Study Yevamot folio 87B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
סריקא והשתא גופא מליא. אבל ״זרע אין לה״, דמעיקרא גופא סריקא והשתא גופא סריקא — אימא לא, צריכא.
was empty, and now her body is full with the child, and therefore she is no longer “as in her youth.” But in a situation where “she has no child,” when at the outset her body was empty and now her body is also empty, as she has given birth, you might say that she should not be disqualified. Therefore, it is necessary to write both verses.
[סימן: (אמר ליה) לא נעשה מעשיה במיתה נעשה ולא נעשה בולד יבם ותרומה יבום ותרומה — סימן].
Parenthetically, the Talmud lists terms signifying the following discussions, to serve as a mnemonic device: Said to him, we should not make, by death, we should make and not make, by a child, yavam and teruma, levirate marriage and teruma. This list of terms, taken from the introductions or key phrases in each of the ensuing discussions, is the mnemonic.
אמר ליה רב יהודה מדאסקרתא לרבא: לא נעשה מתים כחיים לענין יבום מקל וחומר: ומה במקום שעשה ולד מן הראשון כולד מן השני לפוסלה מן התרומה — לא עשה מתים כחיים; מקום שלא עשה ולד מן הראשון כולד מן השני לפוטרה מן הייבום — אינו דין שלא נעשה מתים כחיים?!
Rav Yehuda from De’iskarta said to Rava, in continuation of the discussion of the baraita: Should we not make the halakha concerning dead children like the halakha concerning living children with regard to levirate marriage by an a fortiori inference, and say: And if in a place where the Torah made the halakha with regard to a child from the first husband like the halakha with regard to a child from the second husband, to disqualify her from teruma, for as long as she has a child who is not a priest she is prohibited from partaking of teruma, the Torah nevertheless did not make dead children like living ones; therefore, in a place where the Torah did not make a child from the first husband like a child from the second to exempt her from levirate marriage, is it not right that we should not make the dead like the living? Why, then, is a yevama exempt from levirate marriage if her late husband’s only child dies?
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.