Ketubot 104: Protecting Widows

Before beginning a new Mishna. we learn about the death of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi.  It seems that no-one was permitted to say that he was to die lest he be stabbed with a sword, though HaNasi was suffering terribly, putting on and taking off his tefillin multiple times while going back and forth from the bed to the bathroom and back.  The rabbis refused to stop begging G-d for Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi's recovery.  

His maidservant, however, known to be a wise, pious and witty, went to the roof and prayed for G-d to help the upper world impose its will on the lower will.  She then broke a jug.  The crash startled the rabbis into silence for a moment, at which time the Rabbi died.  Bar Kappara checked on Rabbi HaNasi in the bathroom and found him dead.  He tore his clothing and then wore them backward, explaining his discovery through a metaphor about the angels capturing the sacred ark.  The rabbis said, he died?  And Bar Kappara replied, You have said it and I did not say it.

In discussing what happens when a righteous person dies, Rabbi Eleazar explains that three groups of angels greet him.  They say: enter in peace he that walks in his uprightness he enters in peace; they rest in their beds.  When a wicked person dies, angels of destruction greet him and say, There is no peace says the Lord concerning the wicked (Isaiah 48:22), You shall lie down in sorrow (Isaiah 50:11), and Go down, and be laid with the uncircumcised (Ezekiel 32:19).  I imagine that lying with the uncircumcised means that one is apart from his community.

A new Mishna teaches that when a widow lives in her father's house, she may always collect her ketuba.  Rabbi Meir in the name of Rabban Shimon be Gamliel states that when she is living in her husband's house, she may collect her ketuba for twenty-five years.  This is because over twenty-five years she will have spent the money of the orphans to the point of depleting what would have been her ketuba payment (by doing favours and giving to others, etc.).  The rabbis say the opposite.  In her husband's house she may collect her ketuba at any time for she might be embarrassed to sue those who are paying for her sustenance.  When she is living in her father's house she can collect her ketuba for twenty-five years. And if she dies, her heirs mention her ketuba up until twenty-five years later.

The Gemara puts forward a number of arguments regarding the competing assertions in our Mishna.  The first points out challenges that face women who are poor and those who are rich, like Marta bat Baitos.  One will spend according to their means and run out of money after twenty-five years, whether she is poor and spends with economy or she is rich and spends freely.  The Gemara notes that twenty-five years should be a clear deadline, just like 40 se'a is a set amount of water that is required for a mikva to be kosher.  

The rabbis consider whether or not the orphans are actually in possession of the ketuba.  Is this situation similar to that of a creditor and debtor?  Is the circumstance of a widow similar to that of a divorcee?  Is the widow owed the produce of the land if that land is ordered to be in her possession as the price of her ketuba?  Does it matter there is a scribal error in the contract?   Finally, will the widow's working of the land change if she believes that the land belongs to her, to her heirs, or to the orphans who sustain her?

The rabbis' care for widows is apparent in every part of this conversation.  Not only do they wish to ensure that widows are provided for, they recognize that women might not advocate for themselves and thus the laws should reflect the need for their protection.