Torah Community Connections

Week 125 - Shabbat - 20 April 2002

EDUYOT: CHAPTER 4: MISHNAH 8

The School of Shammai permits the rivals to the brothers, but the School of Hillel prohibits. If they performed halitzah - the School of Shammai disqualifies from the priesthood, but the School of Hillel permits. If they underwent yibum - the School of Shammai permits, but the School of Hillel disqualifies. Even though these prohibit and these permit, the School of Shammai did not refrain from marrying women of the School of Hillel, and the School of Hillel from marrying women from the School of Shammai. And everything clean and unclean, which these declared clean and these declared unclean, they did not refrain from preparing in cleanness each by means of the other.

Kehati

If a man has a number of wives, they are referred to as "rivals" to one another (see I Sam. 1:6). At the beginning of Yevamot (1:1) we read: "Fifteen women [arayot] exempt their rivals from halitzah and from yibum." In general, there are fifteen women who are forbidden to a man by the law of immorality (ervah). They are his daughter, his daughter's daughter, his son's daughter, his stepdaughter, etc., (see Yevamot 1:1). If one of these women was married to the deceased who died without children, and now she ought to marry the surviving brother by levirate marriage, not only is she forbidden to marry by yibum and is exempt from halitzah, but the same is true for all her "rivals." On this topic, our mishnah records a dispute between the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel; the School of Shammai disagreeing with the first mishnah of Yevamot whilst the School of Hillel agrees with it. Our mishnah is repeated in Yevamot 1:4.

The School of Shammai permits the rivals - of the fifteen arayot to be married by yibum to the brothers - of the deceased, even though the arayot themselves are prohibited to them, for the School of Shammai holds that the rivals of the fifteen arayot do not have the same law as the arayot themselves; but the School of Hillel prohibits - the rivals of the fifteen arayot to be married by yibum, for the same law applies to them and the arayot. If they performed halitzah - If the rivals performed the act of halitzah, the School of Shammai disqualifies - the rivals from the priesthood - from marrying a priest. According to the School of Shammai the rivals need halitzah, and the halakhah forbids a halutzah, as well as a divorcee to marry a priest; but the School of Hillel permits - the rivals to marry a priest even though they have performed halitzah, for their act of halitzah was unnecessary and it is not considered to be halitzah. If they - the rivals underwent yibum - and afterwards were widowed a second time, the School of Shammai permits - them to marry a priest, for according to it, the yibum was a valid one; but the School of Hillel disqualifies - them from marrying a priest. According to the School of Hillel, their marriage to their deceased husband's brother entailed a transgression, so their legal status is that of a woman who had sexual relations with a person prohibited to her, thus becoming a harlot, and a harlot is prohibited to a priest (Lev. 21:7)

Even though these prohibit and these permit - If the rivals of the arayot were given halitzah, the School of Shammai forbids them to marry a priest while the School of Hillel permits and if yibum was performed the School of Hillel forbids them to marry a priest while the School of Shammai permits, so that those whom the one permits the other forbids, the School of Shammai did not refrain from marrying women of the School of Hillel - They did not fear lest she was a rival of the woman prohibited due to ervah, exempted by the School of Hillel from halitzah, whilst the School of Shammai prohibits her re-marriage until she has halitzah, and the School of Hillel - did not refrain from marrying women of the School of Shammai - even though the offspring of the rivals who were married as yevamot according to the School of Shammai, is a mamzer according to the opinion of the School of Hillel. According to the School of Hillel, the Biblical prohibition against marrying one's brother's wife applies to the rivals, and the punishment for transgressing this prohibition is karet, and the offspring of a union forbidden on pain of karet is a mamzer, the School of Hillel nevertheless did not refrain from marrying wives from the School of Shammai. The Talmud (Yevamot 14a) explains the reason for this: the two Schools informed each other how they had acted in actual practice, so that neither would transgress in those cases in which it was more stringent.

And everything clean and unclean which these declared clean and these declared unclean - did not cause a division between the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel, for in any case, they did not refrain from preparing in cleanness each by means of the other - and lent utensils one to the other to use in a state of cleanness, for they informed and trusted one another. The mishnah teaches that they acted toward each other with affection and fraternity, to fulfill the verse (Zech. 8:19), "Therefore love you truth and peace" (Yevamot 14b).

EDUYOT: CHAPTER 4: MISHNAH 9

Three brothers: two of them married to two sisters, and one free; one of the husbands of the sisters died, and the free one married her by ma'amar, and afterwards his second brother died. The School of Shammai says, His wife is with him, and that one goes forth because of a "wife's sister." The School of Hillel says He sends away his wife with a bill of divorce and with halitzah, and his brother's wife with halitzah. It is this that they said: Woe to him for his wife and woe to him for his brother's wife!

Kehati

At the beginning of Kiddushin we read: "The yevamah is acquired by sexual intercourse." Through intercourse, the woman becomes the brother's wife in the fullest sense, as the Torah states (Deut. 25:5), "Her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife." If however, the levir used one of the other modes of acquiring a wife - e.g., by using money or by a contract - without sexual intercourse, this is only considered, by Rabbinic decree, a partial marriage acquisition, and is known as ma'amar. This is the opinion of the School of Hillel. The School of Shammai, though, holds that ma'amar, too, makes the woman a full wife. This is the origin of the dispute in the present mishnah between the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel, and it is in Yevamot (3:5).

Three brothers: two of them married to two sisters, and one free - is unmarried, one of the husbands of the sisters died - without children, and the free one married her by ma'amar - Married the dead brother's widow either by money or by contract, as described above, and afterwards his second brother died - without children. Now the surviving brother is tied to two widows, sisters, who require yibum or halitzah from him, except that he has married the first by ma'amar before his second brother died. The School of Shammai says, His wife is with him - The widow with whom he performed ma'amar is his wife, and he may keep her with him, and that one - His wife's sister, who only later became subject to yibum or halitzah from him, goes forth because of a wife's sister - Goes forth without needing even halitzah, for according to the School of Shammai he is married to her sister. The School of Shammai holds that ma'amar makes the first widow his full wife. So that, when her sister becomes a widow and stands before him, there is no bond between them because she is forbidden to him on account of ervah, as one may not be married to two sisters.

The School of Hillel says, He sends away his wife with a bill of divorce and with halitzah - The School of Hillel holds that ma'amar does not make the woman fully the man's wife, and therefore, when the second widow, too, needs yibum, for she is bound to him, she makes the first widow forbidden to him. This is so, even though the man has married the first by ma'amar, since now he may not consummate the marriage. The law in such a case is that both sisters need halitzah, like any two sisters who become subject to yibum. Nevertheless, as ma'amar is somewhat binding, in addition to halitzah the first widow must also receive a get to remove the binding force of the ma'amar, for no marriage may be sundered without a get. Thus the halitzah removes the yibum linkage and the get removes the ma'amar linkage; and his brother's wife with halitzah - The wife of his second brother needs only halitzah. It is this that they said - This is what people say: Woe to him for his wife and woe to him for his brother's wife - Woe to him for his wife whom he must send away with a bill of divorce and cannot keep as his wife, and woe to him for his second brother's wife, to whom he must give halitzah and with whom he may not perform yibum, so that he loses both women through no fault of his own.

Return to Mishna Yomit Index

Visit the Mishna Yomit Archives