S'il lui écrivait: «Je ne vous imposerai ni vœu ni serment», il ne peut lui faire jurer; mais il peut faire jurer ses héritiers [S'il a divorcé d'elle, et qu'elle est morte, et que ses héritiers lui réclament sa kethubah, ils jurent le "serment des héritiers", à savoir: Elle ne nous a pas dit à sa mort, et elle ne nous a pas dit avant cela, et nous n'avons pas trouvé parmi ses actes, que sa kethubah avait été payée.]; et (il peut faire) ceux qui viennent par son autorité (jurer). [Si elle avait vendu sa kethubah à d'autres, et qu'elle avait divorcé et était décédée, et que les acheteurs étaient venus réclamer sa kethubah, eux aussi juraient le serment des héritiers.] (S'il écrivait :) "Je le ferai ne vous impose ni vœu ni serment, à vous, à vos héritiers ou à ceux qui viennent par votre autorité, «il ne peut faire jurer ni elle, ni ses héritiers, ni ceux qui viennent par son autorité; mais ses héritiers peuvent faire jurer: elle, ses héritiers et ceux qui viennent par son autorité. [Si elle était veuve et qu'elle ou ses héritiers le réclamaient aux orphelins, ils ont besoin d'un serment, car il les a exemptés seulement de (l'exaction d'un serment par) lui, si sa kethubah était réclamée de son vivant.] (S'il a écrit :) "Ni moi, ni mes héritiers, ni ceux qui viennent par mon autorité [(si je vends ma propriété, et que vous venez percevoir des acheteurs)] n'imposeront ni vœu ni serment à vous, vos héritiers ou ceux qui viennent par votre autorité, «ni lui ni ses héritiers, ni ceux qui viennent par son autorité ne peuvent faire jurer ni elle, ni ses héritiers, ni ceux qui viennent par son autorité.
Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
משביע הוא את יורשיה – if he divorced her or she died and her heirs claim from him her Ketubah, they take the oath of heirs that she did not deposit anything with us at the time of death nor say to us anything before then and we did not find among her documents that the document of her Ketubah had been paid off.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
Introduction
In mishnah one we learned that a husband can renounce his right to use his wife’s property. After learning in mishnah four that a husband has a right to make his wife swear that she did not misuse his property, our mishnah teaches that a husband may renounce this right as well. We can easily imagine a scenario in which a woman says that she will not agree to be a storekeeper for her husband if he is so distrusting of her that he will make her take an oath. Therefore, perhaps as a precondition to her doing certain work for him, she makes him renounce this right.
As in mishnah one, the rabbis minimally interpret each of these sayings. In each case the court would assume that the husband renounced the minimal amount of rights that can be interpreted as being referred to in his statement. For him to fully renounce his or his inheritors’ ability to make her swear an oath, he must be very explicit in his statement.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
ואת הבאים ברשותה – if she sold her Ketubah to others and she was divorced or died and the purchaser of mortgaged property claim her Ketubah, even they are bound to swear the oath of heirs.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
If he (the wrote to her (his, “I have no claim upon you for either a vow or an oath”, he cannot make her swear an oath. However, he may make her heirs and upon those who have done business with her swear an oath. If he states that he will not make her take an oath, he may still make her inheritors or others who may have bought her ketubah or to whom she may have sold her ketubah take an oath or a vow. The case of her inheritors or those who bought her ketubah can occur if he divorced his wife and then she died and these people wish to collect her ketubah. The husband may make them swear that the woman did not give them any part of her ketubah that she had already collected, nor did she mention that she had already collected her ketubah, nor did they find among her papers documentation that she had received her ketubah. If they can swear that all of this is true, then they may collect the woman’s ketubah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
אבל יורשיו משביעין אותה – if she became a widow and he or her heirs collect money from the orphans, they require an oath, for they are not exempted other than from him, if she collects her Ketubah settlement during his lifetime.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
[If he wrote,] “I have no claim upon you for either a vow or an oath nor upon your heirs nor upon those who have done business with you”, he may not impose an oath either upon her or upon her heirs or upon those who have done business with you. However his heirs may impose an oath upon her or upon her heirs or upon those who have done business with her. If the husband states that he will not make her swear, nor her inheritors nor those who had business with her, then he can’t make any of them swear. However, his inheritors can make them swear. In other words, if the husband dies, his inheritors can make the wife swear that she had not received her ketubah before she collects from them. If the husband divorces his wife and then she dies and then the husband dies, his inheritors can make the wife’s inheritors or those who might have bought her ketubah swear the same oath we saw above.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
לבאין ברשותי – if I sell my property and you come to collect from the bought properties.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
[If he wrote] “Neither I nor my heirs nor those who have done business with me shall have any claim upon you or upon your heirs or upon those who have done business with you for either a vow or an oath”, neither he nor his heirs nor those who have done business with him may impose an oath either upon her or upon her heirs or upon those who have done business with her. If the husband writes that even his inheritors or others who have had business with him will not be able to make his wife, her inheritors or those who have had business with her swear an oath, then none of the latter need take an oath.
