Study Yevamot folio 65A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
קובעת לה וסת, עד שתקבענה שלש פעמים. ואין מטהרת מן הוסת, עד שתעקר ממנה שלש פעמים. ושור המועד — דתנן: אין השור נעשה מועד, עד שיעידו בו שלשה פעמים.
establish a set pattern of menstrual bleeding for herself, so that it can be assumed that she will start bleeding at a particular time, until she has established it 3 times. Similarly, she is not purified from her set pattern until it is uprooted from her 3 times, i.e., until she did not experience menstrual bleeding at the expected time according to her pattern on 3 occasions. And the case of a forewarned ox is as we learned in a Mishnah (Bava Kamma 23b): An ox does not become forewarned until witnesses testify that it has gored 3 times. Consequently, in the cases of set patterns and a forewarned ox, a legal presumption is created only after 3 occurrences, in accordance with the opinion of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel.
תנו רבנן: ניסת לראשון ולא היו לה בנים, לשני ולא היו לה בנים, לשלישי לא תנשא אלא למי שיש לו בנים. נישאת למי שאין לו בנים — תצא בלא כתובה.
A baraita states: If a woman was married to her first husband and she did not have children, and then she was married to her second husband and she did not have children, she may not get married to a third husband unless it is to one who already has children and has fulfilled the mitzva to be fruitful and multiply, as it is presumed that she is unable to have children. If she got married to one who does not have children and he had been unaware of her presumptive status, she is divorced without receiving payment for her marriage contract, as he married her erroneously.
איבעיא להו: נישאת לשלישי ולא היו לה בנים, מהו דליתבעוה הנך קמאי? מי מצו אמרי לה: איגלאי מילתא דאת הוא דגרמת. או דלמא מצית אמרה להו: השתא הוא דכחשי. מסתברא מציא אמרה להו השתא הוא דכחשי.
A dilemma was raised before the rabbis: If she was married to a third husband and she did not have children for 10 years, what is the halakha with regard to whether those first husbands can demand the return of the money they paid for her marriage contracts? Can they say to her: It has been revealed retroactively that it was you who caused our inability to have children, and therefore we entered our marriages erroneously, or perhaps she can say to them: It is now that I am older that I have become weak, but in my youth I could have had children with a different husband. The rabbis answer: It is reasonable that she can say to them: It is now that I have become weak.