Si uno prohíbe a su esposa por voto de la cohabitación [como cuando dice: "Que el disfrute de tu cohabitación se me prohíba" (Pero si él dice: "El disfrute de mi cohabitación está prohibido para ti", ella no está prohibida, porque él está obligado a ella, está escrito (Éxodo 21:10): "... y su tiempo (conyugal) no lo retendrá")] —Beth Shammai dice: Dos semanas. [Si se comprometió así, debe esperar dos semanas (antes de reanudar las relaciones); porque así encontramos con una mujer que dio a luz a una mujer, que es inmunda por dos semanas.] Beth Hillel dice: Una semana. [Porque así encontramos con respecto a una niddah, que ella es inmunda durante siete días; y derivamos lo que es común (un hombre se enoja con su esposa y lo prohíbe por voto) de lo que es común (nidda, que es una ocurrencia común)—a diferencia del parto, que no es tan común. Y Beth Shammai sostiene que derivamos algo que él causa (el voto del hombre, que hace que ella desista), de algo que él causa (el parto, que viene a través de él)—a diferencia de niddah, que viene de sí mismo. Si (él lo prohíbe) más de una semana según Beth Hillel, o más de dos semanas según Beth Shammai, debe enviarla y darle su kethubah—incluso si fuera un conductor de camellos, cuyo tiempo conyugal es una vez en treinta días, o un marinero, cuyo tiempo conyugal es una vez en seis meses.] Los estudiosos de la Torá pueden ir a estudiar la Torá sin permiso (de sus esposas) por treinta días. [Esta Mishná está de acuerdo con R. Eliezer. Los rabinos difieren de él y dicen que puede hacerlo durante dos o tres años. La halajá está de acuerdo con los sabios.] Los trabajadores pueden hacerlo durante una semana. El tiempo conyugal mencionado en la Torá: tayalin [que no tiene trabajo ni negocios], todos los días; trabajadores, dos veces por semana; conductores de burros [que traen paquetes de camellos desde lejos], una vez cada treinta días; marineros [que zarparon en el Mediterráneo], una vez cada seis meses. Estas son las palabras de R. Eliezer. [Y si al principio uno fuera un comerciante cuyo tiempo conyugal es frecuente y quisiera cambiar a una ocupación cuyo tiempo conyugal es poco frecuente, su esposa puede evitarlo— excepto si desea estudiar Torá, la esposa de uno no puede evitar que su esposo, que era un tayal o un trabajador, se convirtiera en un estudioso de la Torá.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
המדיר את אשתו מתשמיש המטה – aa for example, that he said: the benefit of your sexual intercourse will be forbidden upon me, but the benefit of my sexual intercourse will be forbidden to you; he is not forbidden for he is subjugated to her, as it is written (Exodus 21:10): “he must not withhold her conjugal rights.”
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
Introduction
This mishnah teaches that a husband has an obligation to have sexual relations with his wife. How frequently he is obligated depends on his job.
The idea that a husband has an obligation to periodically have relations with his wife is derived from Exodus 21:10 which states that if a man takes a second wife he cannot diminish from her three things: food, clothing or conjugal rights. With regard to our issue, if a man has two or more wives he must provide each one with their conjugal rights. You can imagine that this might have been one deterrent to the practice of polygyny (the proper term for the practice of men marrying more than one woman).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
ב"ש אומרים שתי שבתות – if he took a vow for two weeks, she should wait, for such as we found with a woman who gives birth to a female who is ritually impure for two weeks.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
A man forbade himself by vow from having intercourse with his wife: Beth Shammai says: two weeks; Beth Hillel says: one week. A man cannot make a vow to forbid upon his wife anything which he is mandated to give her by law. The man in this mishnah, perhaps in a fit of anger, forbade his wife from have sexual relations with him. This is not permitted and if he does not have his vow annulled (a process we will discuss in tractate Nedarim), he must divorce her and pay her the ketubah. However, he is not obligated to divorce her that very day; rather he is given a period to cool off and hopefully have his vow annulled. According to Beth Shammai he is given two weeks and according to Beth Hillel he is given only one week. After that length of time, he must divorce her and pay her the ketubah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
וב"ה אומרים שבת אחת – for such we have found with a menstruant woman who is ritually impure for seven [days] and we learn something that is frequent. The anger [that a person expresses] over his wife and takes a vow concerning her is something that is frequent, [which we learn] from the menstruant woman something that is frequent, to exclude giving birth which is not all that frequent. But the School of Shammai holds that we learn something that he caused to her. The vow of a man which he causes her to wait/delay from giving birth, which is upon his hand comes upon her, to exclude the menstruant woman that of its own comes to her. And more than one week according to the School of Hillel and two weeks according to the School of Shammai, he should divorce [her] and give [her] the Ketubah settlement, and even if he was a camel driver whose period is thirty days or a sailor whose period is sixth months.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
Students may go away to study Torah, without the permission [of their wives for a period of] thirty days; workers for one week. Since a husband must have relations with his wife, he cannot be away from her for a long period of time. According to this section, a Torah scholar cannot leave his wife without her permission for longer than thirty days. A worker can be out of town for only one week. If either wish to remain away from their wives for a longer period of time, they must receive permission.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
התלמידים וכו' שלשים יום – and our Mishnah is according to Rabbi Eliezer and the Rabbis dispute it and state even two or three years, and the Halakha is according to the Sages.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
The times for conjugal duty prescribed in the torah are: For independent men, every day; For workers, twice a week; For donkey-drivers, once a week; For camel-drivers, once in thirty days; For sailors, once in six months. These are the words of Rabbi Eliezer. This section delineates how often in general a husband must be available to have relations with his wife. The frequency depends on his occupation. An independent man, meaning one who doesn’t work, must have relations with his wife every day. Note that this does not mean that he actually has to do so, but rather that if she so desires, he is obligated. He cannot claim that he is too busy to have sex with her. Workers must be available twice a week. The Talmud explains that this refers to workers who work in the city; those who work outside the city are obligated only once a week, as we learned in the previous clause. Donkey-drivers, who travel short distances must be available once a week. Camel-drivers who travel longer distances must be available once a month and finally, sailors who travel for long periods of time, need to return home once every six months. This all refers to situations where the wife has not given her husband permission. If she has given him permission, he may stay away longer. She might give him permission if, for instance, for the sake of supporting the family, the husband had to be away for a long period of time. However, it is her right to demand that he find work closer to home.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
הטיילים – who have no work nor business.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
החמרים – who go out to the villages to bring grain.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
הגמלים – who bring packages on the camels from a place far away.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
הספנים – who go on a voyage to the Great Sea (Mediterranean). He who his beginning was the master of a craft whose period [permitted before he must have sexual relations with his wife] is close and he requested to become the master of a craft whose period is further off, his wife waits for him, except for that of the study of Torah where the woman is unable to wait for her husband who was at leisure ora worker who does not become a Sage.
