full buyer and not like a lender.

Mishnah

These are the tasks a wife does for her husband: she grinds, bakes and launders, cooks, nurses her child, makes his bed, and works with wool.

אופה - bread.

If she brought him one maidservant — she does not grind, bake or launder;

two — she does not cook and does not nurse her child;

שתים אינה מבשלת כו' - in the Gemara it asks: why is she not exempt from all of them with one maidservant whom she brought in her place?

three — she does not make his bed and does not work with wool;

four — she sits in a chair.^[4]

יושבת בקתדרא - she need not trouble herself for him to go on errands, to bring him an item from the house to the upper floor.

Rabbi Eliezer says: Even if she brought him a hundred maidservants, he compels her to work with wool, for idleness leads to immorality.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: Also one who forbids his wife by vow from doing work must divorce her and give her kesubah, for idleness leads to madness:

שעמום - madness.

Gemara

She grinds — can you think so?

טוחנת ס"ד - water turns the wheel and it grinds.

Rather, say: she prepares the grinding.

מטחנת - she prepares what is needed for grinding: puts it into the hopper and gathers the flour.

And if you wish, say: with a hand mill.

ואיבעית אימא - really she grinds herself.

דידא - a hand mill.

Our Mishnah is not like Rabbi Chiya, for Rabbi Chiya taught: A wife is only for beauty; a wife is only for children.

And Rabbi Chiya taught: A wife is only for a woman's jewelry.

לתכשיטי אשה - that they buy her jewelry to adorn herself with.

And Rabbi Chiya taught: One who wishes to refine his wife's complexion should dress her in linen; one who wishes to make his daughter fair should feed her young fowl and give her milk to drink near her maturity:

שיעדן - her complexion, in the vernacular.

לפירקה - the days of youth.

And nurses her child:

Shall we say our Mishnah is not like Beis Shammai?

For it was taught: If she vowed not to nurse her child — Beis Shammai say: she pulls the breast from his mouth; Beis Hillel say: he compels her and she nurses him.

שומטת דד מפיו - she need not nurse him, for the vow takes effect; evidently she is not bound to him.

כופה ומניקה - for she is bound to him, and the vow does not take effect.

If she was divorced, he does not compel her; but if the child recognizes her, he gives her a wage and compels her to nurse him, because of the danger.

אם היה מכירה - that he will not nurse from another.

You may even say it is Beis Shammai: here we are dealing with where she vowed and he upheld it,

הכא במאי עסקינן - the beraisa.

and Beis Shammai hold: he put his finger between her teeth;^[5] and Beis Hillel hold: she put her finger between her own teeth,

and they disagree merely about the kesubah!

ונפלגו בכתובה בעלמא - she vowed not to benefit from him, and he upheld it: Beis Shammai say she leaves and takes her kesubah, and Beis Hillel say she leaves without her kesubah.

But it was further taught: Beis Shammai say: she does not nurse.

ועוד תניא - regarding all women, even without a vow.

אינה מניקה - if she does not want to.

Rather, it is clear: our Mishnah is not like Beis Shammai:

If the child recognizes her:^[6]

Tosafos

שדה זו שמשכנתי לך לכשאפדנה ממך תיקדש - This implies that while it is mortgaged he cannot consecrate it, for hekdesh has no power to cancel the power of the lender in whose hand it is mortgaged. And it is astonishing, for we say at the end of Eizehu Neshech (Bava Metzia 73b): an idolater mortgaged a certain house to Rav Mari bar Rachel; the idolater went and sold it to Rava; he waited twelve months, took the rent and brought it to Rava, etc. Evidently the sale removed the power of Rav Mari, who had the right to live in the house for free since it was mortgaged in his hand; the sale removed his power, and he had to pay rent to Rava. And one can answer that this is not a removal of power, but rather Rav Mari thought that Rava owed him the value of the mortgage in place of the idolater, and he did not want to live in his courtyard for free because of interest; and Rava told him: I act with you according to their laws, for Rava owes him nothing, only the idolater does. And if you ask: what it says in perek HaOmer Mishkali Alai (Arachin 21a): if the landlord consecrated it, the one living in it pays rent to hekdesh, and it asks: how may he live in it, for he stands to commit meilah? — which implies that during the rental he can consecrate it. One can answer: the power the renter has, he cannot consecrate; rather, he and hekdesh are partners in it, and the house is sold, and this one takes the value of the rental and the remainder goes to hekdesh; but here it speaks where he consecrates the whole field, even what he cannot consecrate now. Alternatively, real hekdesh would take effect on the mortgaged field even before it is redeemed, and here it speaks where he forbids it by konam on the lender once he redeems it; for it may be that on a mortgaged field he cannot forbid it by konam even though he can consecrate it, as is proven in Arachin that one can consecrate more than one can forbid by konam. And with this the question above is resolved: is there anything which now is not consecrated, and later is consecrated? — what was difficult for him? Why should she not be able to consecrate her handiwork for after she is divorced — how is it different from nichsei melog, which she can sell now for when she is widowed or divorced? Rather, certainly, even though she can consecrate, just as with a sale, she cannot forbid. And further, it may be that even if she consecrated her hands entirely to Heaven, hekdesh would not be fit to take effect as on a field; for with a field the hekdesh takes effect on the body of the field while it is in the lender's possession, and automatically the fruits become consecrated when the body leaves his possession; but her hands, even if she consecrated them to Heaven, are not seized by hekdesh — and even regarding a slave Rav said that his body is not consecrated, and regarding a free person all agree; and therefore even if she consecrated them entirely, hekdesh cannot take effect more than one who forbids the field mortgaged to him by konam on the lender.

קונמות קאמרת כו' - And if you ask: if so, every person could remove all his property from his creditor by a konam! One can answer: it is not only the husband's lien that the Rabbis strengthened; they likewise strengthened the creditor's lien, as is proven at the beginning of HaMadir (later, 70a), which asks: since he is bound to her, how can he forbid her by vow? — let us say he removes her lien by a konam! Rather, certainly they strengthened the wife's lien too. And if you ask: in perek Almanah in Yevamos (66b), regarding the cloak that they spread over the dead, why does Rava say the dead acquired it — but the Rabbis strengthened the wife's lien! One can answer: they strengthened it only for konamos, so that he should not remove his debt; but that case of perek Almanah, where it becomes forbidden to the whole world, there is no need to fear this, and it removes from a lien like hekdesh. And what it says in HaChovel (Bava Kamma 90a), that melog slaves do not go free for a tooth or an eye, neither for the husband nor for the wife, because the Rabbis strengthened the husband's lien — even though freeing is like hekdesh — Rava holds in perek Almanah (Yevamos 66b) like the one who says: for the wife but not for the husband. Alternatively, his hand is stronger than hers, since he eats the fruits in her lifetime, as we say in HaKosev (later, 83a).

הקדש חמץ ושחרור - I wrote about this in HaSholeach (Gittin 40b).

ארבע יושבת בקתדרא - Even though with three as well she does none of the tasks mentioned in the Mishnah, nonetheless she does small tasks in the house not mentioned in the Mishnah, and there are also the guests and travelers of the Gemara; but when she brought him four, she does nothing at all.

טוחנת ס"ד - What we learned in HaNizakin (Gittin 61b), the wife of a chaver grinds with the wife of an am haaretz, it does not ask: grinds — can you think so? For only here it asks, since it comes to teach us these tasks the wife does, which refers to the main task.

תני רבי חייא אין אשה אלא ליופי - He disagrees only about grinding, baking, nursing her child and the like, which weaken her beauty; but about working with wool he does not disagree, for her handiwork is in exchange for her food.

כגון שנדרה היא וקיים לה הוא - That she forbade on herself the benefit of nursing, for she benefits from nursing, as it says later: he says she should not nurse and she says she will nurse — we listen to her, because of her own distress; and like that case where she bends over him and nurses him because of the danger. But one cannot say she forbade the benefit of her nursing to him, for since she is bound to him the vow does not take effect. And now they disagree: Beis Shammai hold that he put his finger between her teeth, therefore he does not compel her to nurse, meaning to hire a nurse; and Beis Hillel hold that she put her finger between her own teeth, and he compels her to nurse — that she hire a nurse for him — or she leaves without a kesubah.

Notes

1. 1. Continues from [Kesubos 59a], on a wife who said to her husband: Let my hands be consecrated to their Maker.
2. 2. Konam — a vow that forbids something like an offering.
3. 3. That is: they take effect even on something pledged to another, and cancel the lien.
4. 4. Kasedra — a seat of honor; that is, she does nothing.
5. 5. That is: he caused it, for he should have annulled her vow and did not.
6. 6. The passage continues on [Kesubos 60a].