One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
אִישׁוּת
Marriage 17
Sefer Nashim · Who is paid first when an estate cannot cover every ketubah, why some promises and signatures bind and others do not, and what a widow may do with her husband's land and her own words
800
Zuz in an estate owed to four wives with ketubot of 400, 300, 200 and 100, divided 250, 250, 200 and 100 rather than equally
101
Zuz of value in a field a widow sold for 100 on a ketubah of 100, which voids the sale even if she offers to return the dinar
3
Trustworthy men who know the value of land, enough for a widow to sell her husband's property without expert judges
1
Earlier refusal to waive her lien, after which a waiver she later signs can no longer be excused as pleasing her husband
Part 1Who is paid first
- First married, first paid, and everyone swears. Where a man dies leaving several wives, the one married first collects first and later wives take from what remains, none without an oath, and a promissory note is ranked against the ketubot by its date. (17:1)
- Land bought later has no line. Precedence applies only to land he owned when he married and borrowed, so land purchased afterwards, or claims all dated the same day, are divided equally, and movable property one of them seized is not expropriated. (17:2, 17:3)
- The creditor lost money, and she did not. Where land is insufficient and neither has a prior claim, the creditor is paid before the divorcee or the widow, since he lent money while she lost nothing, for more than a man desires to marry, a woman desires to be married. (17:4, 17:5)
- Movables, and property she brought in. Under the geonic ordinance on movable property the creditor again collects first and she takes what remains, while for nichsei tzon barzel she stands like any other creditor after swearing that she did not take, give away or forgo them. (17:6, 17:7)
- Equal up to each claim. With four ketubot of 400, 300, 200 and 100 and an estate of 800, 400 is split equally and the fourth withdraws, 300 is split among three and the third withdraws, and the last 100 is split between the first two, a pattern followed even with a hundred wives. (17:8)
RememberEqual division means equal until each woman has what she was promised, and not a coin beyond it.
Part 2The promise and the signature
- Three kinds of backer. A guarantor of a ketubah is not liable even with a contractual act, since he meant a mitzvah and caused no loss, a father guaranteeing his son's ketubah is liable, and one who told a woman to marry a man because he himself would give the ketubah is liable even without a contractual act. (17:9)
- A vow against collusion. Before a divorcee collects from an underwriter or a guaranteeing father, or from one who redeemed her husband's consecrated property, the husband vows that she may not benefit from him, lest they remarry and take the property through subterfuge. (17:9, 17:10)
- Purchasers took the risk. No such vow is required before she collects from purchasers, she swears and collects and may even return to her husband, because the purchasers knew the property was under lien and caused their own loss. (17:10)
- A waiver to keep the peace, and a waiver after a refusal. A wife who wrote a purchaser that she has no claim may still collect from the field, even with a contractual act, since she can say she did it to please her husband, but not where she once refused such a waiver and the earlier sale was nullified. (17:11)
- The circle that ends in compromise. Where one of two wives waived her lien to a purchaser, the second takes from the purchaser, the first from the second, the purchaser from the first, and so on until they reach a compromise among themselves. (17:12)
RememberA signature given to keep the peace binds nobody. The same signature from a woman who once refused binds her.
Part 3What a widow's sale and a wife's word can do
- Who may sell, and before whom. A widow may swear and sell her husband's land before expert judges or three trustworthy men who know land values, a divorcee only before expert judges, and a sale through the court requires a public announcement while a private sale does not. (17:13)
- A sale needs a buyer. A widow's private sale at the proper value is binding and she swears afterwards, but if she appraises the land and takes it for herself, her act is of no significance even where she had announced the sale. (17:14)
- The margin of one dinar. On a ketubah of 200, selling land worth 100 for 200 or worth 200 for 100 settles her claim, but on a ketubah of 100, selling land worth 101 for 100 is void even if she offers to return the dinar, and among four sales only the undervalued one is undone. (17:15, 17:16)
- Selling the ketubah itself. She may sell or give away the rights to her ketubah and the recipient collects on the husband's death or divorce, but receives nothing if she dies first or before her oath, and she may still sell land many times to collect what she did not sell. (17:17, 17:18)
- Selling is not waiving. A woman who sells her ketubah, even to her husband, keeps its other privileges, while one who waives it in his favor forfeits them all, even her subsistence, by words alone without a contractual act or witnesses, provided they are said seriously and not as a joke. (17:19)
RememberA sale needs someone on the other side. A waiver needs only words, provided they are meant.