Talmud Bavli
Talmud Bavli

Halakhah for Yevamot 41:21

כלתו

maternal brother, and one's daughter-in-law.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This case is discussed infra. ');"><sup>53</sup></span> Ze'iri, however, adds also the wife of his mother's father. Said R. Nahman b. Isaac: Your mnemonic sign is, 'Above that of Rab'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ze'ri's addition to the limitations is one generation above that of Rab. While the latter stops at the second generation (that of father and mother) the former goes as far as the third (mother's father). ');"><sup>54</sup></span> Why does not Rab include it?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ze'ri's addition, a mother's father's wife. ');"><sup>55</sup></span> — Because she<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ze'ri's addition, a mother's father's wife. ');"><sup>55</sup></span> might be mistaken for the wife of one's father's father.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Who is Pentateuchally forbidden. Were a limit to be set in the case of the former, a similar limit would erroneously be set to the latter. ');"><sup>56</sup></span> And Ze'iri? — Thither<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' To the family of one's father. ');"><sup>57</sup></span> one usually goes,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., there is frequent social intercourse between the members of the family on the paternal side. ');"><sup>58</sup></span> but hither<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' One's mother's family. ');"><sup>59</sup></span> one does not usually go.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' No mistake, therefore, could occur between a mother's father and a father's father. Hence no preventive measure is necessary. ');"><sup>60</sup></span> Is not the prohibition of one's daughter-in-law

Sefer HaChinukh

From the laws of the commandment is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Sanhedrin 53a) that the wife of his father is forbidden by Torah writ, whether [she is his wife by virtue of] betrothal - the understanding of which is kiddushin (designation) - or from marriage; whether in the lifetime of his father and even if he divorced her, or after his death. And so [too,] that which they forbade (Yevamot 21a) the wife of his father's father - meaning to say the wife of his grandfather - even though she is not his grandmother, to make a fence for this prohibition. And so [too,] did they also forbid the wife of the father of his grandfather and so [too,] the wife of the father of the mother of his grandfather, and likewise going way back, even to Yaakov. And they also forbade just the wife of the father of his mother, as a fence for this prohibition. And the reason is because the essence of this prohibition is from the side of the father - meaning the wife of the father. Therefore they, may their memory be blessed, were more stringent with the side of the fathers and said that it be forbidden going way back forever; but from the side of the mother they only decreed just with the wife of the father of the mother. And this is similar to the distinction that we wrote above with the prohibition of the mother. And the rest of its details are in the places that we will write below (Sefer HaChinukh 211) at the end of the Order (see Tur, Even HaEzer 21). And this is from the sexual prohibitions that all people of the world were prohibited more generally. But there is a distinction between Israel and the rest of the nations - as with the rest of the nations, [one] is only called the wife of the father by way of intercourse, but with Israel, even by way of designation; and likewise regarding the secondary ones, as there is no prohibition of the secondary ones among the nations, as we said.
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Sefer HaChinukh

From the laws of the commandment is that which they, may their memory be blessed, forbade (Yevamot 21a) the daughter of the son of her son as a fence for this - and it is included in the secondary [prohibitions]. As everything the prohibition of which is from the words of the [Rabbis] is called a secondary prohibition. And so [too,] did they forbid only the mother of the mother of the father of his wife.
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