Talmud - Ketubot 89a כתובות פ״ט א׳

she collects payment of her marriage contract, and he cannot claim that he already paid it.

If she produced a marriage contract, and it was unaccompanied by a bill of divorce, and she says: My bill of divorce was lost, and he says: Just as your bill of divorce was lost, so too my receipt for the payment of your marriage contract was lost; and likewise, in a case of a creditor who produced a promissory note after the Sabbatical Year, unaccompanied by a document that prevents the Sabbatical Year from forgiving an outstanding debt [prosbol], and demanded payment of the debt, these debts may not be collected.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: From the time of danger and onward, after the ruling authorities banned the performance of mitzvot, people would destroy a bill of divorce or a prosbol immediately after they were signed, a woman collects payment of her marriage contract without a bill of divorce, and a creditor collects debts owed to him without a prosbol. The assumption is that due to the circumstances these documents were written but were not preserved.

GEMARA: Conclude from the mishna that when one repays a debt, the creditor writes a receipt and gives it to the debtor as proof of payment, as, if one does not write a receipt, then in the case in the mishna where she receives payment of her marriage contract by producing her bill of divorce, let us be concerned lest she produce her marriage contract in a different court and collect payment with it a second time. In the absence of a receipt, the husband cannot prove that the debt was paid.

Rav said: That is no proof, as we are dealing with a place where one does not write a marriage contract. In those places, there is a general stipulation of the Sages that a husband must pay his wife the sum of the marriage contract even if no document was written. Therefore, there is no concern lest she produce the marriage contract at a later stage. And Shmuel said that the mishna is referring even to a place where one writes a marriage contract, which she claims to have lost.

The Gemara asks: And according to Shmuel, does one in fact write a receipt? Rav Anan said: It was explained to me personally by the Sage Shmuel himself: The mishna is addressing two different cases. In a place where one does not write a marriage contract and the husband said: I wrote a marriage contract, it is incumbent upon him to bring proof that he wrote one. In that case, if he does not provide proof, she can collect payment. In a place where one writes a marriage contract and she said: He did not write one for me, she must bring proof that he did not write a marriage contract. Only then can she collect payment without one.

And even Rav retracted his interpretation of the mishna, as Rav said the following ruling: Both in a place where one writes a marriage contract and in a place where one does not write a marriage contract, if she produces only a bill of divorce, she collects the main sum of the marriage contract. The Sages established minimum sums to serve as the principal payment of the marriage contract: Two hundred dinars for a virgin and one hundred for a non-virgin. If she produces a marriage contract that specifies a larger sum, she collects only the additional sum and not the main sum, as there is a concern that she collected the main sum previously by producing the bill of divorce. And whoever wishes to challenge this solution, let him come and challenge it. There is no longer any possibility of deceit, as she will gain nothing by producing the marriage contract in a second court after having collected her marriage contract by producing her bill of divorce in a first court.

The Gemara objects: We learned in the mishna: If she produced a marriage contract, and it was unaccompanied by a bill of divorce, and she says: My bill of divorce was lost, and he says: Just as your bill of divorce was lost, so too my receipt for the payment of your marriage contract was lost; and likewise, in a case of a creditor who produced a promissory note after the Sabbatical Year, unaccompanied by a prosbol, and demanded payment of the debt, these debts may not be collected.

The Gemara presents the question: Granted, according to Shmuel, this is reasonable. He establishes the mishna as referring to a place where the common practice is that one does not write a marriage contract, and the husband previously had said: I wrote one, and therefore did not want to pay the marriage contract when she produced the bill of divorce, as he was concerned that she would later produce the marriage contract and demand payment again. As in that case we say to him, according to Shmuel: Bring proof that you wrote a marriage contract, and if he does not bring proof, we say to him: Go and pay her based on the bill of divorce. Now, when she produces her marriage contract and the husband claims that he paid her by means of the bill of divorce and has lost the receipt, the mishna rules that this debt cannot be collected.

The Gemara completes the question: However, according to Rav, why does the mishna state that the debt cannot be collected? Although she cannot now collect the main sum of her marriage contract, because he can claim that she already received this sum in a different court by means of her bill of divorce, she should be able to collect the additional sum by virtue of the marriage contract, as she could not have received that by producing the bill of divorce alone.

Rav Yosef said: With what are we dealing here? It is a case where there are no witnesses to the divorce present there. Since the husband can say: I did not divorce her and she is entitled to nothing,

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

Ketuvot 89a examines whether a receipt is required after debt repayment, comparing marriage contract collection to prosbol validity after the Sabbatical Year.