Study Gittin folio 43B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ואין אני קורא בה אשת שני מתים; מה נפשך, אי קדושי דראובן קדושין – קדושי דשמעון לאו קדושין, ואי קדושי דשמעון קדושין – קדושי דראובן לאו קדושין.
and I do not declare her to be the wife of two dead men. The halakha is that a yevama whose requirement for levirate marriage results from marriage to two brothers does not enter into levirate marriage at all. Here, that halakha does not apply, as whichever way you look at it, she was not married to two brothers: If Reuven’s betrothal was a valid betrothal, then Shimon’s betrothal was not a valid betrothal, and she is only Reuven’s widow. And if Shimon’s betrothal was a valid betrothal, it could only be that Reuven’s betrothal was not a valid betrothal. Either way, she had been married to only one of the brothers, and therefore she enters into levirate marriage with the third.
איתמר: חציה שפחה וחציה בת חורין שנתקדשה לראובן, ונשתחררה, וחזרה ונתקדשה לשמעון, רב יוסף בר חמא אמר רב נחמן: פקעו קדושי ראשון; רבי זירא אמר רב נחמן: גמרו קדושי ראשון.
It was stated: If there was a half-female slave half-free woman who was betrothed to Reuven, and afterward she was emancipated entirely, and she went back and was betrothed to Shimon, who in this case was not the brother of Reuven, then Rav Yosef bar Ḥama says that Rav Naḥman says: Through her emancipation the first betrothal was entirely abrogated, and the second betrothal takes effect. R' Zeira says that Rav Naḥman says: The first betrothal was completed. Reuven’s betrothal took effect immediately once she was emancipated. Consequently, Shimon’s betrothal did not take effect at all.
אמר רבי זירא: כוותיה דידי מסתברא, דכתיב: ״לא יומתו כי לא חופשה״ – הא חופשה, יומתו!
R' Zeira says: It stands to reason in accordance with my opinion, as it is written with regard to one who has sex with a designated female slave: “They should not be put to death, because she was not free” (Leviticus 19:20), and one can infer: But if she was free, then they will be put to death, because she is a married woman. This teaches that her betrothal is complete once she is emancipated.