Study Yevamot folio 32A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
and part of it must be released by ḥalitza. That is, if two women were married to a single man, one of these women must enter into levirate marriage and the other must perform ḥalitza.
The Talmud wonders: So let them say it. Why would it be problematic if people thought that? Even were they to act upon this mistaken assumption it would cause no harm, as there is no transgression involved in performing ḥalitza. The Talmud answers: If he were to consummate the levirate marriage with
Rather, the requirement to perform ḥalitza with both women is a rabbinic decree that was instituted lest he first perform ḥalitza with one of his brother’s wives and subsequently consummate the levirate marriage with the other. Under such circumstances, he would in fact be violating a prohibition.
Rava said: If the brother who performed levirate betrothal in the case described in the Mishnah subsequently gave a bill of divorce to that wife in order to nullify his levirate betrothal before he died, her rival wife is rendered permitted to the third brother. The third brother is allowed to cons
There are those who say an alternative formulation of Rava’s statement. Rava said: If the second brother gave a bill of divorce to the wife of the first deceased brother in order to nullify his levirate betrothal to her, then even she herself is permitted to enter into levirate marriage with the th