Ketubot 104a — the Talmud in English

That it hangs,

which is in a high place, at the top of the mountain,

and the air is wholesome,

and its air is improved.

On that day on which Rabbi’s soul came to rest, they decreed,

upon it

the Sages

[before his death]

a fast, and they sought mercy.

And they said: Whoever says, “Rabbi’s soul has come to rest”—

he shall be stabbed with a sword!

Rabbi’s maidservant went up to the roof,

Rabbi’s maidservant went up to the roof, and

she said

a prayer: The angels, who are

above, are asking for Rabbi

to come into their partition,

and those below,

the people on earth,

are asking for Rabbi

to remain with them.

May it be the will that those below overcome

their will over

those above,

and Rabbi should remain alive.

But

when she saw,

Rabbi’s maidservant saw,

several times,

several times,

that he entered

Rabbi

the lavatory, and removed his phylacteries

so that he could enter the lavatory, and upon leaving the lavatory he again

put them on

the phylacteries,

and Rabbi was distressed

by removing them and putting them on—

she said

in her prayer:

May it be the will that those above overcome those below.

And

although Rabbi’s maidservant had made his distress known publicly,

the Sages did not cease from seeking mercy

for him, that he should remain alive.

She took a jug,

Rabbi’s maidservant took an earthenware jug,

and threw it from the roof to the ground,

and from the sound of the crash when the jug broke

they became silent

the Sages

from

seeking

mercy

for Rabbi at that moment.

And Rabbi’s soul came to rest

at that moment when they stopped their prayer.

The Sages said to bar Kappara: Go, investigate,

go to Rabbi’s house and see what happened to Rabbi.

He went,

bar Kappara went,

and found that his soul had come to rest,

and realized that Rabbi had died.

He tore his garment, and turned the tear to the back,

and turned the torn part of the garment behind him.

Bar Kappara began

the eulogy,

and said: “The angels

the angels in heaven,

and

corresponding to them

the ‘strong ones

who are the righteous on earth,

seized the holy Ark

and struggled among themselves over who would hold the holy Ark [Rabbi is compared to the holy Ark].

The angels defeated the strong ones—

and the holy Ark was captured

by the angels!

They said to him

the Sages said to bar Kappara: Did

his soul come to rest

Rabbi’s?

He said to them: You have said it,

you said this,

but I did not say it.

At the time of Rabbi’s death, he raised his ten fingers upward,

and

said: Master of the Universe! It is revealed and known before You that I toiled with my ten fingers in Torah, and I did not derive benefit

from this world

even

a little, even not in accordance with the small amount of toil that I exerted

with my little finger. May it be the will before You

that there be peace in my rest.

A heavenly voice went forth, and said:

[Isaiah 57]

“He shall come in peace; they shall rest upon their couches”

and we raised the difficulty concerning it:

“Upon your couch”

in the singular

was required

for the prophet to say, and why did he use the plural?

It supports

the prophet in saying this

Rabbi Hiyya bar Gamda.

For Rabbi Hiyya bar Gamda said in the name of Rabbi Yosei ben Shaul: When the righteous person departs from the world, the ministering angels say before the Holy One, blessed is He: Master of the Universe! So-and-so the righteous person has arrived!

He says to them

the Holy One, blessed is He:

Let the righteous come

from the Garden of Eden,

and go out to greet him

the righteous person who is now arriving!

And they say to him: Let

this righteous person

come in peace.

And then the righteous people who went out to greet him return, and

rest upon their couches.

Rabbi Elazar said: When the righteous person departs from the world, three groups of ministering angels go out to greet him.

One group

says to him: Come in peace!

And

one group

says: He walks in his uprightness,

on the straight path that he chose for himself!

And one says to him: He shall come in peace; they shall rest upon their couches.

And

when the wicked person is destroyed from the world, three groups of destroying angels go out to greet him.

One says:

[Isaiah 48]

“There is no peace,” says

the Lord, “for the wicked.” And one says to him:

[Isaiah 50]

“He shall lie down in sorrow.” And one says to him:

[Ezekiel 32]

“Descend and lie down with the uncircumcised.”

Mishna:

A widow who did not collect her marriage contract, even if a long period of time passed, behold,

as long as she is in her father’s house,

and the heirs support her there—behold she

collects her marriage contract forever,

whenever she wishes.

But

as long as she

remained

in her husband’s house,

and she is supported there from the orphans’ property, behold she

collects her marriage contract

only

until twenty-five years

from her husband’s death, but not afterward. Because

within

the period of

twenty-five years

there is a possibility

“that she will do a favor”,

that she will take bread and salt from the orphans’ property in order to do favors for her neighbors, and it will be found that she took from them money that they were not obligated to give her, in an amount

corresponding to

the value of

her marriage contract.

These are the words of Rabbi Meir—

who said

this

in the name of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel.

And

if

the Sages say

the opposite. For according to their view, the woman does not forfeit her marriage contract after twenty-five years because of the favors she did for her neighbors, and twenty-five years was mentioned only with regard to the woman’s waiving of the marriage contract, by virtue of her silence from demanding it for so long a period. Therefore, according to the Sages,

as long as she is in her husband’s house,

since the orphans honor her while she is with them, her silence is not evidence of her waiving it, since she is embarrassed to demand the marriage contract from them. Therefore she

collects her marriage contract forever.

But

as long as she is in her father’s house—

she collects her marriage contract until twenty-five years,

since her silence while being in her father’s house for so long a period is evidence of her waiving it.

She died

the widow without collecting her marriage contract—

her heirs

[who inherit the rights to her marriage contract]

remind

the father’s heirs of the claim of

her marriage contract until twenty-five years

from the husband’s death. And if they did not claim it by then, their silence constitutes evidence of their waiving it.

Gemara:

He said

he wondered

to Rav Yosef, Abaye,

concerning Rabbi Meir’s words, that a widow forfeits her marriage contract after she did not demand it for twenty-five years because she did favors for her neighbors from the orphans’ property, up to the value of her marriage contract:

Is it possible that

the poor woman among Israel

collects her small marriage contract only

until twenty-five years, and

also

Marta daughter of Baitos

the wealthy woman collects her large marriage contract only

until twenty-five years?

But the value of the favor that a wealthy woman does does not reach the amount of her large marriage contract!

He said

he answered

him

Rav Yosef to Abaye with a parable: Indeed, so it is, because

according to the camel—

its load!

According to the strength of the camel, so they load a burden upon it.

And the same applies to a wealthy woman, whose doing of favors is greater than the doing of favors of a poor woman, and behold she does favors for twenty-five years corresponding to her entire large marriage contract.

They raised a question: According to Rabbi Meir,

who holds that she forfeits her marriage contract since she did favors for her neighbors from the orphans’ money, if so,

what is the law as to dividing it into thirds [“dividing into thirds” is an expression of division]?

Is it necessary to assess each year the proportional portion out of twenty-five years [that is, four percent], and if she comes to collect her marriage contract within twenty-five years, must we deduct from the marriage contract what she took from the orphans’ money for the purpose of a benefit? Or perhaps the Sages established only that she forfeits her entire marriage contract after twenty-five years, but they did not establish that it should be deducted from her marriage contract proportionally each and every year?

And we conclude:

teyku.

We learned in the Mishna:

And the Sages say: As long as

she is in her father’s house, she collects her marriage contract until twenty-five years, since if she did not collect it by this time, it is evident that she waived her marriage contract.

He said

he wondered

to Rav Yosef, Abaye:

Is it possible to say that a woman who

came,

who came to collect her marriage contract,

before sunset

at which the twenty-fifth year is completed—

collects her marriage contract.

But a woman who came to collect her marriage contract

after sunset—

does not collect

at all!?

And is it because

at that

time

a little—

she waived it!?

Has she waived her marriage contract during this short time!?

He said to him

Rav Yosef:

Yes,

indeed, so it is! Because

this is the measure of the Sages,

who established a fixed and absolute time.

And as we learned,

that

with forty seahs

of water one

immerses

in them. But

with forty seahs

of water

lacking a kortov

[something]—

he cannot immerse in them.

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: Rabbi Yishmael

son of Rabbi Yosei testified before Rabbi, saying in the name of his father: They taught

that the widow forfeits her marriage contract if she does not demand it within twenty-five years,

only

in a case

where the marriage-contract document does not emerge from beneath her hand.

But

if there was

a marriage-contract document emerging from beneath her hand

in the court—

she collects her marriage contract forever,

because if she had waived it, she would have brought her marriage contract to the court beforehand, and would not have kept it in her hand after waiving it.

And Rabbi Elazar said: Even when a marriage-contract document emerges from beneath her hand—

she collects only until twenty-five years.

Rav Sheshet raised an objection

to Rabbi Elazar from that which was taught in a beraita:

A creditor collects

his debt forever, even

without mentioning it.

That is, despite the fact that he did not mention demanding his debt even for twenty-five years, this is not evidence that he waived his debt.

And Rav Sheshet infers:

What are the circumstances?

In what manner does the beraita speak?

If he did not take

the lender

a document—

with what does he collect?

Rather,

necessarily it is speaking

where he holds a document.

And

specifically

a creditor, he is

the one

who is not one who waives,

for the lender does not waive his debt, because he has no reason to waive, since the lender gave his money to the borrower, and he did not benefit from the borrower so that he would waive his debt for him.

But a widow,

who benefits from the orphans, and whose obligation does not derive from money that she gave her husband, but from her husband’s undertaking toward her—

she waives it,

she waives the debt! And the long period of twenty-five years that passed from the time her husband died, without her demanding the marriage contract, proves her waiver.

He,

Rav Sheshet,

raises the objection to him,

he challenges Rabbi Elazar from this beraita,

and he

himself also

resolves it for him,

he answers it so that it should not challenge Rabbi Elazar:

Forever,

the beraita is speaking in a case such as

where he did not take

the lender

a document

in his hand. Therefore, only a creditor collects after twenty-five years, but not a widow, since she waives it.

And

as for what I asked—if he has no document, how does he collect the debt—it can be said that

here, with what are we dealing?—

when the debtor admits

the debt, but he claims that the lender waived the debt for him, and the proof of this is that he did not demand it. And the beraita teaches anew that a lender never waives his debt. But a widow indeed waives it.

Rather, the Gemara raises a difficulty against Rav Sheshet’s resolution—

But did Rabbi Ela not say,

thus

the Sages teach,

the authors of the beraita:

A divorced woman—

she is like a creditor.

What are the circumstances?

If she does not hold a marriage contract, with what does she collect?

Rather, is it not that she holds a marriage contract

in her hand?

And

we should infer: specifically

she is a divorced woman

like a creditor, in that

she certainly

is not one who can waive

the marriage contract

she is,

since her husband divorced her. Rather, she collects her marriage contract forever, and even if she did not mention anything for twenty-five years concerning her marriage contract, like a creditor.

But a widow—

she waives it,

she waives her marriage contract! And we answer:

here too,

the authors of this beraita also teach their law in a case where no document emerges from beneath his hand; rather, it is speaking

when the debtor admits,

in which case a divorced woman is equal to a creditor, as neither waives it, but a widow whose marriage-contract document does not emerge from beneath her hand indeed waives it.

Rav Nahman bar Yitzhak said: Rav Yehuda bar Kazza taught in the “teaching of the house of bar Kazza” [bar Kazza is the name of a Sage]: A widow who

demanded her marriage contract

within twenty-five years—

claimed her marriage contract

within twenty-five years—