{ "language": "en", "title": "Mishnat Eretz Yisrael on Mishnah Ketubot", "versionSource": "https://www.sefaria.org", "versionTitle": "Sefaria Community Translation", "actualLanguage": "en", "languageFamilyName": "english", "isSource": false, "direction": "ltr", "heTitle": "משנת ארץ ישראל על משנה כתובות", "categories": [ "Mishnah", "Modern Commentary on Mishnah", "Mishnat Eretz Yisrael", "Seder Nashim" ], "text": { "Introduction": [], "Preface": [], "": [ [], [], [], [ [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [ "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "In the marriage contracts from the land of Israel from the Genizah, the following formula is found in full: [...] they will inherit the money (value) of your ketuvah, beyond [their] share that they inherit with their male siblings that I have from [another] wife (Friedman, version 1). Alternatively: The male [children] that I have from you, they will inherit the money of your ketuvah, beyond their portion, etc. (Friedman, version 2). So too is it in many other marriage contracts. In one of the laws that was preserved in the post-amoraic halakhic literature of the land of Israel (the practical literature), a summary of the law is presented as follows: The sons of the last [wife] inherit the ketuvah of their mother, and the rest is divided evenly.129Margoliot, The Laws of the Land of Israel, p. 87; Neuman, Practices, Chapter 9, p. 113; Levin, The Book of Practices, pp. 93-94. From here it is evident that the law was practiced and executed, as written in the mishnah.", "The situation with Babylonian Jewry was different. The Geonim in Babylonia discussed this decree a great deal, and the material has been gathered by Simcha Asaf.130Asaf, Male Children. He showed that that there were some Geonim in Babylonia who abolished this line in the marriage contract, whereas there were some who supported it. And this disagreement accompanied the dispersions of the Jewish people: The sages of France and Germany were exacting about this line, whereas the sages of Spain abolished it. [However,] it appears that the voluminous material brought by Asaf can be organized and understood in a slightly different manner. There is no doubt that the Geonim of Babylonia abolished the marriage contract for male children, due to the reasons that we will present below. Yet Assaf also cites Geonim from Babylonia who support the perpetuation of the line regarding the \"male children.\" Some of these supporters (according to Asaf) are those dealing with the subject regarding the law and who cite the mishnah. But one cannot learn from this about their position about the actual marriage contract in their times. For it is indeed customary to quote early laws (from the Mishnah or from the Talmud), even if they were abolished in actuality. Some of them in fact decide that the line is [still] valid, but that it is not customary to actually collect [the amount hence obligated] based upon it. This is like the words of Rav Hai, \"God forbid that the marriage contract of the male children should be expunged; and there is a great enhancement with it. However we never collected a marriage contract of the male children, nor have we seen children from different mothers claiming it. But if someone were to come before us and make a claim with it, we would collect it.\"131Asaf, ibid., p. 22; Otzar HaGeonim on Ketuvot, p. 139. According to our appraisal, this responsum from this Gaon should be attached to those who are on the side of abolishing the marriage contract for the male children. The Gaon, as is clear, doesn't dare disagree with an explicit mishnah. Yet he depicts a society in which the stipulation is neither written nor sought. There are other testimonies that side with this line that can be [better] understood as the tradition of the sages of Germany, who cited them as support for their position. Yet it appears that it is more correct to conclude that the responsa among mainstream Geonim of Babylonia did not continue to recognize this line [as something operative]." ] ] ], "Bibliography": [] }, "schema": { "heTitle": "משנת ארץ ישראל על משנה כתובות", "enTitle": "Mishnat Eretz Yisrael on Mishnah Ketubot", "key": "Mishnat Eretz Yisrael on Mishnah Ketubot", "nodes": [ { "heTitle": "הקדמה", "enTitle": "Introduction" }, { "heTitle": "מבוא", "enTitle": "Preface" }, { "heTitle": "", "enTitle": "" }, { "heTitle": "ביבליוגרפיה", "enTitle": "Bibliography" } ] } }