Why do we say the eidim don't have to pay the full kesuva since maybe the baal will eventually have to pay, maybe the baal wouldn't have had to pay if the wife dies first.
Eli Sudaley, Los Angeles, USA
The Eidim have to pay for the loss caused to the husband. We cannot say that the loss is equivalent to the full value of the Kesuvah, as the husband may have ended up paying even without the Eidus of the Eidim. We must therefore estimate the value of the loss.
There are two opinions in the Gemara as to how we estimate the value of the loss to the husband. Rav Chisda says that we estimate the amount that a person would pay for the Zechus the husband has that he may inherit the Kesuvah. This is the amount a person would pay now to buy the future right to receive the Kesuvah if the wife predeceases the husband. Rav Nassan Bar Oshiya however, says that we take the whole value of the Kesuvah (which is what the Eidim in fact made the husband responsible to pay) and we deduct from it the value that a person would be willing to pay now for the right to receive the Kesuvah. The reasoning for this is that since the husband would be willing to pay now this amount to the wife to become exempt from possibly paying her the Kesuvah in the future, we only consider the extra that he had to pay a damage caused by the Eidus.
Dov Freedman