Study Yevamot folio 65B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
הוא אמר: אפלת בגו עשר. והיא אמרה: לא אפלית. אמר רבי אמי: אף בזו היא נאמנת. דאם איתא דאפלה — נפשה בעקרתה לא מחזקה.
The Talmud addresses another case in which the court forces a man to divorce his wife who has not had children after 10 years. If he said: You miscarried within the 10 years of our marriage, and since less than 10 years have elapsed since that time he should not have to divorce her, and she said: I did not miscarry, R' Ami said: Even in this case she is believed, because if it is so that she miscarried she would not establish herself as barren through denying his claim.
הפילה, וחזרה והפילה, וחזרה והפילה — הוחזקה לנפלים. הוא אמר: אפילה תרי, והיא אמרה: תלת, אמר רבי יצחק בן אלעזר: עובדא הוה בי מדרשא, ואמרו: היא מהימנא, דאם איתא דלא אפלה — נפשה בניפלי לא מחזקה.
If she miscarried, and then miscarried again, and miscarried again, she has been established to be a woman who is prone to miscarriages, and her husband must divorce her so that he can have children with another woman. If he said she miscarried twice, and she said it occurred 3 times, R' Yitzḥak ben Elazar said: There was an incident of this kind that was adjudicated in the study hall and they said that she is believed, because if it is so that she had not miscarried a third time she would not establish herself as one who is prone to miscarriages.
מתני׳ האיש מצווה על פריה ורביה, אבל לא האשה. רבי יוחנן בן ברוקה אומר: על שניהם הוא אומר: ״ויברך אותם אלהים ויאמר להם [אלהים] פרו ורבו״.
Mishnah: A man is commanded with regard to the mitzva to be fruitful and multiply, but not a woman. R' Yoḥanan ben Beroka says that a woman is also commanded, as the verse states with regard to both of them: “And God blessed them, and God said to them: Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28).
גמ׳ מנא הני מילי? אמר רבי אילעא משום רבי אלעזר ברבי שמעון: אמר קרא: ״ומלאו את הארץ וכבשוה״. איש דרכו לכבש, ואין אשה דרכה לכבש.
Talmud: From where are these matters derived, that a woman is not obligated in the mitzva to be fruitful and multiply? R' Ile’a said in the name of R' Elazar, son of R' Shimon: The verse states: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the land and conquer it” (Genesis 1:28). It is the manner of a man to conquer and it is not the manner of a woman to conquer. Consequently, it is evident that the entire command, including the mitzva to be fruitful and multiply, was given only to men and not to women.