Se uno accetta il voto di sua moglie di non andare nella casa del lutto o nella casa del banchetto, la manda fuori e le dà il suo kethubah, poiché si chiude davanti a lei [la porta della gioia e l'alleviamento del dolore; e, per quanto riguarda la casa del lutto, si chiude davanti a lei (la "porta dell'elogio"), perché domani può morire, e nessuno la elogerà. E se affermava (che sosteneva il voto) a causa di "qualcos'altro" [come quando si sapeva che c'erano uomini dissoluti], gli era permesso (mantenere il voto). Se le dicesse: (Ti assolverò dal tuo voto) solo a condizione che tu dica a quell'uomo [le cose umilianti] che mi hai detto o che ti ho detto, o a condizione che lei riempia e versi nel letame [Alcuni dicono (il significato è): dopo il rapporto sessuale, quando il suo grembo è pieno di semi, deve lavarlo, in modo da non concepire. Altri: deve riempire dieci brocche d'acqua e versarle nello sterco (nel qual caso sembra sconvolta)], la manda fuori e le dà la sua kethubah.
Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
שנועל בפניה – the door of joy and the removal of sorrow, and to the house of mourning, he locks it (i.e., the door) in her face, for tomorrow she may die, and no one will eulogize her.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
Introduction
Mishnah five continues to discuss husbands who attempt to prevent their wives from doing certain things.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
דבר אחר מחמת – as for example, that under the presumption that lawless human beings are found there.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
If a man forbade his wife by vow from visiting a house of mourning or a house of feasting, he must divorce her and give her the ketubah, because he has closed [peoples doors] against her. A husband cannot prohibit his wife from paying a condolence call to a house of mourning or from celebrating at a wedding. The mishnah reasons that he cannot do so for by preventing her from participating in others’ sorrows or joy, they will in return not visit her when she is mourning or celebrating one of her children’s weddings. However, if he claims that his vow had a “cause”, which in the mishnah usually is a euphemism for sexual licentiousness, he may prohibit her from going. In other words, if he fears that there will be illicit goings-on at the house of mourning, or more likely at the house of feasting, he may prohibit her from going there.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
שתאמרי לפלוני וכו' – things of degradation/disgrace.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
If he claims [that his vow] was due to some other cause he is permitted [to forbid her]. If he said to her: “[There shall be no prohibition] provided you tell so-and-so what you have told me” or “what I have told you” or “that you will fill and pour out in the garbage”, he must divorce her and give her the ketubah. A husband cannot use a vow to force his wife to engage in behavior that will embarrass her. He cannot force her to tell others secret things that he has told her or that she has told him. The last phrase of this mishnah “fill and pour out in the garbage” is interpreted in two ways in the Talmud. One interpretation is that it literally means that she should fill up jugs with water and then pour the water out into the garbage, an act that others will (rightfully) interpret as crazy. Alternatively, it may be a euphemism for “spilling seed” (the man’s interrupting his intercourse with her). A husband cannot force his wife to allow him to engage in such an act. If he does so, she may demand a divorce and receive her ketubah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
שתהא ממלאה ומערה לאשפה – there are those who interpret that after she has sexual intercourse and her womb is filled with semen, it would shake it out in order that the seed won’t be absorbed and she will become pregnant. And there are those who interpret that she will fill ten pitches of water and she will pour them out to the ground, because she appears as a women suspected of infidelity by her husband.
