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