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Daily Daf Dose
Granting Wine for the Widow
The Mishna had stated: He also gives her half a kav of beans, a half a log of oil, and a kav of dried figs, or a maneh of pressed figs.
The Gemora notes: The Mishna did not mention wine. This would support Rabbi Elozar’s opinion, for Rabbi Elozar said: We do not provide wine as an allowance for a woman (since wine arouses a woman’s desire for intimacy, and it may lead her to unchastity).
The Gemora cites a Scriptural source for this ruling.
The Gemora asks on Rabbi Elozar from the following braisa: If a woman is accustomed to drinking wine, we give her wine.
The Gemora answers: It is different when she is accustomed to drinking wine, for Rav Chinana bar Kahana said in the name of Shmuel: If the woman is accustomed to drinking wine, we give her one cup of wine. If she is not accustomed to drinking wine, we give her two cups of wine.
The Gemora asks: What is he saying (why do we give her more if she is not accustomed to drinking)?
Abaye explains: If the woman is accustomed to drink two cups of wine in front of her husband, then, we give her one cup of wine when she is not in front of her husband. If she is not accustomed to drink more than one cup of wine in front of her husband, then, we do not give her any cups of wine when she is not in front of her husband.
Alternatively, we can answer the challenge on Rabbi Elozar from the braisa differently. If the woman is accustomed to wine, we provide her with wine in order for her to season her dish. For Rabbi Avahu said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: It happened that when the Sages awarded the widowed daughter-in-law of Nakdimon ben Guryon (an extremely wealthy man in Yerushalayim during the time of the destruction of the secong Beis Hamikdosh) a weekly allowance of two se’ahs of wine (a huge sum) for seasoning her dishes from one Friday night to another. She said to them, “May you grant such allowances to your daughters (cursing them, for she believed that this was a stingy amount).” A Tanna taught: She was a woman awaiting yibum and hence, they did not reply Amen after her (they did not wish that their daughters should be granted such an enormous amount in this type of situation).
A Tanna taught: One cup of wine is becoming to a woman; two are degrading. If she has three, she will demand from her husband marital relations. If she has four, she solicits even a donkey in the street and doesn’t care at all.
Rava said: This was taught only in respect of a woman whose husband is not with her; but if her husband is with her, we are not concerned about her drinking.
The Gemora asks: But surely, there is the case of Chanah whose husband was with her (and she, nevertheless, abstained from drinking wine)?
The Gemora answers: It is different when they are guests, for Rav Huna stated: How do we derive that a guest is forbidden to engage in marital relations? It is from the following verse discussing Chanah [I Shmuel, 1:19]: And they rose up in the morning early and worshipped before Hashem, and returned, and came to their house, to Ramah, and then Elkanah knew his wife; and Hashem remembered her. Only when they returned home did they engage in marital relations, but not before. (This explains why Chanah could not drink wine, for they were guests in Shiloh and they weren’t allowed to have relations there.)
The Gemora records an incident: Choma, Abaye’s widowed wife, came to Rava and asked him, “Grant me a food allowance,” and he granted her the allowance. “Grant me an allowance of wine,” she demanded. Rava said to her, “I know that Nachmeini did not drink wine.” She replied, “By the life of the Master, I swear that he gave me to drink wine from goblets as large as this (she demonstrated the size by stretching out her arm and forearm). As she stretched out her arm, her arm became uncovered and a light shone upon the court (due to her beauty). Rava rose, went home and solicited (his wife) Rav Chisda’s daughter. “Who has been today at the court?” enquired Rav Chisda’s daughter. “Choma, the wife of Abaye,” he replied. Thereupon, she (Rava’s wife) followed her (Choma), striking her with the straps of a chest until she chased her out of Mechoza. “You have,” she said to her, “already killed three men (Abaye being her third husband), and now you wish to kill another man!”
The Gemora records another incident: The widowed wife of Rav Yosef the son of Rava came before Rav Nechemia the son of Rav Yosef and said to him, “Grant me a food allowance,” and he granted her the allowance. “Grant me an allowance of wine,” she demanded, and he granted her. He said to her, “I know that the people of Mechoza drink wine.”
A final incident is related: The widowed wife of Rav Yosef the son of R. Menashya of D’vil came before Rav Yosef and said to him, “Grant me a food allowance,” and he granted her the allowance. “Grant me an allowance of wine,” she demanded, and he granted her. She continued, “Grant me an allowance of silk.” He asked her, “Why do you require silk?” She replied, “For you, for your friends and for your friends’ friends (to enable her to keep up the social standing which she held previously).” (65a)
The Mishna had stated: He also gives her half a kav of beans, a half a log of oil, and a kav of dried figs, or a maneh of pressed figs.
The Gemora notes: The Mishna did not mention wine. This would support Rabbi Elozar’s opinion, for Rabbi Elozar said: We do not provide wine as an allowance for a woman (since wine arouses a woman’s desire for intimacy, and it may lead her to unchastity).
The Gemora cites a Scriptural source for this ruling.
The Gemora asks on Rabbi Elozar from the following braisa: If a woman is accustomed to drinking wine, we give her wine.
The Gemora answers: It is different when she is accustomed to drinking wine, for Rav Chinana bar Kahana said in the name of Shmuel: If the woman is accustomed to drinking wine, we give her one cup of wine. If she is not accustomed to drinking wine, we give her two cups of wine.
The Gemora asks: What is he saying (why do we give her more if she is not accustomed to drinking)?
Abaye explains: If the woman is accustomed to drink two cups of wine in front of her husband, then, we give her one cup of wine when she is not in front of her husband. If she is not accustomed to drink more than one cup of wine in front of her husband, then, we do not give her any cups of wine when she is not in front of her husband.
Alternatively, we can answer the challenge on Rabbi Elozar from the braisa differently. If the woman is accustomed to wine, we provide her with wine in order for her to season her dish. For Rabbi Avahu said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: It happened that when the Sages awarded the widowed daughter-in-law of Nakdimon ben Guryon (an extremely wealthy man in Yerushalayim during the time of the destruction of the secong Beis Hamikdosh) a weekly allowance of two se’ahs of wine (a huge sum) for seasoning her dishes from one Friday night to another. She said to them, “May you grant such allowances to your daughters (cursing them, for she believed that this was a stingy amount).” A Tanna taught: She was a woman awaiting yibum and hence, they did not reply Amen after her (they did not wish that their daughters should be granted such an enormous amount in this type of situation).
A Tanna taught: One cup of wine is becoming to a woman; two are degrading. If she has three, she will demand from her husband marital relations. If she has four, she solicits even a donkey in the street and doesn’t care at all.
Rava said: This was taught only in respect of a woman whose husband is not with her; but if her husband is with her, we are not concerned about her drinking.
The Gemora asks: But surely, there is the case of Chanah whose husband was with her (and she, nevertheless, abstained from drinking wine)?
The Gemora answers: It is different when they are guests, for Rav Huna stated: How do we derive that a guest is forbidden to engage in marital relations? It is from the following verse discussing Chanah [I Shmuel, 1:19]: And they rose up in the morning early and worshipped before Hashem, and returned, and came to their house, to Ramah, and then Elkanah knew his wife; and Hashem remembered her. Only when they returned home did they engage in marital relations, but not before. (This explains why Chanah could not drink wine, for they were guests in Shiloh and they weren’t allowed to have relations there.)
The Gemora records an incident: Choma, Abaye’s widowed wife, came to Rava and asked him, “Grant me a food allowance,” and he granted her the allowance. “Grant me an allowance of wine,” she demanded. Rava said to her, “I know that Nachmeini did not drink wine.” She replied, “By the life of the Master, I swear that he gave me to drink wine from goblets as large as this (she demonstrated the size by stretching out her arm and forearm). As she stretched out her arm, her arm became uncovered and a light shone upon the court (due to her beauty). Rava rose, went home and solicited (his wife) Rav Chisda’s daughter. “Who has been today at the court?” enquired Rav Chisda’s daughter. “Choma, the wife of Abaye,” he replied. Thereupon, she (Rava’s wife) followed her (Choma), striking her with the straps of a chest until she chased her out of Mechoza. “You have,” she said to her, “already killed three men (Abaye being her third husband), and now you wish to kill another man!”
The Gemora records another incident: The widowed wife of Rav Yosef the son of Rava came before Rav Nechemia the son of Rav Yosef and said to him, “Grant me a food allowance,” and he granted her the allowance. “Grant me an allowance of wine,” she demanded, and he granted her. He said to her, “I know that the people of Mechoza drink wine.”
A final incident is related: The widowed wife of Rav Yosef the son of R. Menashya of D’vil came before Rav Yosef and said to him, “Grant me a food allowance,” and he granted her the allowance. “Grant me an allowance of wine,” she demanded, and he granted her. She continued, “Grant me an allowance of silk.” He asked her, “Why do you require silk?” She replied, “For you, for your friends and for your friends’ friends (to enable her to keep up the social standing which she held previously).” (65a)
Shoes
The Mishna had stated: A husband must provide for his wife a kerchief for her head, a belt for her loins, shoes from festival to festival and clothing of fifty zuz from year to year.
Rav Papa asked of Abaye: Is it logical that the husband should provide for his wife shoes three times a year, but she only receives new clothing once a year? Isn’t having new clothing for the festival more important than having new shoes?
Abaye answered: The Tanna was located in a mountainous region where one cannot possibly manage with less than three pairs of shoes each year (but clothing would last throughout the year), and indirectly, the Tanna taught us that these shoes should be given to her on the occasion of the festival, so that she might derive joy from them. (65a – 65b)
Provincial Zuzim
The Mishna had stated: A husband must provide for his wife clothing of fifty zuz from year to year.
Abaye comments: The Mishna is referring to the provincial zuzim (which are only worth an eighth of the Tyrian zuzim).
Abaye explains himself: Since the Mishna states: These minimums are applicable to a poor person in Israel. But with a wealthy person, everything is according to his honor; if you would think that we are referring to the Tyrian zuzim, from where would a poor person have fifty zuz? It is therefore evident that the Mishna is referring to the provincial zuzim. (65b)
Worn-out Clothing
The Mishna had stated: He must provide for her clothing of fifty zuz from year to year. And he does not give her, either new clothes in the summer, worn-out in the winter, but he gives her new clothes worth fifty zuz in the winter, and she covers herself in their worn condition in the summer, and the worn-out ones are hers.
The Gemora cites a braisa: The wife’s leftover food belongs to the husband. Her leftover worn-out clothing belongs to her.
The Gemora asks: What does she need her worn-out clothing for?
Rachava answers: She wears them while she is a niddah in order that she does not become repulsive in the eyes of her husband (by wearing the same clothes then that she wore when she was tahor).
(Based on the above) Abaye notes: The worn-out clothing of a widow belongs to the husband’s inheritors. He explains: The only reason that the woman keeps her worn-out clothing is that she should appear repulsive in the eyes of her husband; here, when she is a widow, we are not concerned if she appears repulsive. (65b)
Friday Night
The Mishna had stated: The Mishna continues: He gives her a ma'ah of silver for her needs, and she eats with him on Friday nights.
The Gemora asks: What does it mean that “she eats with him”?
Rav Nachman says: It means that she actually eats with him on Friday night.
Rav Ashi says: It means that she has marital relations with him on Friday night.
The Gemora asks on Rav Ashi: Why does the Mishna use the language of “eating” if it means marital relations?
The Gemora answers: The Mishna wished to use an appropriate expression.
The Gemora asks further from the following braisa: Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: She eats with him on Friday night and on Shabbos day. How can this be referring to marital relations? Didn’t Rav Huna say that the Jewish people are holy and they do not engage in marital relations during the day?
The Gemora answers: The braisa can be in accordance with Rava’s opinion, for he says that it is permitted in a dark house. (65b)
Nursing Women
The Mishna had stated: And what work must she do for him? She is required to spin the weight of five selas of warp in Judea, which equals ten selas in the Galil; or the weight of ten selas of weft in Judea, which are twenty selas in the Galil. But if she was nursing, they decrease her earnings obligation and increase her maintenance.
Rabbi Ulla the Great lectured at the door of the Nasi’s house: Although they said that a man is under no obligation to maintain his sons and daughters when they are minors, he must maintain them while they are very young. Until what age? Until the age of six. This is in accordance with the opinion of Rav assi, for Rav Assi stated: A child of the age of six may go out of the boundary of the city with the eruv of his mother.
How do I know this? It is from the Mishna which states: But if she was nursing, they decrease her earnings obligation and increase her maintenance. What can be the reason for this? Surely, it is because the child must eat together with her.
The Gemora asks: But is it not possible that the reason is because she is sick (and requires more food)?
The Gemora answers: If that were the case, the Mishna should have stated: If she was sick. Why did the Mishna state: If she was nursing? (Evidently, it is on account of her child.)
The Gemora persists: But is it not possible that the Mishna wishes to teach us that an ordinary nursing mother is considered sick? (The Gemora concludes that you cannot provide proof that a young child needs to be supported from our Mishna.)
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: A nursing woman is given an additional allowance for wine, because wine is beneficial for her milk. (65b)
WE SHALL RETURN TO YOU, AF AL PI
[END]
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