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Mishnayos Yevamos Perek 2 Mishnah 3

יבמות פרק ב׳ משנה ג׳

3

The Sages stated a principle about a yevama: Whoever is forbidden by a prohibition of forbidden relations to her yavam neither performs ḥalitza nor enters into levirate marriage and is completely exempt. If she is forbidden by a prohibition resulting from a mitzva or by a prohibition stemming from sanctity, as will be explained later, then since in these cases the obligation of levirate marriage is not fundamentally nullified she performs ḥalitza in order to become free of the levirate bond, and due to her prohibition she does not enter into levirate marriage. The Sages stated another principle: If two sisters who had been married to two brothers who subsequently died happened before the third brother for levirate marriage, and one of those sisters is a close relation to this third brother and is therefore forbidden to him, she is exempt from levirate marriage. But the other, her sister who is her yevama, i.e., her sister-in-law, performs ḥalitza or enters into levirate marriage. In this case, they are not ruled to be two sisters who happened before him simultaneously for levirate marriage, since one of them is prohibited to him as a forbidden relation, and therefore she never actually happened before him at all.

כְּלָל אָמְרוּ בַיְבָמָה. כָּל שֶׁהִיא אִסּוּר עֶרְוָה, לֹא חוֹלֶצֶת וְלֹא מִתְיַבֶּמֶת. אִסּוּרָהּ אִסּוּר מִצְוָה, וְאִסּוּר קְדֻשָּׁה, חוֹלֶצֶת וְלֹא מִתְיַבֶּמֶת. אֲחוֹתָהּ שֶׁהִיא יְבִמְתָּהּ, חוֹלֶצֶת אוֹ מִתְיַבֶּמֶת:

ג׳
Bartenura

לא חולצת ולא מתיבמת – her rival/co-wife and all the more so she herself, and similarly, a barren woman, as it is written (Deuteronomy 25:6): “[The first son] that she bears [shall be accounted to the dead brother that his name not be blotted out in Israel],” excluding a barren woman [ and similarly, the wife of a eunuch born without visible testicles and an androgynous individual does not engage in Halitzah nor levirate marriage, as it states ( there -Deuteronomy 25:5): “[When brothers dwell together and one of them lies] and leaves no son, [the wife of the deceased shall not be married to a stranger, outside the family],” excluding those for whom it is inappropriate for them to have children, and the wife of a convert and the wife of a freed slave does not engage in Halitzah nor levirate marriage, for there is no legal status of consanguinity neither for converts nor slaves, but a barren woman and an elderly women either engages in Halitzah or levirate marriage.

אחותה – [her sister] who is a woman forbidden to a man on account of consanguinity when she is [also] her sister-in-law [widow of her childless brother-in-law] such as, for example, when two sisters fell to him from his two brothers and the one is prohibited upon him because of consanguinity such as when she is his mother-in-law or daughter-in-law, she performs Halitzah or levirate marriage but now did not come in contact with the sister of his levirate relation because someone forbidden on account of consanguinity is not his levirate relation.

לא חולצת ולא מתיבמת. צרתה, וכל שכן היא. וכן אילונית, דכתיב (דברים כ״ה) אשר תלד, פרט לאילונית. וכן אשת סריס חמה ואנדרוגינוס, לא חולצת ולא מתיבמת, שנאמר (שם) ובן אין לו, פרט לאלו שאין ראוי להיות להם בנים. ואשת גר ואשת עבד משוחרר, לא חולצת ולא מתיבמת, שאין אחוה לגרים ולא לעבדים. אבל עקרה וזקנה, או חולצת או מתיבמת:

אחותה. של ערוה כשהיא יבמתה. כגון שנפלו לו שתי אחיות משני אחיו והאחת אסורה עליו משום ערוה כגון שהיא חמותו או כלתו חולצת או מתיבמת דהשתא לא פגע באחות זקוקתו, משום דערוה לאו זקוקתו היא: