Study Ketubot folio 63A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
קא מדברת אלמנות חיים?! אמרה ליה: אי לדידי ציית — יתיב תרי סרי שני אחריניי[תא]. אמר: ברשות קא עבידנא. הדר אזיל ויתיב תרי סרי שני אחריניי[תא] בבי רב. כי אתא אייתי בהדיה עשרין וארבעה אלפי תלמידי, שמעה דביתהו, הות קא נפקא לאפיה. אמרו לה שיבבתא: שאילי מאני לבוש ואיכסאי. אמרה להו: ״יודע צדיק נפש בהמתו״. כי מטיא לגביה, נפלה על אפה, קא מנשקא ליה לכרעיה. הוו קא מדחפי לה שמעיה. אמר להו: שבקוה, שלי ושלכם — שלה הוא.
will you lead the life of a widow of a living man, living alone while your husband is in another place? She said to him: If he would listen to me, he would sit and study for another 12 years. When R' Akiva heard this he said: I have permission to do this. He went back and sat for another 12 years in the study hall. When he came back he brought 24,000 students with him. His wife heard and went out toward him to greet him. Her neighbors said: Borrow some clothes and wear them, as your current apparel is not appropriate to meet an important person. She said to them: “A righteous man understands the life of his beast” (Proverbs 12:10). When she came to him she fell on her face and kissed his feet. His attendants pushed her away as they did not know who she was, and he said to them: Leave her alone, as my Torah knowledge and yours is actually hers.
שמע אבוה דאתא גברא רבה למתא, אמר: איזיל לגביה, אפשר דמפר נדראי. אתא לגביה, אמר ליה: אדעתא דגברא רבה מי נדרת? אמר לו: אפילו פרק אחד, ואפילו הלכה אחת. אמר ליה: אנא הוא. נפל על אפיה ונשקיה על כרעיה ויהב ליה פלגא ממוניה. ברתיה דרבי עקיבא עבדא ליה לבן עזאי הכי. והיינו דאמרי אינשי: רחילא בתר רחילא אזלא, כעובדי אמא כך עובדי ברתא.
In the meantime her father heard that a great man came to the town. He said: I will go to him. Maybe he will nullify my vow and I will be able to support my daughter. He came to him to ask about nullifying his vow, and R' Akiva said to him: Did you vow thinking that this Akiva would become a great man? He said to him: If I had believed he would know even one chapter or even one halakha I would not have been so harsh. He said to him: I am he. Ben Kalba Savua fell on his face and kissed his feet and gave him half of his money. The Talmud relates: R' Akiva’s daughter did the same thing for ben Azzai, who was also a simple person, and she caused him to learn Torah in a similar way, by betrothing herself to him and sending him off to study. This explains the folk saying that people say: The ewe follows the ewe; the daughter’s actions are the same as her mother’s.