So long as she is in her father's house [and the heirs feed her there], she can always [i.e., whenever she wishes] claim her kethubah. So long as she is in her husband's house, she can claim her kethubah for twenty-five years; for there is in the twenty-five years (enough time) for her to do good against (the amount of) her kethubah. These are the words of R. Meir in the name of R. Shimon b. Gamliel. And the sages say: So long as she is in her husband's house, she can always claim her kethubah. So long as she is in her father's house, she can claim her kethubah for twenty-five years. [The twenty-five years were not mentioned to cause her to lose her kethubah because of the good she does from the property of the orphans, but (they were mentioned) in respect to "waiving" (the kethubah), i.e., since she remained silent and did not claim it all of these years, she has waived it. Therefore, so long as she is in her husband's house, her silence does not constitute "waiving," for since they honor her, she is ashamed to claim her kethubah. But in her father's house, if she remained silent for twenty-five years, this constitutes "waiving."] If she died, her heirs "mention" her kethubah for twenty-five years. [That is, they must claim her kethubah within twenty-five years. And this is only when she swore to (not having collected) her kethubah before she died. But if she had not sworn to her kethubah, her heirs collect nothing of it, for "a man does not bequeath an oath to his sons."]
Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
כל זמן שהיא בבית אביה – and the heirs gave to support there.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
Introduction
The last mishnah of this chapter deals with how long a widow has to collect her ketubah. As we shall see, this depends on whether she lives in her father’s house or remains in her husband’s house.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
גובה כתובתה – when she desires.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
As long as she lives in her father’s house she may collect her kethubah at any time. As long as she lives in her husband’s house she may recover her ketubah, only within twenty-five years, because in the course of twenty-five years she has sufficient opportunities to give favors equal [in value to the amount of] her ketubah, the words of Rabbi Meir who spoke in the name of Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel. According to Rabbi Meir, if a widow returns to live in her father’s house she may collect her ketubah from her husband’s inheritors even after 25 years. However, if she remains in her husband’s home, if she doesn’t collect the ketubah within twenty-five years, she forfeits it. The reason given is that in twenty-five years it can be assumed that she gave away to friends and neighbors property equal to the ketubah. Since this is technically not her money to give away, she loses her ketubah. In any case we should note that twenty-five years is quite a long time. Assumedly, a young widow who intended to remarry would have left her previous husband’s home within the twenty-five years in any case. Furthermore, if she requests the ketubah in the twenty-fourth year, she receives the whole thing, even though she may have spent 24 years giving little things away to friends. In the end, this mishnah strikes me as quite generous to the widow.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
שתעשה טובה – from the property of orphans, she gives bread and salt to her neighbors up to [the value of] her Ketubah settlement.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
The Sages say: as long as she lives in her husband’s house she may collect her ketubah at any time. As long as she lives in her father’s house she may collect her ketubah only within twenty-five years. The Sages posit an opposite system. According to them, the widow loses her ketubah after twenty-five years, not because we assume that she has given it away, but rather because after twenty-five years we can assume that she has “forgiven” the ketubah to her husband’s inheritors. Therefore, if she remains at her husband’s home she may always later decide to leave and collect her ketubah. The reason that she didn’t ask for her ketubah earlier is that since she was living with the inheritors she may have been embarrassed to ask them. In contrast, if she lives at her father’s home, she has no excuse for not asking for it within twenty-five years, and hence after such a long time, the ketubah is considered to have been forgiven. Again, the important thing to realize is that which is unstated: a widow always has 25 years in which to collect her ketubah, no matter where she lives.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
וחכמים אומרים – they did not mention twenty five years to cause her to lose her Ketubah settlement because of the good that she will do from the property of the orphans, but rather, concerning the issue of renunciation, it was mentioned by them that since she was silent and had not claimed [her Ketubah settlement] all these years, she renounced [it], therefore, all the time that she is in the house of her husband, her silence is renunciation since because they honor her, she is ashamed to claim her Ketubah settlement; but in her father’s house, since she had been silent for twenty-five years, it is a renunciation.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
If [the widow] died, her heirs must mention her ketubah within twenty-five years. Although the widow herself sometimes has more than 25 years in which to collect the ketubah, should she die before she collects her ketubah, her inheritors must always stake a claim within this time. Some interpret this as 25 years within the death of the husband and some say it refers to 25 years from the death of the wife.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
מתה יורשיה מזכירין כתובתה – meaning to say, they need to claim her Ketubah settlement within twenty-five years and especially when she took an oath on her Ketubah prior to her passing. This is the case where her heirs are able to claim her Ketubah settlement, but if she had not taken an oath regarding her Ketubah, her heirs do not inherit from her Ketubah anything, and no one bequeaths an oath to his children.
