Ketubot 60b — the Talmud in English

until

they have passed

twenty-four months,

lest she become pregnant, and her milk become spoiled, and she wean her son from nursing,

the words of Rabbi Meir.

And Rabbi Yehuda permits

the mother to marry

when

her son has reached

eighteen months,

because it is sufficient for an infant to nurse until this time.

Rabbi Natan bar Yosef said:

The words of Rabbi Meir,

they are precisely the words of Beit Shammai—

and the words of Rabbi Yehuda,

they are precisely the words of Beit Hillel.

For Beit Shammai say:

An infant's nursing is for

twenty-four months.

And Beit Hillel say: eighteen months.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel said: I shall explain!

According to the one who says,

Rabbi Meir,

twenty-four months

the infant must nurse, she is

permitted to marry

already

at twenty-one months,

even though he still needs to nurse for another three months, as he proceeds to explain the reason.

And

according to the one who says,

Rabbi Yehuda, who permits

at eighteen months

to wean the infant—she is

permitted to marry

already

at fifteen months,

even though he still needs to nurse for another three months.

Because the milk does not become spoiled

even if she becomes pregnant

until after three months

from the beginning of the pregnancy.

Ulla said: The halakha is in accordance with Rabbi Yehuda!

And Mar Ukva said: Rabbi Hanina permitted me to marry

a nursing woman

after fifteen months

from the death of her husband, and this is in accordance with Rabbi Yehuda and with the explanation of Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel.

Abaye's sharecropper came before Abaye [

Abaye's sharecropper came before Abaye],

he said to him

the sharecropper said to Abaye:

What is the law concerning betrothing

a nursing woman

at fifteen months

from the birth of the son?

He said to him

Abaye: You may betroth her, because:

First:

in the dispute

between Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda, the halakha is in accordance with Rabbi Yehuda.

And Rabbi Yehuda said that eighteen months is sufficient for him to nurse, and since the milk becomes spoiled only after three months, you are permitted to betroth her at fifteen months.

And furthermore:

in the dispute

between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel, the halakha is in accordance with Beit Hillel.

And Beit Hillel hold like Rabbi Yehuda.

And

furthermore,

Ulla said: The halakha is in accordance with Rabbi Yehuda.

And

furthermore,

Mar Ukva said: Rabbi Hanina permitted me “to marry” after fifteen months—

And

all the more so you,

you are permitted, for you want only

to betroth her.

When

Abaye

came before Rav Yosef [

when Abaye came before his teacher, Rav Yosef], and told him the ruling that he had issued to his sharecropper—

Rav Yosef said to him

Rav Yosef said to Abaye: Your ruling is not correct, for

Rav and Shmuel both say: She must wait twenty-four full months

full,

apart from the day on which he was born

the infant,

and apart from the day on which she was betrothed.

He ran,

Abaye ran

after him,

after his sharecropper,

three parasangs,

three parasangs, in order to retract his ruling.

And some say, one parasang through sand [

and some say, he ran after him one parasang through sand], but

he did not reach him [

and Abaye did not catch up with his sharecropper].

Abaye said,

following this incident:

This matter that the Sages said,

this matter that the Sages stated:

even eggs in kutah [

the permission of eggs mixed with kutah, which is a food containing milk], even though it is a simple matter,

a person should not issue a permissive ruling in the place of his teacher [

a person should not permit this to those who ask him about it when the question is asked in the place of his teacher]—

Not because it appears like brazenness,

the reason is not that it appears as insolence toward the teacher, when the student responds in his place.

Rather, because the matter does not succeed in being stated,

the student does not succeed, when he issues a halakhic ruling in the place of his teacher, in saying the ruling correctly.

And there is proof:

For I had learned this statement of Rav and Shmuel [

for I had learned and known the words of Rav and Shmuel], and

even so,

when the matter came before me for a practical ruling—

the matter did not succeed for me to say it!

I did not succeed in stating this law, because I issued a halakhic ruling in the place of my teacher, Rav Yosef.

The Sages taught:

A nursing woman whose husband died, and

gave

her

son to another nursing woman,

another,

or weaned him

from nursing before his time,

or he died,

the child, she is

permitted to marry immediately.

Rav Pappa and Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, thought

to perform an act [

they wished to perform an act] concerning a widow who had given her son to a nursing woman,

in accordance with this teaching,

in accordance with this beraita, which permits her to marry.

She said to them—

to Rav Pappa and Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua—

that certain grandmother:

I had an incident concerning myself

of this kind, and I sought to marry,

but Rav Naḥman prohibited me.

And the Gemara expressed astonishment at this incident that she attributed to Rav Naḥman:

Is that so!

But Rav Naḥman permitted the

widows of

the house of the Exilarch [

yet Rav Naḥman himself permitted the widows of the house of the Exilarch], who had nursing women among them and gave their sons to another nursing woman, and Rav Naḥman permitted them to marry. This proves that it was not as that certain grandmother said in the name of Rav Naḥman!?

And we answer: Rav Naḥman prohibited the nursing woman who gave her son to another nursing woman for this reason: perhaps the nursing woman will retract from nursing, and if the infant returns to his mother, he will not wish to nurse from her, and he will be endangered.

But

it is different

from the nursing women who were hired for the infants of

the house of the Exilarch—

for they do not retract,

the nursing women are afraid to retract, out of fear of the people of the house of the Exilarch, for they are intimidating people.

Rav Pappi said to them

to Rav Pappa and Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, who had wanted to permit before they heard from that grandmother that it was prohibited:

And you,

you alone, without Rav Naḥman's instruction to prohibit, and do you

not infer

by yourselves that it should be prohibited

from that which was taught,

that is, from what Shmuel ruled in accordance with Rabbi Meir in the following beraita:

Every woman who is a widow or divorcee must wait three months before marrying another man, so that it will be possible to distinguish between the seed of the first husband and the seed of the second husband; and this matter is called “distinction.”

If she was

the woman who had become widowed or divorced

eager to go to her father's house,

for during most of the days of her marriage to her first husband she longed for her father's house and went there, in which case she does not become pregnant from her first husband—

or she had anger in her husband's house,

and even then she does not become pregnant from him—

or her husband was

the first

imprisoned in the prison,

and it is clear that she did not become pregnant from him—

or her husband went

the first

to the overseas country—

or her husband was elderly or ill

and unfit to beget—

or she was

herself

infertile [

her womb was uprooted and her uterus was removed],

and

or she was

old

who does not become pregnant—or she was

an aylonit,

and

or she was

a minor,

who does not become pregnant and give birth—

and similarly a woman

who

miscarried

her fetus

after her husband's death,

for distinction is unnecessary—

and similarly a woman

who

is not fit to bear a child,

such as because of a drug or illness—

all of them,

even though the matter of “distinction” does not apply to them, nevertheless

must

they

wait three months

like the other women,

the words of Rabbi Meir,

since the Sages did not differentiate when they enacted the obligation of distinction between one woman and another, and therefore all of them must wait three months.

Rabbi Yose permits

these women

to become betrothed and to marry immediately.

And Rav Naḥman said in the name of Shmuel: The halakha is in accordance with Rabbi Meir in his enactments.

That is, everywhere that he is stringent by rabbinic law!

And according to Rabbi Meir, whose ruling is followed, even regarding a nursing woman, concerning whom the Sages enacted that she may not marry, all women must be prohibited, since the Sages did not differentiate in their enactment to wait twenty-four months between one woman and another.

And on the basis of this you should have prohibited!

They said to him

Rav Pappa and Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, said to Rav Pappi:

We were not aware,

we did not know this beraita.

And the halakha is:

If

the infant died

the infant—

it is permitted

for her to become betrothed and to marry immediately.

But if

she weaned him—

it is forbidden

for her to become betrothed and to marry immediately, because she weaned him on account of her desire to marry.

Mar bar Rav Ashi said: Even if he died

the infant,

it is also forbidden

for her to marry, because we are concerned

lest she kill him and go and marry [

lest she kill her son and go and marry].

And indeed,

there was an incident, and she strangled him

a nursing woman strangled her son so that she could marry.

But the Gemara says:

It is not so!

The ruling should not follow Mar bar Rav Ashi, since there is no reason for such concern—

for

that certain

woman who strangled her son was

mentally incompetent.

For women do not kill their sons [

women do not kill their sons in order to marry].

The Sages taught: If they gave her a son

of another woman

to nurse, she may not nurse together with him either

her

son, nor

the

son of her companion.

And if

the mother of the infant allotted

her

a little [

few provisions], she

eats much

from her own resources—as he proceeds to explain—in order that she can nurse the child and not kill him.

And

she shall not eat with him

all the time that the son is with her in order to nurse him

things harmful to the milk.

And the Gemara expressed astonishment at the wording of the beraita: “She may not nurse with him either her son or the son of her companion,” for “the son of her companion” is superfluous language, because:

Now

if

concerning her son you say

that she

may not

nurse with him, concerning

the son of her companion,

that she may not nurse with him—

is it necessary

for the tanna to say it!?

And we answer:

Lest you say,

if the tanna of the beraita had not said that she may not nurse even the son of her companion with him, I would have said:

Only

her son, he

is what the tanna prohibited her from nursing while she had undertaken to nurse another infant, since

she has compassion for him [

because the woman has compassion for her son],

she will provide him with more,

she will express the milk from her breast and provide the milk to her son, who will consume all of it, and no milk will remain for the infant whom she undertook to nurse.

But

to nurse together with him

the son of her companion,

I would have thought that it is permitted for her, because

if she did not have “surplus”,

when she has no surplus milk,

she would not provide him with it,

she would not express the milk for the son of her companion, but would preserve it for the infant whom she took to nurse.

Therefore

it teaches us

the beraita that she is forbidden to nurse even the son of her companion together with him.

We learned in a beraita:

If she allotted,

they allotted provisions to the nursing woman

a little—

she eats

provisions

much:

And we raised a difficulty concerning it:

From where?

From where will the nursing woman eat more provisions than they allotted to her—from her own resources or from those who allotted them to her?

Rav Sheshet said:

Many provisions

from her own resources

she shall eat, so that she can fulfill her commitment, and she will have much milk with which to nurse, so that the infant will not die. For she agreed to provide him milk in exchange for the nursing wage, and included in the commitment to nurse is also eating many provisions at her own expense, so that she will have abundant milk.

We further learned in a beraita:

She shall not eat with him things harmful

to the milk. And we raised a difficulty concerning it:

What are they?

What are the things harmful to the milk?

Rav Kahana said: Such as hops and young grain [

grasses of grain seed],

and small fish and earth.

Abaye said: Even gourds and quinces [

cucumbers and quinces], these too are harmful to the production of milk.

Rav Pappa said: Even the soft growth [

“the soft growth that grows on a date palm, what is added to the branch in this year,” Rashi],

and the immature dates [

dates when they are small, which have not yet ripened completely].

Rav Ashi said: Even kimkha [

a kutah dish]

and harsena [

fish fried in flour together with their broth and fat], they are harmful to her.

There are things

among them,

among the things stated, that are

milk-stoppers [

they stop the production of milk]—

and there are things

among them,

among the things stated, that are

milk-spoilers,

they spoil the milk, and it is not good for the infant.

And incidentally, as the Gemara detailed the foods that affect the quality of the milk, the Gemara also explains what things and foods affect pregnancy:

One who has intercourse in a millhouse,

one who has intercourse with her husband in a millhouse,

will have children

the offspring will be

epileptic,

ill with the falling sickness.

Who has intercourse on the ground

on the ground],

they would have children with drooping necks,

long-necked, and it is a defect.

A pregnant woman

who steps on donkey blood,

who steps on the blood of a donkey,

would have bald children

bald].

A woman

who ate mustard

mustard] during her pregnancy,

would have gluttonous children

voracious].

Who ate cress

cress],

would have children whose eyes constantly stream water

their eyes constantly stream water].

Who ate small fish,

a woman accustomed to eating small fish,

would have children with protruding eyes

their eyes protrude and move constantly].

Who ate earth

earth],

would have ugly children

ugly].

Who drank beer,

a pregnant woman who drinks beer,

would have black children

black children].