Wenn Eigentum einer Frau fiel, bevor sie verlobt wurde [und sie wurde dann verlobt], stimmen Beth Shammai und Beth Hillel zu, dass sie es verkaufen oder verschenken darf, und es (die Transaktion) steht. Wenn es ihr nach ihrer Verlobung fiel, sagt Beth Shammai: Sie darf es verkaufen [solange sie noch verlobt ist, aber nicht nach ihrer Heirat], und Beth Hillel sagt: Sie darf es nicht verkaufen. Beide sind sich einig, dass es steht, wenn sie es verkauft oder verschenkt hat. R. Yehudah sagte: Sie sagten vor R. Gamliel: Wenn er die Frau erwirbt, [sollte die Frau seine Verlobte werden], sollte er das Eigentum nicht erwerben! Er antwortete: "Wir schämen uns für das Neue [das ihr nach ihrer Heirat zugefallen ist. Warum haben die Weisen es für angebracht gehalten zu sagen, dass ihr Mann es vom Empfänger nehmen kann, wenn sie es verkauft oder verschenkt hat]. und du würdest das Alte auf uns "rollen"! " [Eigentum, das ihr fiel, als sie noch verlobt war, und sagte, wenn sie es verkaufte, sei der Verkauf nichtig, da ihr Ehemann es erworben habe.] Wenn es ihr nach ihrer Heirat fiel, stimmen beide zu, dass sie es verkauft oder gegeben hat Als Geschenk kann ihr Mann es vom Empfänger nehmen. (Wenn es ihr zugefallen ist) Bevor sie verheiratet war und sie dann verheiratet war, sagt R. Gamliel: Wenn sie es verkauft oder verschenkt hat, steht es. R. Chanina b. Akiva sagte: Sie sagten vor R. Gamliel: Wenn er die Frau erwirbt, sollte er das Eigentum nicht erwerben! Er antwortete: "Wir sind beschämt über das Neue, und du würdest das Alte auf uns rollen!"
Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
האשה. עד שלא תתארס – and she became betrothed.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
Introduction
Chapter eight discusses a wife’s ability to own money independently of her husband. Possessions that come into her hands while married belong to her, but her husband has usufruct on them. Therefore, since he too has rights, she cannot sell them.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
ב"ש אומרים תמכור – while she is betrothed, but not from when she gets married.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
If a woman came into the possession of property before she was betrothed, Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel agree that she may sell it or give it away and her act is legally valid. He replied, “We are embarrassed with regard to her new possessions and you wish to roll over on us her old ones as well?” He replied, “We are embarrassed with regard to her new possessions and do you wish to roll over on us her old ones as well?” Money that a woman receives before she is betrothed is hers. She may give it away or sell it, even after she has been betrothed. However, as we will learn later, once she is married she no longer can do so.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
הואיל וזכה באשה – that she is his betrothed,
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
If she came into the possession of property after she was betrothed, Bet Shammai says: she may sell it, and Beth Hillel says: she may not sell it. Both agree that if she had sold it or given it away her act is legally valid. Rabbi Judah said: they argued before Rabban Gamaliel, “Since the man acquires the woman does he not also acquire her property?” If she comes into possession of property after betrothal, but before marriage, Beth Shammai maintains that she may still sell or give away the property. However, Beth Hillel says that a priori she does not have the right to do so. The reason is that once she is betrothed she will likely be married, and at the point of marriage her husband will have the rights to the usufruct from her property. Therefore, already at betrothal Beth Hillel says she may not sell her property. However, both Beth Hillel and Beth Shammai agree that if she goes ahead and sells her property anyway, the sale is valid. Rabbi Judah presents an argument against this previous line, an argument that had been presented in front of Rabban Gamaliel a generation earlier. The Sages argued that since the husband has already, at the point of betrothal, acquired the woman as his wife, should he not also, at that point, acquire her property. In other words, even if she had sold it, these Sages believe that the sale should be annulled. Rabban Gamaliel says that he is distressed enough that according to the halakhah, if a woman came into possession of property after marriage and then sold it, the sale is annulled. This halakhah does not seem reasonable to Rabban Gamaliel, but he evidently does not have the ability to change it. However, he argues that what these Sages want to do is expand the same halakhah and apply it to the point of betrothal as well. This statement, which also appears at the end of this mishnah, provides an interesting glimpse of rabbinic authority to modify Judaism versus their acceptance of tradition. The rabbis in the mishnah are receivers of traditions which certainly predate them. While these traditions are in their minds authoritative, this does not mean that they blindly accept them. As much as they do accept these traditions, they also, at least occasionally, limit their applicability and recognize the problematic aspects to the tradition.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
should he not take possession of her property, in astonishment.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
If she came into the possession of property after she was married, both agree that, even if she had sold it or given it away, the husband may seize it from the buyers. If she comes into possession of property after marriage, everyone agrees that she may not sell or give the property away and that even if she does the sale is invalid. The husband can then go to the purchaser and reclaim that which his wife sold. You can imagine that this halakhah would make it difficult for women to sell things in their society.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
על החדשים – [inheritance] that fell/came to her from when she got married, we are confounded: What did the Sages see to state that if she sold them or gave them away, the husband removes [them] from the hand of those who bought the property, but rather, that you burden us with property that fell/came to her while she was still betrothed meaning to say, that if she sold it, her sale is void, because the husband took possession of them.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
[If she came into possession] before she married and then she married, Rabban Gamaliel says: if she sold it or gave it away her act is legally valid. Rabbi Hanina ben Akavya said: they argued before Rabban Gamaliel, “Since the man acquires the woman does he not also gain acquires her property?” If she came into possession of property before the marriage and then got married, she may not a priori sell the property, but according to Rabban Gamaliel, if she nevertheless does, the sale is valid. According to Rabbi Hanina ben Akavya, the argument brought in front of Rabban Gamaliel mentioned above, was actually in connection to this case, and not in connection to the case of a woman who sold property after betrothal but before marriage.
