If a man were married to two wives and they died. And then he died, and the orphans claim their mother's kethubah [ in an instance where the kethubah of one of them is larger than that of the other, and her sons (those of the first) say: We will take the "male-sons" kethubah, and you, likewise, and we shall divide the rest ], if (the amount of) only two kethuboth were there, they divide equally [as with all other inheritances, and they do not take the "male-sons" kethubah. If there were a surplus of a dinar, these take the kethubah of their mother, and those take the kethubah of their mother. If the orphans [ those with the larger kethubah] said: "We raise our father's property an additional dinar" in order to receive their mother's kethubah, they are not heeded. [ (If they said:) We raise its worth, accepting it as being worth more, (so that there be an additional dinar, enabling them to take their mother's kethubah) ], they are not heeded, but the property is appraised in beth-din.
Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
ויתומים מבקשים כתובת אמן – since the Ketubah [of] their mother was greater than that of the other, and her children say that the Ketubah of the male issue is taken, and similarly you (the children of the other wife) and the rest we will divide.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
Introduction
In the previous mishnah we began to learn some rules about the “ketubath benin dichrin” which is the clause in the ketubah which states that sons inherit their mother’s ketubah above and beyond their split in their father’s inheritance. Our mishnah teaches that this is only so when there is enough for there to be an inheritance of at least one denar after all of the “ketuboth benin dichrin” have been paid out. The reason is that “ketubath benin dichrin” is an enactment of the Sages whereas inheritance laws are mandated by the Torah. If we allowed the ketuboth benin dichrin to be collected and no inheritance to be split, than an enactment of the Sages would displace a law from the Torah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
חולקים בשוה – like the rest of all the inheritances and they don’t take the Ketubah of male issue.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
If a man was married to two wives and they died, and subsequently he died, and the orphans [of one of the wives] claim their mother’s kethubah and there is only enough for the two kethuboth,[all the orphans] they divide it equally. Let us say Reuven is married to two women, Leah and Hannah. Leah has a ketubah of 1000 zuz and Hannah has a ketubah of 100 zuz. After having children, both women die, and Reuven inherits both ketuboth. When Reuven dies, Leah’s children want to collect their ketubah. The Mishnah teaches that if there is only enough to pay back both ketuboth, i.e. there is only 1100 in Reuven’s estate, then all of the money is split evenly. There must be an inheritance, since it is a Toraitic law.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
אם אמרו יתומים – the children of the larger Ketubah.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
If there was a surplus of [at least] one dinar, these take their mother’s ketubah and these take their mothers ketubah. If in the above case when Reuven dies he leaves an estate of more than 1100, even if the estate is only 1101, Leah’s children take their mother’s ketubah of 1000, Hannah’s children receive 100 and the last denar is split evenly.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
הרי אנו מעלין על נכסי אבינו – we reckon their funds upon us to receive them as of a higher price in order that there will an additional Denar and they take the Ketubah of their mother.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
If the orphans [of one of the wives] says, “We are raising the estate of our father by a denar [more than the total amount of the kethuboth]”, in order that they can take their mother's kethubah, they are not listened to, rather the estate is evaluated by the court. As we can see from the above scenario, it is definitely in Leah’s children’s best interest that there be a surplus over the value of the two ketuboth. The mishnah now states that they may not artificially raise the value of the inheritance, by adding a denar or more, in order to take their mother’s ketubah. If the estate was worth 1100, they may not pitch in one denar in order to make the estate worth 1101, so that they could take 1000. If they try to do so they will be denied and the inheritance will be split evenly.
