Study Yevamot folio 17B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ראשונה לא משתבש: מאי ראשונה — ראשונה לנפילה, ומאן דתני שניה לא משתבש: מאי שניה — שניה לנשואין. מי לא עסקינן דיבם ואחר כך כנס? אלא מאי שניה — שניה בנשואין.
The first, is not mistaken, as what is the meaning of first? It means the first to fall before her yavam for levirate marriage. And he who taught referring to her as the second is not mistaken either, as what is the meaning of second? It means the second to enter marriage. Since the second deceased brother was already married to one woman, this yevama whom he took in levirate marriage was his second wife. The Talmud wonders: Is this the necessary order of events? Are we not also dealing with a scenario in which the second brother took the wife of the first brother in levirate marriage and then later took another wife? Would such a situation not merit the same ruling? Rather, what is the meaning of calling the wife of the first brother the second? It means she who had been married for a second time. She had already been married twice, whereas the wife of the second brother had been married only once.
אשת אחיו שלא היה בעולמו היכא כתיבא? אמר רב יהודה אמר רב, אמר קרא: ״כי ישבו אחים יחדו״, שהיתה להם ישיבה אחת בעולם, פרט לאשת אחיו שלא היה בעולמו. ״יחדו״ — מיוחדים בנחלה, פרט לאחיו מן האם.
§ The Talmud turns from a review of the language used in the Mishnah to a discussion of the halakhot of a wife of a brother with whom one did not coexist. Where is it written that the mitzva of levirate marriage does not apply in the case of the wife of a brother with whom he did not coexist? Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: The verse states “If brothers reside together and one of them dies” (Deuteronomy 25:5), meaning that they had a common residence together in the world. This excludes the wife of a brother with whom he did not coexist. Furthermore, it is derived: “Together” means that they were united together in an inheritance; i.e., they are united in that they inherit together. In other words, since property is inherited by sons from their father, it can be inferred that the verse is speaking specifically of brothers from the same father. This excludes his maternal half brother, with whom he is not united by inheritance, since only brothers who share the same father inherit from each other.