Yevamot 30A

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Text Excerpt

מתני׳ שלשה אחין, שנים מהם נשואים שתי אחיות, ואחד נשוי נכרית. מת אחד מבעלי אחיות, וכנס נשוי נכרית את אשתו ומת ⁠— הראשונה יוצאה משום אחות אשה, ושניה משום צרתה. עשה בה מאמר ומת ⁠— נכרית חולצת ולא מתייבמת.

Mishnah: In the case of 3 brothers, two of whom were married to two sisters and one who was married to an unrelated woman, the following occurred: The husband of one of the sisters died childless, and the brother who was married to the unrelated woman married, i.e., performed levirate marriage with, the deceased brother’s wife and later died himself, childless. In this situation, both women happen for levirate marriage before the other, remaining, brother. The first woman is dismissed due to the prohibition proscribing the sister of one’s wife, as she is the sister of this brother’s wife, and the second woman is dismissed due to her status as the first woman’s rival wife. Following the first levirate marriage, this second woman became the rival wife of the sister, and is therefore exempt from levirate marriage as well. If, however, the brother married to the unrelated woman performed only levirate betrothal, but had not yet consummated the levirate marriage with the sister, and he died, the unrelated woman, whose halakhic status with regard to yibbum is similar to that of a sister’s rival wife, must perform ḥalitza and may not enter into levirate marriage.

גמ׳ טעמא דעבד בה מאמר, הא לא עבד בה מאמר ⁠— נכרית יבומי נמי מייבמה. אמר רב נחמן: זאת אומרת אין זיקה, ואפילו בחד אחא.

Talmud: The Talmud deduces the following halakha from the second clause of the Mishnah: The reason that the Mishnah requires ḥalitza is specifically because he, the brother who was married to the unrelated woman, performed levirate betrothal with the sister. Consequently, had he not performed levirate betrothal with her, the unrelated woman would be permitted to enter into levirate marriage as well. This is true despite the fact that the levirate bond could potentially render her the rival wife of his wife’s sister. Rav Naḥman said: That is to say, the levirate bond is not substantial; the woman requiring levirate marriage is not considered married to the yavam. And this is true even if the levirate bond was with a single brother, as this widowed sister happened for levirate marriage only before the brother who was married to the unrelated woman; her levirate bond was with him alone.

Text data via Sefaria: William Davidson Edition - English and William Davidson Edition - Vocalized Aramaic, CC-BY-NC; edition provenance: Koren. Display terminology has been modernized for readability.