Commentary for Bava Metzia 34:10

דיקא נמי דקתני גובה את הכל אי אמרת בשלמא דכתב לה היינו דקא תני גובה את הכל אלא אי אמרת דלא כתב לה

exact payment?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Viz., of the Kethubah due to her, seeing that no Kethubah is written at erusin, even in the places where it is written at (nesu'in), although the man becomes liable to pay the Kethubah from the time of the erusin. ');">¹⁰</span> If by [the evidence of] witnesses [testifying] to the death of the husband [the latter's heirs] could plead and say: 'She has been paid [already].' And if you will say, 'It is really so,'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., that the heirs can put forward such a plea. ');">¹¹</span> then what have the Sages achieved by their provision?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' What benefit have the Rabbis bestowed upon the woman by the provision that she is entitled to the Kethubah as soon as she becomes betrothed, seeing that the man's heirs would always he able to claim that she has been paid, without having to produce a receipt? ');">¹²</span> Mar Kashisha, the son of R. Hisda, then said to R. Ashi: And how do we know that a [woman who became a] widow after erusin is entitled to [payment of] the <i>Kethubah</i>?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Where is the law stated that erusin entitles a woman to claim the Kethubah just as marriage does? ');">¹³</span> If I should say [that we derive it] from the passage which we learnt: 'A woman who became a widow or was divorced, either after erusin or nesu'in, exacts payment of all [that is due her from her deceased husband]'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Keth. 54b. ');">¹⁴</span> — perhaps [this refers to a case] where [the betrothed man or the husband] had written her [a <i>Kethubah</i>]. And if you will argue: 'What need is there to tell us this?' [I will answer]: In order [to let us know] that we must reject the view of R. Eleazar b. Azariah, who says that he did write her the <i>Kethubah</i> except on condition that he would wed her.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since he however died before marriage she is not entitled to the Kethubah. ');">¹⁵</span> It is necessary [to let us know that this is not so].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., that if a man writes a Kethubah at the time of erusin he does not make it dependent on the actual marriage taking place. ');">¹⁶</span> It can also be proved [that the Mishnah really deals with a case where there is a written <i>Kethubah</i>], for it says, '[She] exacts payment of all [that is due to her]' — if you agree that [the case is one where the husband] wrote a <i>Kethubah</i>, there is an explanation why [the Mishnah] uses the term, '[She] exacts payment of all [that is due to her].'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., both the legal amount for which the Kethubah is written, viz., one hundred zuz for a widow, and two hundred for a virgin, and the additional amount which a husband may settle on his wife, and which she could claim only if it is expressly written in the Kethubah, but not as a provision of the Rabbis. ');">¹⁷</span> But if you say that he did not write her [a <i>Kethubah</i>],

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