כתובות - Ketuvot

Ketuvot 3b ~ The law of the first night

The Right to the Thigh. It never happened. But it could have.

Ketuvot 5b ~ Earlobes and Spandrels

Why did God give us earlobes? Rabbi Yishmael thinks he knows.

Ketuvot 8b ~ When Some Plagues End, and Others Begin

Talmudic plagues, and contemporary anti-vaxxers.

Ketuvot 10a ~ Virginity

The doctor can’t always tell. And neither can the husband.

Ketuvot 11a ~ Conversion

Converts, and the Pew Research Center’s Portrait of Jewish Americans.

Ketuvot 15a ~ Talmudic Probability Theory

If there are p kosher stores and q non-kosher stores, the meat is kosher if and only if p > q.

Ketuvot 23b ~ The Cohen Gene

Need to prove you are a Cohen? Try the Cohen Modal Haplotype.

Ketuvot 29 ~ The Terror of Rape

The talmudic penalties. And the modern ones.

Ketuvot 36a ~ The Aylonit Syndrome and Turner's Syndrome

How genetics sheds light on a Talmudic category.

Ketuvot 41b ~ Good Dog. Bad Dog

Jews and dogs don't traditionally get along. And Azit, the Israeli canine paratrooper.

Ketuvot 50a ~ The Economic Costs of Raising Children

According to the Talmud, they were lucky just to get food and shelter.

Ketuvot 52b ~ Blood Letting

Despite the Talmud, it’s not a good idea. Ask George Washington.

Ketuvot 58b ~ Rabbi Meir on Maximizing Meaning

Rabbi Meir established a hermeneutic principal later used by three American philosophers.

Ketuvot 60b ~ Everything is Bad For You

A woman who copulates in a mill will have epileptic children. And everything is bad for you.

Ketuvot 65a ~ Too Drunk To Say No

Talmudic myths, and why drinking too much does not mean a woman is “asking for it.”

Ketuvot 67b ~ Blushing and Shaming

Why do we blush?

Ketuvot 71b ~ Abstinence, Kedushah, and a Spiritual Marriage

How often should a couple have conjugal relations? And sexual abstinence of married Hasidim.

Ketuvot 75a ~ Halitosis

Bad breath as grounds for divorce.

Ketuvot 83b ~ Cucumbers, Gourds and the Marshmallow Test

Abayee, self-control and planning for the future. 

Ketuvot 86 ~ 1,000 pages, and Counting

Pagination in the Talmud. And fun facts about the number 1,000.

Ketuvot 86b ~ Who Wants to Marry More?

Actually, men are just as eager to find a partner, fall in love, and raise a family. 

Ketuvot 103 ~ The Death of the Editor

On the medical history of Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, editor of the Mishnah.

Ketuvot 105b ~ Bribery

Judicial corruption around the world, and the Massey case in light of the Talmud.

Ketuvot 111a~Sitting and Learning. And Hemorrhoids. And the Golden Vein

Does sitting and studying all day cause hemorrhoids? Rabba’s brothers thought so.

What's Love Got To Do With It?

Love in Tractate Ketuvot, and a (very) brief history of the institution of marriage.