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Week 53 - Tuesday - 28 November 2000

YEVAMOT: CHAPTER 5: MISHNAH 2

How so? If he married his yevamah by ma'amar, and he gave her a bill of divorce -- she requires of him to submit to halitzah. If he married by ma'amar and submitted to halitzah -- she requires a bill of divorce from him. If he married by ma'amar and had intercourse -- then this is according to the mitzvah.

Kehati

This and the succeeding mishnayot in this chapter provide examples explaining the topics which were taught in the preceding mishnah.

How so -- is the law regarding the bill of divorce, ma'amar, etc., which was taught above? The Gemara explains that this "How so?" does not refer to the disagreement between Rabban Gamliel and the Sages taught in the preceding mishnah, but is an independent topic, and serves as an introduction to the explanation of mishnah 1 (Hameiri). Thus, this mishnah explains the law of ma'amar, bill of divorce, halitzah and intercourse where there is one yavam and one yevamah.

If he -- the yavam,

Married his yevamah by ma'amar -- he married her with money or a document, and afterwards he gave her a bill of divorce -- she requires of him halitzah -- in order to release her from the yibum tie. He is prohibited, however, from wedding her as his yevamah because of the bill of divorce that he gave her. According to the interpretation of Tosafot, this refers to a case in which he gave her an unqualified bill of divorce to dissolve his tie; if, however, he had given her a bill of divorce specifically to cancel his ma'amr, he is permitted to wed her as his yevamah.

If he married by ma'amar to and submitted to halitzah from his yevamah, she requires a bill of divorce from him -- to cancel his ma'amar marriage, since halitzah does not dissolve the ma'amar, but only the yibum tie. If he married by ma'amr and had intercourse -- then this is according to the mitzvah -- although the Torah states, "her husband's brother shall go in to her" (Deut. 25:5), and (by Torah law) he is not required to wed her ceremonially first, the Sages nevertheless enacted that the yavam may not have intercourse with a yevamah until he marries her by ma'amar. This yavam has indeed first fulfilled the obligation imposed by the Sages, and afterwards he performed yibum on her according to the command of the Torah.

YEVAMOT: CHAPTER 5: MISHNAH 3

If he gave a bill of divorce, and he married by ma'amar -- she requires a bill of divorce and halitzah. If he gave a bill of divorce and he had intercourse -- she requires a bill of divorce and halitzah. If he gave a bill of divorce, and he submitted to halitzah -- nothing follows halitzah. If he submitted to halitzah and married by ma'amar, if he gave a bill of divorce and he had intercourse; or: if he had intercourse and married by ma'amar, he gave a bill of divorce and he submitted to halitzah -- nothing follows halitzah. It is all the same, whether one yevamah to one yavam, or two yevamot to one yavam.

Kehati

If he first gave a bill of divorce -- to his yevamah, and afterwards he married -- her, by ma'amar, she requires a bill of divorce -- to cancel the ma'amar marriage, and halitzah -- to dissolve her yibum tie, and he may not wed her as his yevamah afer the ma'amar, becuase of the bill of divorce which he had given her initially.

If he gave a bill of divorce -- to his yevamah, and he afterwards had intercourse -- with her, she is ineligible for yibum from the time that he gave her a bill of divorce and is prohibited to him, and the act of intercourse after the bill of divorce is unlawful but is like ma'amar (Hameiri), therefore she requires a bill of divorce -- because of intercourse and halitzah -- because of her tie to him.

If he gave a bill of divorce -- to his yevamah, and afterwards he submitted to halitzah -- from her, nothing follows halitzah -- and she is completely released. The Gemara explains that this mishnah teaches that if afterwards he married her by ma'amar or by intercourse, she does not require a bill of divorce, for this mishnah is according to Rabbi Akiva, who holds that a marriage involving a Torah prohibition punishable by lashes is void.

If he submitted to halitzah, and he married by ma'amar -- after the halitzah, or if -- after the halitzah -- he gave a bill of divorce, and -- or, after the halitzah, he had intercourse or:

If he had intercourse -- with his yevamah, first, and he married by ma'amar -- after intercourse, or he gave a bill of divorce -- after intercourse and -- or -- he submitted to halitzah -- after intercourse, nothing follows halitzah -- whatever he did after the halitzah is of no legal significance. We have already mentioned that this mishnah follows Rabbi Akiva, in that a marriage involving a Torah prohibition punishable by lashes is void. If, therefore, he married her by ma'amar or had intercourse with her after the halitzah, his act is of no legal significance, and he is not required to give her a bill of divorce. Likewise, after intercourse nothing is left of the yibum tie, and if he gave her a bill of divorce after the act of intercourse, she is indeed divorced by it. It was not necessary for the mishnah to state that if he gave a bill of divorce after the halitzah, that nothing follows halitzah, for it is clear that the bill of divorce has no legal significance after halitzah. As, however, the mishnah wanted to teach the law of "If he had intercourse, and then gave a bill of divorce," the mishnah also spoke of "and he gave a bill of divorce" in reference to halitzah. The mishnah stated "nothing follows halitzah," and did not also state "nothing follows sexual intercourse," in order to be concise, and it preferred to teach the law whereby the yevamah is freed to marry any man.

It -- the law, is all the same, whether one yevamah to one yavam, or two yevamot to one yavam -- whether one yevamah or two yevamot from one brother, who came before one yavam for yibum, something can effectively follow after the first bill of divorce or after the first marriage by ma'amar, but nothing can effectively follow after sexual intercourse or after halitzah, as will be explained below in the next mishnah.

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