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Text Excerpt
מתני׳ איזהו ממזר — כל שאר בשר שהוא ב״לא יבא״, דברי רבי עקיבא. שמעון התימני אומר: כל שחייבים עליו כרת בידי שמים, והלכה כדבריו. ורבי יהושע אומר: כל שחייבין עליו מיתת בית דין.
Mishnah: Which offspring of forbidden sex have the status of a mamzer? It is the offspring of a union with any next of kin that is subject to a Torah prohibition that he should not have sex with them; this is the statement of R' Akiva. Shimon HaTimni says: It is the offspring of a union with any forbidden relation for which one is liable to receive karet at the hand of Heaven. And the halakha is in accordance with his statement. R' Yehoshua says: It is the offspring of a union with any forbidden relation for which one is liable to receive court-imposed capital punishment.
אמר רבי שמעון בן עזאי: מצאתי מגלת יוחסין בירושלים, וכתוב בה: איש פלוני ממזר מאשת איש, לקיים דברי רבי יהושע.
R' Shimon ben Azzai said: I found a scroll recording people’s lineages in Jerusalem, and it was written in it that so-and-so is a mamzer from an adulterous union with a married woman, a sin punishable by court-imposed capital punishment. The only reason for the scroll to state the reason that this individual is a mamzer is in order to support the statement of R' Yehoshua.
אשתו שמתה — מותר באחותה. גרשה ומתה — מותר באחותה. נשאת לאחר ומתה — מותר באחותה. יבמתו שמתה — מותר באחותה. חלץ לה ומתה — מותר באחותה. נשאת לאחר ומתה — מותר באחותה.
The Mishnah delineates the circumstances in which it is prohibited to have sex with the sister of one’s wife and the sister of one’s yevama: If a man’s wife died, he is permitted to her sister. If he divorced her and then she died, he is permitted to her sister. If he divorced his wife and then she was married to another and then died, he is permitted to her sister. If his yevama died, he is permitted to her sister. If he performed ḥalitza with her and then she died, he is permitted to her sister. If after ḥalitza she was married to another and then died, he is permitted to her sister. The principle underlying all these cases is that the prohibition against having sex with her sister only applies while the wife or yevama remain alive, irrespective of their current relationship to the man.