Ketubot 67A

מציעין תחתיו, ובאין עניים ומקפלין אותן מאחריו! איבעית אימא: לכבודו הוא דעבד, ואיבעית אימא: כדבעי ליה למיעבד לא עבד. כדאמרי אינשי: לפום גמלא שיחנא.

spread underneath him to walk on, and with his blessing, the poor would come and fold them up from behind him for themselves? Clearly he gave abundant charity. The Talmud offers two possible explanations: If you wish, say that he acted that way for his own honor, to demonstrate that he considered the exorbitant expense trivial. And if you wish, say that as he should have done, he did not do. As people say, according to the camel is the burden. The stronger the camel, the heavier the load it must bear. Even if he gave altruistically, Nakdimon ben Guryon did not give as much as he was expected to give.

תניא: אמר רבי אלעזר ברבי צדוק: אראה בנחמה, אם לא ראיתיה שהיתה מלקטת שעורים מבין טלפי סוסים בעכו. קראתי עליה מקרא זה: ״אם לא תדעי לך היפה בנשים צאי לך בעקבי הצאן ורעי את גדיותיך״. אל תקרי ״גדיותיך״, אלא ״גויותיך״.

It is taught in a baraita (Tosefta 5:8) with regard to the daughter of Nakdimon ben Guryon: R' Elazar, son of R' Tzadok, said in the form of an oath: I pray that I will not see the consolation of the Jewish people if I did not see her gathering barley kernels from between the hooves of horses in Akko. I recited this verse about her: “If you know not, O you fairest among women, go your way forth by the footsteps of the flock and feed your kids, beside the shepherds’ tents” (Song of Songs 1:8). Do not read it as “your kids [gediyotayikh]” but rather read it as your bodies [geviyotayikh]. This woman is compelled to follow the sheep to the pastures in order to sustain her own body from the leftovers of their food.

אמר רב שמן בר אבא אמר רבי יוחנן: הכניסה לו זהב ⁠— שמין אותו, והרי הוא כשוויו. מיתיבי: הזהב הרי הוא ככלים. מאי לאו: ככלים של כסף, דפחתי! לא, ככלים של זהב, דלא פחתי. אם כן, ככליו מיבעי ליה!

§ The Talmud returns to the topic of how the groom records the bride’s dowry in the marriage contract: Rav Shemen bar Abba said that R' Yoḥanan said: If she brings him gold in her dowry, the court appraises it, and it is recorded in the marriage contract according to its value, without additions or subtractions. The Talmud raises an objection from that which was taught in a baraita: The halakha is that the gold is like utensils and not like cash for purposes of the dowry. The Talmud qualifies its objection: What, is it not that gold is like silver vessels, which diminish, so that they resemble all other goods in the dowry whose values are reduced in the marriage contract? The Talmud responds: No, the intent is that gold is like utensils of gold, which do not diminish. The Talmud asks: If so, the baraita should have stated that gold is like its own utensils, which would demonstrate that gold is appraised according to its true value. Evidently, then, this is not true of gold.