Julian Ungar-Sargon

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Daf Ditty

A wide-ranging commentary on the daily page of Talmud.

Ketubot 60: Milk of Kindness

jyungar September 4, 2022

For the source text click/tap here: Ketubot 60

To download, click/tap here: PDF

The Mishna (59b) teaches that one of the obligations that a wife has to her husband is to nurse his newborn child.

This is a responsibility that exists even after her husband dies.

According to the baraita brought by our Gemara, should her husband pass away while she is nursing, the widow cannot marry for a year and a half (Rabbi Yehuda) or two years (Rabbi Meir) lest she become pregnant and lose her ability to produce milk.

Women are encouraged to nurse their children until the children are at least 24 months and not significantly beyond four or five years.

The rabbis discuss how long a woman should wait before remarrying if she is divorced or widowed while her child is an infant.

The rabbis move into a conversation about the milk of humans and the milk of other animals.

Humans are not permitted to suckle from animals unless they are very ill, it is Shabbat, and there is no other way to access that 'treatment'.

In that case, suckling is an unusual way to get milk.

Eating blood is discussed as well. In contrast to breast milk, blood is not allowed to be eaten if it has left the body.

We explore the history of breastfeeding in Tanach and its poetic references in rabbinic literature and the history of human milk in antiquity.

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Julian Ungar-Sargon

This is Julian Ungar-Sargon's personal website. It contains poems, essays, and podcasts for the spiritual seeker and interdisciplinary aficionado.​