KESUBOS - 061a – אף על פי – פרק חמישי – כתובות, סא ע”א

healthy;^[1]

בריי - healthy.

one who eats eggs — will have children with large eyes;

עינני - with large eyes.

one who eats fish — will have charming children;

חנני - charming.

one who eats celery — will have radiant children;

כרפסא - celery.

one who eats coriander — will have fleshy children;

כוסברתא - coriander, in the vernacular.

one who eats esrog — will have fragrant children.

The daughter of King Shapur — her mother ate esrog while pregnant with her, and they would bring her before her father as the chief of fragrances.

Rav Huna said: Rav Huna bar Chinena tested us: If she says to nurse and he says not to nurse — we listen to her, for it is her pain.

צערא דידה הוא - the milk is abundant in her breasts and pains her.

If he says to nurse and she says not to nurse — what is the law?

Wherever it is not her way — we listen to her.

דלאו אורחה - it is not the way of her family to nurse.

If it is her way and not his way — what? Do we go after him, or do we go after her?

And we resolved it for him from this: she rises with him and does not descend with him.^[2]

Rav Huna said: What is the verse? (Bereishis 20:3) And she is married to a husband — in the ascent of the husband, and not in the descent of the husband.

Rabbi Elazar said: From here: (Bereishis 3:20) For she was the mother of all living — she was given for life, and not given for pain:

If she brought him a maidservant, etc.:

Let the maidservant do the rest, and she can tell him: I have brought you a woman in my place!

בחריקאי - in my place; and it seems to me a term like the notches of a horn — that is, a term of filling a place, as in in my stead and in my lack.

Because he can tell her: She works for me and for herself — for you, who will work?

Two — she does not cook and does not nurse, etc.:

Let her do the rest, and she can tell him: I have brought you another woman who works for me and for herself, and one for you and for herself!

Because he can tell her: For the guests and passersby, who will work?

אורחי - guests who stay a week or a month.

פרחי - those passing on their way; for in a place where there are many members of the household, travelers are accustomed to lodge.

Three — she does not make the bed:

Let her do the rest, and she can tell him: I have brought you another for the guests and passersby!

הא שארא - such as small things.

Because he can tell her: The more members of the household, the more guests and passersby.

If so, even with four as well!

With four — since they are many, they help one another.

Rabbi Chana said, and some say Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani: Not that she actually brought him, but since she is fit to bring, even though she did not bring.

שראויה להכניס - that she brought in a large dowry, and one who brings such a dowry can afford to buy maidservants from part of it to bring in and serve her.

It was taught: whether she brought him, or whether she saved for him from her own:

Four — she sits in a chair:

Rav Yitzchak bar Chanania said in the name of Rav Huna: Even though they said she sits in a chair, nevertheless she pours his cup, makes his bed, and washes his face, hands and feet.

אבל מוזגת לו כוס ומצעת לו מטה - to spread sheets and coverings — a thing that is no trouble; and because they are matters of affection, so that she endears herself to him. And it is not like making the bed of the Mishnah, which is a troublesome thing and done by compulsion; these he does not compel her to do, but the Sages advised her well to accustom this in Israel.

Rav Yitzchak bar Chanania said in the name of Rav Huna: All tasks a wife does for her husband, a niddah does for her husband, except for pouring the cup, making the bed, and washing his face, hands and feet.

חוץ ממזיגת כוס - anything that is a matter of closeness and affection, and leads to familiarity.

And making the bed — Rava said: We said this only in his presence, but not in his presence we have no problem with it:

And pouring the cup —

Shmuel — his wife would change it for him with her left hand;^[3]

מיחלפא ליה - in the days of her whitening.

Abaye — she would place it for him on the mouth of the barrel;

Rava — by his pillow;

אבי סדיא - by his pillow.

Rav Pappa — on the bench.

אשרשיפא - a bench.

Rav Yitzchak bar Chanania said in the name of Rav Huna: Everything may be delayed before the attendant, except meat and wine.

הכל משהין לפני שמש - the one who serves at the meal; they eat before him and delay feeding him until the guests rise.

חוץ מבשר שמן כו' - for he longs for them and suffers.

Rav Chisda said: Fat meat and old wine.

Rava said: Fat meat — the whole year; old wine — in the season of Tammuz.

בתקופת תמוז - for its smell is strong and the heat of the day inflames it like venom.

Rav Anan bar Tachlifa said: I was standing before Mar Shmuel, and they brought him a dish of mushrooms; and had he not given me, I would have been in danger.

תבשילא דארדי - a kind of truffles and mushrooms.

אסתכני - I was in danger of being seized by faintness from the craving of my hunger.

Rav Ashi said: I was standing before Rav Kahana, and they brought him slices of turnip in vinegar; and had he not given me, I would have been in danger.

גרגלידי - thin round slices, in the vernacular.

Rav Pappa said: Even a fat date.

תמרתא דהנוניתא - a fat date, like near the Dahina and Idhan (Shevuos 47b).

The rule of the matter: anything that has a smell or has sharpness.

קיוהא - setting the teeth on edge, in the vernacular.

כל דאית ליה ריחא או קיוהא - it harms the one before whom they eat and who does not eat.

Avuha bar Ihi and Minyamin bar Ihi — one would give from each and every kind, and one would give from one kind;

חד ספי - he feeds the attendant from each and every kind.

וחד ספי ליה ממין אחד - at the start of the meal, to satiety, and from the other kinds he delays him until he finishes his meal.

one — Eliyahu would converse with him, and one — Eliyahu would not converse with him.

Those two pious men, and some say Rav Mari and Rav Pinchas the sons of Rav Chisda — one would give first, and one would give later;

קדים ספי - before it is placed before him.

מאחר ספי - from each and every kind, after it is placed before him and before the guests.

the one who gave first — Eliyahu would converse with him; the one who gave later — Eliyahu would not converse with him.

דקדים ספי משתעי אליהו בהדיה - because when it is placed before them, he sees and craves and suffers; and sometimes there are many guests.

Ameimar, Mar Zutra and Rav Ashi were sitting at the gate of King Azgur; the king's steward passed by.

אזגור - the name of a Persian king.

אטורנגא דמלכא - the one who sets the portions before the nobles, in our language the seneschal.

Rav Ashi saw that Mar Zutra^[4]

Tosafos

הכניסה לו שפחה אחת - It is somewhat astonishing: if he feeds her, what does the husband gain? For without a maidservant she would do everything and he would feed only her alone, and now he feeds her and her maidservant.

יכול יהא חלב מהלכי שתים טמא ודם מהלכי שתים טמא - In Toras Kohanim the reading is meat in place of blood, and it says: the verse says this — I exclude fat, which does not apply to all, meaning that the fat of a pure animal is permitted; and I do not exclude meat, which applies to all, for even in a pure animal meat from a living one is forbidden — the verse says: this is impure — this one is under a negative commandment for eating it, and the meat of those who walk on two legs is not, etc. And the Ri says that both according to our texts, which expound from it the permission of milk and blood, and according to Toras Kohanim, which expounds from this, it is well that one can exclude milk, meat and blood all from one verse, as we find in several places that several things are excluded from one verse, as we find in perek HaNehene Min HaHekdesh (Meilah 18b), where several times it says commits a trespass includes. And now this disagrees with the beraisa of perek Dam Shechitah (Kerisus 20b), which excludes the blood of those who walk on two legs from what is written of bird and of animal. And some texts exclude milk from what is written it, and blood from what is written this. And it is astonishing to the Ri: from where do we know to apply it to blood? It is more logical to apply it to meat and permit meat rather than blood, for the prohibition of meat does not apply to all except during life, whereas the prohibition of blood applies to all, both during life and after death. And the Ri says that if our sugya read meat in place of blood, it would be well: from this and from it we exclude milk and meat, and from that verse in Kerisus we exclude blood. And if you ask: since we exclude blood from that verse in Kerisus, why is a verse needed to permit milk — now that blood is permitted, milk all the more so? One can answer that from that verse in Kerisus one cannot permit blood entirely, for we exclude it only from the prohibition of blood, but not from the prohibition of impure; and since it was excluded from the prohibition of blood, now blood and milk are equal.

ואחת שצמצמה לו משלה גרסי' - This means she economized for him from what he is obligated to give her, such as a basket of spices and other things, and she economized so much that he can buy several maidservants from it — so Rabbeinu Tam. And some read: that she found for him from his own, that is, he is rich and can buy many maidservants according to her needs.

אבל מוזגת לו את הכוס ומצעת לו המטה - And what we learned, three — she does not make the bed, I wrote at the beginning of our tractate (4b) [that it is not like the making of the bed of the Mishnah].

מחלפא דביתהו בידא דשמאלא - In the Machzor Vitry, the Rav Rabbi Shemayah explained that Rashi was careful not even to hand a key from his hand to hers. But there is no proof from here, for pouring a cup is different, being a thing of affection, and it is forbidden even to bring it before him onto the table; rather, for one she would place it by his pillow, and for another on the mouth of the barrel. And from Seder Eliyahu, which teaches regarding that incident brought in the first perek of Shabbos (13b) of a man who read much and learned much, etc., that Eliyahu asked his wife: Perhaps you brought him the flask? Perhaps you brought him the oil? And she said to him: Heaven forbid, he did not touch me even with his little finger — there is also no proof, for we can explain that he was not particular about bringing the flask, but he meant this: perhaps when bringing the flask you were not careful and he touched you. And so it is implied from her answer: he did not touch me even with his little finger — but that she did not bring it to him she did not say. And as for what he explained, that she would change it with her left hand in the days of whitening, which implies that one may be more lenient in the days of whitening than in the days of her niddah — and so we find in the first perek of Shabbos (there), in that incident I brought above, where he says in the days of your niddah, how was he with you? In the days of your whitening, how was he with you? — it seems they were accustomed to immerse after seven days from the sighting, when she stops, when she is forbidden only rabbinically; but nowadays, when it is not customary to immerse until after seven clean days, there is no distinction between the days of niddah and the days of whitening, as we say in tractate Shabbos (64b): she shall be in her niddah — in her state she remains until she comes into water.

Notes

1. 1. Continues from [Kesubos 60b], on what a pregnant woman eats and how her children will be.
2. 2. That is: a wife rises with her husband to his station, and does not descend with him below her own.
3. 3. That is: she changes her usual way, so that there is a sign that she is a niddah.
4. 4. The passage continues on [Kesubos 61b].