Someone who had two hundred Zuz in the times of Chazal was considered to be too wealthy to collect Matanos Aniyim such as Pe'ah (Mishnah Pe'ah 8:8). According to the Rosh (op cit) it was the amount of money necessary to live on for one year. Two hundred Zuz of silver is equivalent to two Maneh. A Maneh is approximately one pound. Two pounds is thirty-two ounces. An ounce of silver today is worth about fourteen and a half dollars. Therefore two hundred Zuz is approximately $464.

Today however, depending on where one lives, how much rent one pays, etc., a single person would need about twenty to thirty thousand dollars for his annual living expenses. In fact, the Tur (YD 253) says that, in regard to who is considered poor and entitled to take Tzedakah, we no longer use two hundred Zuz as the measurement but rather estimate it according to the time and the place of the individual.

The two hundred Zuz of a Kesuvah is based on the verse (Shemos 22:16) "k'Mohar ha'Besulos" which is fifty Shekalim (a Shekel is four Zuz). Even according to those that hold that a Kesuvah is d'Rabanan, this verse serves as the basis for the amount that they stipulated (see Tur EH 66). So it is not clear whether there is any connection between two hundred Zuz of a Kesuvah and the two hundred Zuz of Matanos Aniyim. It could be coincidental that the two amounts are equivalent.

But even if there is a connection between the two amounts, it would seem that it was not necessary to increase the Ikar Kesuvah to reflect a changing economic reality because Chazal instituted the Tosefes Kesuvah which can be any amount that the parties agree to.

Kol Tuv,

Yonasan