Study Yevamot folio 89A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
שנתן לה אחרון גט — לא פסלה מן הכהונה, מכלל דלא בעיא גט. דאי בעיא גט, אמאי לא פסלה מן הכהונה? אלא סיפא, אמרי: קידושי טעות הוו.
the last one gave her a bill of divorce, he has not disqualified her from marrying into the priesthood, as she is not considered a divorcée at all, this proves by inference that she does not require a bill of divorce from him. The reason is that if she requires a bill of divorce, even if it is only due to uncertainty, why has he not disqualified her from marrying into the priesthood? A bill of divorce of any validity would bar her from marrying a priest. Rather, a bill of divorce given by a man to a woman who is not his wife is clearly of no account, and the reason for the ruling in the latter clause, with regard to betrothal, is that people will say there was no need for a bill of divorce because it was a mistaken betrothal.
The Talmud asks: If so, in the first clause too, they will say it was a mistaken marriage. The Talmud answers: The rabbis penalized her by requiring her to receive a bill of divorce, lest people say she divorced this man and went back and married the first one. The Talmud counters: If so, in the latter clause of the Mishnah let us also penalize her. The Talmud responds: The first clause involves a situation where she violated a prohibition through her sex, and therefore the rabbis penalized her. Conversely, in the latter clause, when she did not violate a prohibition, as she simply became betrothed, the rabbis did not penalize her.