Starting with the Mishnah on daf TB Ketubot 46b, our massekhet pivots by leaving the subject of adultery and turns its attention to the entitlements and the responsibilities of the father and the husband. The Mishnah lists these basic benefits and responsibilities.
“A father has authority over his daughter with regard to her betrothal through money, through a marriage document, or through intercourse. Likewise, a father is entitled to items she has found, and to her earnings, and to effect the nullification of her vows, i.e., a father may nullify his daughter’s vows. And he accepts her bill of divorce on her behalf if she is divorced from betrothal before she becomes a grown woman. And although he inherits her property when she dies, e.g., property she inherited from her mother’s family, he does not consume the produce of her property during her lifetime.” (Sefaria.org translation) The Gemara discusses the source for each one of these entitlements and responsibilities.
On today’s daf TB Ketubot 47 we learn the reason why the father is entitled to the items his daughter has found. The Gemara gives a two word answer “due to enmity (מִשּׁוּם אֵיבָה).” (Sefaria.org translation) According to the Torah, a father is only obligated to support his children until they reach the age of six years old. These young children are subordinated to and dependent upon their mother. Since the husband is obligated to support his wife, he has to support his children until they are no longer subordinated to and dependent upon the mother. I can’t imagine a father unwilling to support his children above and beyond the letter of the law. I am happy to report that later on we shall learn that the rabbis enacted an ordinance that fathers have to support their daughters until the age of bat mitzvah.
Rashi ד"ה מִשּׁוּם אֵיבָה explains that if the younger daughter does not turn over what she has found (think of it like a winning lottery ticket), the father might bear a grudge and not provide her with sustenance. Tosefot ד"ה מִשּׁוּם אֵיבָה explains the grudge differently. Since the father has the right to marry off his young daughter to anyone he pleases, he might exact revenge upon his daughter for not sharing what she has found by marrying her to an unworthy or disgusting looking man. Either interpretation doesn’t shine a good light upon the father.
The second half of the above Mishnah discusses the entitlements and the responsibilities of the husband. “If the daughter married, the husband has more rights and obligations than her father had before the marriage, as he consumes the produce of her property during her lifetime, and he is obligated to provide her sustenance, her redemption if she is captured, and her burial upon her death” (Sefaria.org translation)
The Gemara begins to explain that these entitlements and responsibilities are based on reciprocity between husband and wife. “They instituted that a husband must provide his wife with her sustenance in exchange for his rights to her earnings; and it is his duty to provide her with redemption from captivity in exchange for his right to consume the produce of her property; and it is his obligation to attend to her burial in exchange for the fact that he inherits the dowry that she brought into the marriage and which is written in her marriage contract. Consequently, a husband may consume the produce of her property.” (Sefaria.org translation)
What’s the significance
of “Consequently,
a husband may consume the produce of her property?”
One might have thought that if the produce he enjoyed was only worth $1000 and
the captives demand a $2000 ransom, the husband could say that he will ante up
$1000 and the rest is his wife’s problem to raise. The rabbis did not put a cap
on either the produce he ate or the sum of money necessary to redeem his wife.
No matter how much produce he enjoyed, the husband is obligated to redeem his
wife no matter what the ransom is.
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