Talmud - Ketubot 54b כתובות נ״ד ב׳

Four hundred dinars of this wine you should give to my daughter, and the wine subsequently appreciated in value, so that some money remained. Rav Yosef said: The gain goes to the male orphans, i.e., they are entitled to the leftover sum.

The Gemara relates: The relatives of Rabbi Yoḥanan had a wife of their father who would diminish his resources by spending wastefully on her sustenance. They came before Rabbi Yoḥanan to ask his advice. He said to them: Go and say to your father that he should set aside a certain portion of land for her sustenance. If she agrees to accept this land for her sustenance she has thereby relinquished her claim to the rest of the estate.

After their father died, they came before Reish Lakish for his ruling, and he said to them: All the more so, he has increased the sources of sustenance available to her. In other words, they are still obligated to support her from their father’s estate according to the lifestyle she is accustomed to living, and if they do not, she may use the field to supplement what they give her. They said to him: But Rabbi Yoḥanan did not say so. He said to them: Go and give her all she requires, and if not, I will remove for you Rabbi Yoḥanan from your ears, i.e., I will treat you so harshly that you will forget Rabbi Yoḥanan’s ruling. They approached Rabbi Yoḥanan to complain, but he said to them: What can I do? I cannot impose my opinion, as a man equal to me disagrees with me.

Rabbi Abbahu said: This matter was explained to me personally by Rabbi Yoḥanan. All depends on the husband’s description of the land. If he said that he is giving her land for her sustenance, he has thereby increased the sources of sustenance available to her. He will continue to provide her sustenance, but if that amount is insufficient he has also set aside an area of land specifically for that purpose. However, if he said to her that he is designating the land as her sustenance, he has thereby fixed this plot of land as the only source of sustenance available to her, and she can take no more.

May we return to you chapter four of Ketubot.

MISHNA: Although they said as a principle that a virgin collects two hundred dinars as payment for her marriage contract and that a widow collects one hundred dinars, if the husband wishes to add even an additional ten thousand dinars, he may add it. If she is then widowed or divorced, whether from betrothal or whether from marriage, she collects the entire amount, including the additional sum. Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya says: If she is widowed or divorced from marriage, she collects the total amount, but if she is widowed or divorced from betrothal, a virgin collects two hundred dinars and a widow one hundred dinars. This is because he wrote the additional amount for her in the marriage contract only in order to marry her.

Rabbi Yehuda says a related halakha with regard to the marriage contract: If he wishes, he may write for a virgin a document for two hundred dinars as is fitting for her, and she may then write a receipt stating: I received one hundred dinars from you. Even though she has not actually received the money, the receipt serves as a means for her to waive half of the amount due to her for her marriage contract. According to Rabbi Yehuda, the financial commitment in the marriage contract is a right due to the wife, which she may waive if she chooses to do so. And similarly, for a widow he may write one hundred dinars in the contract and she may write a receipt stating: I received from you fifty dinars. However, Rabbi Meir says: It is prohibited to do this, as anyone who reduces the amount of the marriage contract to less than than two hundred dinars for a virgin or one hundred dinars for a widow, this marital relationship amounts to licentious sexual relations because it is as if he did not write any marriage contract at all.

GEMARA: The mishna states that if he wishes to add to the obligation in the marriage contract, he may do so. The Gemara asks: Isn’t it obvious that if he wishes to add he may do so? The Gemara explains: Lest you say that the Sages instituted a fixed ceiling on the amount one may designate in the marriage contract, in order not to embarrass one who does not have sufficient funds, the mishna therefore teaches us that the Sages were not specific about this. If he wishes to add to the amount, he may do so.

§ The mishna states that if he wishes to add even ten thousand dinars to the marriage contract, he may do so. The Gemara comments: It does not teach: He wishes to write for her, rather: He wishes to add. This language indicates that the additional sum he wrote is added to the marriage contract itself, as opposed to being an independent obligation. This supports the opinion of Rabbi Aivu, who said what Rabbi Yannai said, as Rabbi Aivu said that Rabbi Yannai said: The stipulation in the marriage contract as well as additional amounts he chooses to add to the contract are comparable to the marriage contract itself.

This principle produces a practical difference with regard to many issues. It is relevant to one who sells her marriage contract, indicating that such a sale includes the additional sum of the marriage contract; and to one who waives her marriage contract to her husband or his heirs, teaching that the additional sum is included in this relinquishing of rights to payment of the contract; and to a rebellious woman, from whom the court deducts a specific amount from her marriage contract each week until there is nothing left. These deductions come from the additional sum as well.

And this principle also results in a practical difference to one who vitiates her marriage contract, as one who states that she received part of the payment for her marriage contract does not receive the remainder without taking an oath, and the additional sum is included in this halakha; to one who demands payment for her marriage contract, as the Sages ruled that from the time she begins to demand the payment she waives her right to further sustenance, and this applies with regard to one who demands the additional sum as well; and to one who violates the precepts of halakha or of Jewish custom, who may be divorced without receiving payment for her marriage contract, including the additional sum.

Traduction : The William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noé Talmud, with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

Ketuvot 54b explores widow support disputes, examining how designated land allocations affect a widow's ongoing sustenance claims from her husband's estate.