Yevamot 223

מיבזז בזיז מינה

towards whom one is rather reserved.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Though he was alone with her no cohabitation may have taken place. [H] 'to be shy', 'bashful'. Cf. [H]. ');">¹</span> Now, instead of being compelled to submit to <i>halizah</i>, let [the levir] be compelled to take [his sister-in-law] in levirate marriage! — Rab replied: [This is a case] where her letter of divorce was produced by her.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'from under her hand'. After a divorce by the levir, the levirate marriage is forbidden. It is now assumed that the letter of divorce spoken of is one by which the levir had severed their union after the consummation of their marriage. ');">²</span> An objection was raised: If within thirty days<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' After contracting levirate marriage. ');">³</span>

עד שכופין אותו לחלוץ ניכפנו לייבם אמר רב בשגיטה יוצא מתחת ידה

a sister-in-law declared, 'He has not cohabited with me,' he is compelled to submit to <i>halizah</i> from her, whether he says 'I have cohabited' or whether he admits 'I have not cohabited'; if after thirty days, he may only be requested<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' He cannot be compelled. ');">⁴</span> to submit to <i>halizah</i> from her. If she declares,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' After thirty days from their marriage. ');">⁵</span> 'He cohabited with me,' and he states, 'I did not cohabit', behold, he may<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If they desire their union to be severed. ');">⁶</span>

מיתיבי יבמה שאמרה בתוך שלשים יום לא נבעלתי בין שהוא אומר בעלתי בין שהוא אומר לא בעלתי כופין אותו שיחלוץ לה לאחר שלשים יום מבקשין הימנו שיחלוץ לה

release her by a letter of divorce.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' No halizah is necessary, the woman being believed, since more than thirty days have elapsed after their marriage. ');">⁷</span> If he declares, 'I have cohabited' and she states, 'He has not cohabited with me,' It is necessary for him, even if he withdrew his statement and admitted, 'I have not cohabited', [to give her] a letter of divorce<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since after thirty days it is assumed that cohabitation had taken place. ');">⁸</span> and [to submit to her] <i>halizah</i>!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Because she herself by her declaration that no cohabitation had taken place and that the levirate bond was consequently still in force has caused her own prohibition to all other men until she has performed the halizah. Now, as in this case it is specifically mentioned that a letter of divorce is required, it is to be presumed that in all cases spoken of in this Baraitha the woman had no divorce; why then in the absence of a divorce, is the levir in the first case, compelled to submit to halizah and not rather to the performance of the levirate marriage? ');">⁹</span>

היא אומרת נבעלתי והוא אומר לא בעלתי הרי זה יוציא בגט הוא אומר בעלתי והיא אומרת לא נבעלתי אע"פ שחזר ואמר לא בעלתי צריך גט וחליצה

— R. Ammi replied: [The meaning is that] she requires <i>halizah</i> together with her letter of divorce.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which is already in her possession. The clause 'even if he withdrew' his statement etc,' does not emphasize the necessity of giving a letter of divorce but the ruling that where the levir first declared after thirty days that he consummated the marriage he may only be requested and not compelled to submit to halizah even though he later asserted that no cohabitation had taken place. ');">¹⁰</span> R. Ashi replied: There<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In the first clause of the Baraitha under discussion. ');">¹¹</span> the letter of divorce [was given] in respect of his levirate bond;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And this has caused the woman to be forbidden to the levir, in consequence of which halizah only but no levirate marriage is possible. ');">¹²</span>

אמר רבי אמי צריכה חליצה עם גיטה רב אשי אמר התם גט לזיקתו הכא גט לביאתו

while here<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In the final clause. ');">¹³</span> the letter of divorce [is required in respect] of his cohabitation.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The purport of the clause 'even if he withdrew' his statement etc.' being that although the levir admitted later that no cohabitation had taken place, in consequence of which it might have been presumed that halizah alone is sufficient, a letter of divorce is nevertheless required, because, more than thirty days having elapsed after the marriage, his first statement admitting cohabitation is accepted as the true one. ');">¹⁴</span> [A couple] both of whom admitted<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' After the levir had first declared that consummation of marriage had taken place. ');">¹⁵</span>

הנהו שניהם מודים דאתו לקמיה דרבא אמר להו רבא חלוצו לה ושרו לה תיגרא אמר ליה רב שרביא לרבא והתניא צריכה גט וחליצה אמר ליה אי תניא תניא

[that there was no consummation of the levirate marriage] once came before Raba. 'Arrange the <i>halizah</i> for her', said Raba to his disciples, 'and dismiss her case'. 'But, surely', said R. Sherebya to Raba, 'it was taught: She requires<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' After the levir had first declared that consummation of marriage had taken place. ');">¹⁵</span> both a letter of divorce and <i>halizah</i>!' 'If it was so taught', the other replied, 'well, then it was taught'. Hon son of R. Nahman enquired of R. Nahman: What [is the law in respect of] her<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A sister-in-law who declared that the levirate marriage had not been consummated. ');">¹⁶</span>

בעא מיניה הון בריה דרב נחמן מדרב נחמן צרתה מהו

rival?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Is the rival also forbidden to marry again before the other had performed the halizah? ');">¹⁷</span> — The other replied: Shall the rival be forbidden [to marry again] because we compel or request [the levir]!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Obviously not. The sister-in-law in question may indeed have placed herself under a prohibition as a result of her own declaration. The rival, however, since every levirate marriage is usually consummated, remains free. ');">¹⁸</span> IF A WOMAN VOWED TO HAVE NO BENEFIT etc. We learned elsewhere: At first it was held that [the following] three [classes of] women must be divorced<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Even if the husband is reluctant. ');">¹⁹</span>

אמר ליה וכי מפני שאנו כופין ומבקשין תיאסר צרה:

and they also receive their <i>kethubah</i>: One<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The wife of a priest. ');">²⁰</span> who declares, 'I am unclean for you',<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Through outrage. A priest is forbidden to live with a wife in such circumstances. ');">²¹</span> or 'heaven is between me and you',<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A declaration that may be made by a woman whom her husband deprives of her connubial rights. The meaning might be: 'The distance of the heavens lies between us' or 'heaven knows (if no man does) our miserable relationship'. ');">²²</span>

הנודרת הנאה וכו': תנן התם בראשונה היו אומרים שלש נשים יוצאות ונוטלות כתובה

or 'May I be kept away from the Jews'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., a vow to have no sexual intercourse with any of them. Such a vow is assumed to be the result of the pain that connubial intercourse may cause her, and therefore justified. ');">²³</span> This ruling was afterwards withdrawn<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'they returned to say'. ');">²⁴</span> in order that a wife might not cast eyes upon another man<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Whom she would arrange to marry in a place where they are unknown. ');">²⁵</span>

האומרת טמאה אני לך השמים ביני לבינך נטולה אני מן היהודים

and thus disgrace her husband;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' By inventing the disabilities mentioned. ');">²⁶</span> but [instead it was ordained that] one<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The wife of a priest. ');">²⁰</span> who declared, 'I am unclean for you'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Through outrage. A priest is forbidden to live with a wife in such circumstances. ');">²¹</span>

חזרו לומר שלא תהא אשה נותנת עיניה באחר ומקלקלת על בעלה אלא האומרת טמאה אני לך תביא ראיה לדבריה השמים ביני לבינך יעשו דרך בקשה

must bring evidence in support of her statement;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Otherwise her assertion is disregarded. ');">²⁷</span> [in respect of a woman who tells her husband] 'heaven is between me and you',<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A declaration that may be made by a woman whom her husband deprives of her connubial rights. The meaning might be: 'The distance of the heavens lies between us' or 'heaven knows (if no man does) our miserable relationship'. ');">²²</span> [peace] is made between them by way of a request [addressed to the husband]; [and if a woman vowed], 'May I be kept away from the Jews' [the husband] invalidates his part [of the vow]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That part of the prohibition that concerns himself. ');">²⁸</span>

נטולה אני מן היהודים יפר חלקו ומשמשתו ותהא נטולה מן היהודים

and she may continue connubial intercourse with him, though she remains removed from [other] Jews.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For fuller notes v. Ned., Sonc, ed., pp. 279ff. ');">²⁹</span> The question was raised: What [is her relation] to the levir [if a woman had vowed],<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' During the lifetime of her husband. ');">³⁰</span> 'May I be kept from the Jews?' Is [it assumed that]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Though her husband is alive. ');">³¹</span>

איבעיא להו נטולה אני מן היהודים ליבם מהו מי מסקה אדעתה דמיית בעלה ונפלה קמי יבם או לא

it occurred to her that her husband may possibly die<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Without issue. ');">³²</span> and that she might become subject to the levir<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Her vow was consequently meant to include the levir; and, since her husband can only invalidate his own share, she remains forbidden to the levir. ');">³³</span> or not?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Her vow may have applied to those men only who are otherwise allowed to marry her if her husband divorced her, her object being to convince him that she had no intention of marrying any other man even after she had left him. As the levir remains in any case forbidden to her after her husband had divorced her she could not have had him in mind. Hence he should be permitted to contract levirate marriage with her. ');">³⁴</span>

רב אמר יבם אינו כבעל ושמואל אמר יבם הרי הוא כבעל אמר אביי כוותיה דרב מסתברא דתנן הנודרת הנאה מיבמה בחיי בעלה כופין אותו שיחלוץ ואם איתא דמסקה אדעתה

— Rab replied: The levir has not the same status as the husband;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' He is excluded from the vow. ');">³⁵</span> and Samuel replied: The levir has the same status as the husband. Said Abaye: Logical deduction is in agreement with Rab. For we learned, IF A WOMAN VOWED TO HAVE NO BENEFIT FROM HER BROTHER-IN-LAW, THE LATTER IS COMPELLED TO SUBMIT TO HER <i>HALIZAH</i> [IF HER VOW WAS MADE] DURING THE LIFETIME OF HER HUSBAND. Now, if it is [to be assumed] that it occurred to her'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Even while her husband was alive, that he might die without issue and that she would, therefore, be subject to the levir. ');">³⁶</span>