פירוש על כתובות 6:4

Introduction The first part of this mishnah is a continuation of yesterday’s mishnah. The second part discusses the husband’s obligation to provide his bride with money for perfume.

If a woman agreed to bring him cash, every sela’ counts as six denarii. As we learned yesterday, if the wife brings cash as a dowry, her husband must write into the ketubah an amount that is fifty per cent higher than that which she brought. Since a sela is worth 4 denarii, he writes 6 denarii for every sela.

The bridegroom must accept upon himself [to give his wife] ten denarii for her [perfume] basket for call maneh [which she brings as dowry]. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel said: in all matters the local usage shall be followed. For every maneh (100 denarii) that she brings as dowry, her husband must provide 10 denarii of money for her perfume. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel disagrees with the setting of an absolute amount. Rather he holds that local custom dictates how much he must provide for her perfume.