Se alguém proíbe a esposa por voto de coabitação [como quando ele diz: "Seja proibido o gozo da sua coabitação para mim" (Mas se ele diz: "O gozo da minha coabitação é proibido para você", ela não é proibida, pois ele é obrigado a ela, está escrito (Êxodo 21:10): "... e seu tempo (conjugal) ele não reterá")] —Beth Shammai diz: Duas semanas. [Se ele prometeu assim, ele deve esperar duas semanas (antes de retomar as relações); pois assim descobrimos com uma mulher que deu à luz uma fêmea que ela é imunda por duas semanas.] Beth Hillel diz: Uma semana. [Pois assim descobrimos em relação a uma niddah que ela é imunda por sete dias; e derivamos o que é comum (um homem fica zangado com a esposa e a proíbe por voto) do que é comum (niddah, que é uma ocorrência comum)—ao contrário do parto, o que não é tão comum. E Beth Shammai sustenta que derivamos algo que ele causa (o voto do homem, que faz com que ela desista), de algo que ele causa (parto, que vem através dele)—ao contrário de niddah, que vem por si só. Se (ele a proíbe) mais de uma semana de acordo com Beth Hillel, ou mais de duas semanas de acordo com Beth Shammai, ele deve mandá-la embora e dar-lhe seu kethubah—mesmo que ele fosse um motorista de camelo, cujo tempo conjugal é uma vez em trinta dias, ou um marinheiro, cujo tempo conjugal é uma vez em seis meses.] Os estudiosos da Torá podem partir para o estudo da Torá sem permissão (de suas esposas) por trinta dias. [Esta Mishnah está de acordo com R. Eliezer. Os rabinos diferem com ele, dizendo que ele pode fazê-lo por dois ou três anos. A halachá está de acordo com os sábios.] Os trabalhadores podem fazê-lo por uma semana. O tempo conjugal mencionado na Torá: tayalin [que não tem trabalho nem negócios], todos os dias; trabalhadores, duas vezes por semana; condutores de burros [que trazem trouxas de camelos de longe], uma vez em trinta dias; marinheiros [que zarparam no Mediterrâneo], uma vez em seis meses. Estas são as palavras de R. Eliezer. [E se no começo alguém era comerciante cujo tempo conjugal é frequente e desejava mudar para uma ocupação cujo tempo conjugal é pouco frequente, sua esposa pode impedi-lo— exceto se ele desejasse estudar a Torá, a esposa de alguém não seria capaz de impedir o marido, que era um tayal ou trabalhador de se tornar um estudioso da 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.”
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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).
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
הטיילים – who have no work nor business.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
החמרים – who go out to the villages to bring grain.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
הגמלים – who bring packages on the camels from a place far away.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
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.
