Study Yevamot folio 79B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
בימי רבי בקשו להתיר נתינים. אמר להם רבי: חלקנו נתיר, חלק מזבח מי יתיר?
It is related that in the days of R' Yehuda HaNasi the rabbis sought to permit the Gibeonites and treat them like Jews in all regards, thereby allowing them to enter into the congregation. R' Yehuda HaNasi said to them: Even if we permit our share and say that the court nullifies the Jewish people’s right to enslave the Gibeonites, and so they should be treated like emancipated slaves, who can permit the altar’s share? Do they not belong to the Temple and the altar as well?
ופליגא דרבי חייא בר אבא. דאמר רבי חייא בר אבא אמר רבי יוחנן: חלק עדה — לעולם אסור, חלק מזבח, בזמן שבית המקדש קיים — אסור, אין בית המקדש קיים — שרי.
The Talmud comments: And R' Yehuda HaNasi disagrees with the teaching of R' Ḥiyya bar Abba. As R' Ḥiyya bar Abba said that R' Yoḥanan said: The share in the enslavement of the Gibeonites that belongs to the congregation of Israel is forbidden forever and can never be permitted. However, with regard to the share belonging to the altar, when the Temple is standing it is forbidden, but when the Temple is not standing it is permitted.
מתני׳ אמר רבי יהושע: שמעתי שהסריס חולץ וחולצין לאשתו, והסריס לא חולץ ולא חולצין לאשתו, ואין לי לפרש.
Mishnah: R' Yehoshua said: I heard two rulings from my teachers. One ruling is that a eunuch performs ḥalitza with his yevama, and his brothers perform ḥalitza with his wife, and the other ruling is that a eunuch does not perform ḥalitza with his yevama, and his brothers do not perform ḥalitza with his wife. And I cannot explain these two rulings, as I do not remember the circumstances to which each ruling applies.
אמר רבי עקיבא, אני אפרש: סריס אדם — חולץ וחולצין לאשתו, מפני שהיתה לו שעת הכושר. סריס חמה — לא חולץ ולא חולצין לאשתו, מפני שלא היתה לו שעת הכושר.
R' Akiva said: I will explain. A eunuch caused by man, i.e., one who became emasculated after birth, performs ḥalitza with his yevama and his brothers perform ḥalitza with his wife, because he had an hour of fitness, a time when he was fertile. On the other hand, a eunuch by natural causes, i.e., who was entirely lacking in sexual capacity from birth, does not perform ḥalitza with his yevama and his brothers do not perform ḥalitza with his wife, because he did not have an hour of fitness, as he never had the potential to father children.