Overview
This chapter discusses:
- Aylonit (infertile woman)
- Forbidden marriages
- Mema’enet (minor who annuls the marriage)
- Adultery
- Women who lose their ketubah
- Dat Moshe and Dat Yehudit
- Suspicion of immorality
- Sotah-related laws
- Voluntary and forced adultery
The central theme is:
When a woman becomes forbidden to her husband through her actions, she may lose some or all of her ketubah rights.
Halachah 1
If a man married an ailonit (a woman who is naturally incapable of bearing children), and he later must divorce her because he has no children:
- She receives a full ketubah.
- She receives all ketubah benefits.
- The husband retains all marital rights he ordinarily had during the marriage.
She is treated like any normal wife.
Halachah 2
The following generally have:
- No primary ketubah (ikkar ketubah)
- No standard ketubah benefits
when the husband did not knowingly accept the situation:
- An undisclosed ailonit
- Women forbidden by a negative Torah prohibition (chayavei lavin)
- A secondary rabbinic prohibition (shniyah)
However:
They still receive the additional ketubah (tosefet).
They also receive no widow-support after the husband’s death.
Halachah 3
Why do they lose the main ketubah but keep the addition?
Because:
- The main ketubah was enacted by Chazal.
- The extra amount was voluntarily accepted by the husband.
She fulfilled her side of the marriage.
The prohibition existed independently of her actions.
Therefore:
She keeps the voluntarily promised addition.
Halachah 4
A shniyah loses the main ketubah in all cases because Chazal strengthened their decree.
However:
- A woman forbidden by a Torah lav whom he knowingly married
- A woman forbidden by a positive commandment (chayavei aseh)
does receive a ketubah.
They also receive posthumous support rights.
Halachah 5
A minor wife who performs mi’un:
- Receives no main ketubah.
- Receives the additional ketubah.
- The husband keeps fruits he already consumed.
- Debts she incurred for support cannot be collected from him afterward.
Halachah 6
A woman who committed adultery willingly:
Loses everything.
She receives:
- No ketubah
- No addition
- No ketubah conditions
Because her own actions made her forbidden.
Halachah 7
Regarding dowry assets:
Any property still physically existing remains hers.
Even a woman who committed adultery takes her existing property and leaves.
Halachah 8
An undisclosed ailonit or undisclosed prohibited wife has unusual property rules.
For ordinary wives:
- Husband bears responsibility for Tzon Barzel losses.
- Wife bears Melug losses.
For these marriages, the opposite may apply because full marital rights never properly vested.
Halachah 9
A woman who performed mi’un takes only what currently exists.
No compensation is collected for assets lost or worn out.
Halachah 10
The following all lose ketubah rights:
- An adulteress
- One who violates Dat Moshe
- One who violates Dat Yehudit
- One who leaves because of a bad reputation
They take remaining dowry property but receive no ketubah payment.
Dat Moshe
These are violations of Torah-based religious obligations.
Halachah 11
Examples of Dat Moshe:
- Going out with uncovered hair
- Making vows or oaths and not fulfilling them
- Relations while she is a niddah
- Failure to separate challah
- Feeding her husband forbidden food
- Misleading him regarding kashrut or niddah status
For example:
She tells him a rabbi declared her pure and this turns out to be false.
Dat Yehudit
These are violations of accepted Jewish standards of modesty.
Halachah 12
Examples include:
Going out publicly without proper modest covering
Even if a kerchief covers some hair.
Immodest public behavior
Such as:
- Exposing arms improperly
- Flirting with young men
- Discussing marital intimacy loudly
- Cursing her husband’s father in her husband’s presence
These violate communal standards of Jewish modesty.
Halachah 13
Not every modesty issue is a violation.
Examples:
- Failure to wear Ezra’s house-apron regulation
- Passing between courtyards with hair covered by a scarf
do not automatically cause ketubah loss.
Halachah 14
A woman who violates Dat Moshe or Dat Yehudit loses her ketubah only after:
- Warning (hatra’ah)
- Witnesses
- Repetition of the behavior
Without sufficient proof she retains her ketubah after taking an oath.
Bad Reputation and Suspicious Conduct
Halachah 15
A woman may be divorced without a ketubah if there is strong evidence of immoral conduct, even without direct adultery witnesses.
Examples:
- Being found in compromising circumstances with a man
- Kissing
- Embracing
- Emerging from secluded areas together
- Situations strongly suggesting sexual misconduct
This is called:
“Yotzeh mishum shem ra” (leaving because of bad reputation).
Halachah 16
Even then:
The husband is not forced to divorce her.
But if he chooses to divorce:
She loses the ketubah.
Personal Knowledge of Adultery
Halachah 17
If:
- The husband himself witnessed adultery,
- Or someone he absolutely trusts reports it,
he must separate from her.
However:
She receives her ketubah unless adultery is fully proven.
If he personally witnessed it, she must swear before collecting.
Halachah 18
If the wife herself says:
“I committed adultery willingly”
we generally do not rely on her statement,
because perhaps she wants another man.
But:
She loses her financial claims through her own admission.
If her husband truly believes her:
He must divorce her.
Nevertheless courts only compel divorce with two valid witnesses.
Coerced Relations
Halachah 19
A married Jewish woman who was:
- Forced
- Raped
- Coerced
remains permitted to her husband, provided the relationship began under coercion.
Even if later she appeared cooperative:
The original coercion governs.
Halachah 20
Women kidnapped by bandits are presumed forced and remain permitted.
Only if they willingly joined the captors are they prohibited.
The Rambam equates:
Mistake and coercion.
Both are treated as non-voluntary.
Halachah 21
This leniency applies only to the wife of a Yisrael.
For the wife of a Kohen:
Even rape makes her forbidden to her husband.
Because a Kohen is prohibited from remaining married to a woman who became a zonah.
Halachah 22
Even when a Kohen must divorce her because she was raped:
She keeps her entire ketubah.
Both:
- principal amount
- additional amount
remain intact.
Halachah 23
If a Kohen’s wife says:
“I was raped”
we generally do not rely on her statement alone.
Perhaps she desires another man.
But if her husband trusts her completely, he must divorce and pay the ketubah.
Sotah
Halachah 24
If a husband warned his wife before witnesses:
“Do not seclude yourself with this man.”
And she nevertheless secluded herself with him for sufficient time,
she becomes a Sotah.
Today, since Mei Sotah no longer exists:
She remains permanently forbidden to her husband.
And she loses:
- Main ketubah
- Addition
- All ketubah conditions
Halachah 25
If the warning occurred privately and only the husband knows of the seclusion:
He must still divorce her today because no Mei Sotah exists.
However:
She receives her ketubah unless she admits violating the warning, in which case she loses it.
Main Principles of Chapter 24
| Topic | Result |
| Known ailonit | Full ketubah |
| Unknown ailonit | No main ketubah |
| Mema’enet | No main ketubah, keeps addition |
| Adulteress | Loses everything |
| Dat Moshe | Can lose ketubah after warning |
| Dat Yehudit | Can lose ketubah after warning |
| Suspicious conduct | Husband may divorce without ketubah |
| Rape of wife of Yisrael | She remains permitted |
| Rape of wife of Kohen | Must divorce, ketubah remains |
| Sotah after warning and seclusion | Forbidden and loses ketubah |
Chapter Theme
Chapter 24 defines who loses the protection of the ketubah. The Rambam distinguishes between women whose circumstances were beyond their control and women whose own conduct created the problem. When the prohibition arises from the woman’s actions, especially adultery or persistent violations of Jewish law and modesty, the ketubah protections may be forfeited. When the prohibition arises through no fault of her own, her financial rights generally remain intact.