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Yevamos 117b

יבמות קי״ז ע״ב

Yevamot 117b

Learn Yevamos 117b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Suspecting a woman of lying to harm a relative, and how conflicting testimonies about a husband's death are weighed (one against two, majority of voices, wives who contradict each other)

Overview

The גמרא tries to answer an open question: is a woman suspected of lying to harm a relative, even one she is not yet related to? It brings a ברייתא in which a daughter-in-law's report that her husband and father-in-law died does not let her mother-in-law remarry, because she might be lying to get rid of her. The proof is rejected, because a daughter-in-law has already suffered from her mother-in-law. Next comes a משנה about witnesses who disagree over whether a husband died: one against one, one against two, and two against one. Using עולא's rule that one believed witness counts as two, the גמרא explains that once she was permitted to remarry, a single later witness cannot cancel that permission. It then explains the other cases using רבי נחמיה's rule of following the majority of voices, even of people normally unfit to testify, and it shows this works both to forbid and to permit. A new משנה follows about two wives who disagree: one says he died and one says he did not, or one says he died and one says he was killed, where רבי מאיר argues with רבי יהודה and רבי שמעון. The amud ends as the משנה begins a case of one witness against one, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

תָּא שְׁמַע,

Come and hear:

אָמְרָה: ״מֵת בַּעְלִי

If she said: "My husband died

וְאַחַר כָּךְ מֵת חָמִי״

and afterward my father-in-law died"

תִּנָּשֵׂא וְתִטּוֹל כְּתוּבָּה,

she may marry and collect her marriage contract,

The steps (18)

  1. ProofA proof is brought from a daughter-in-law's testimony
  2. ProofWhy the mother-in-law is forbidden: the daughter-in-law wants to get rid of her
  3. RejectionThe proof is rejected: she has already suffered from her mother-in-law
  4. StatementOne witness against one after she remarried: she stays married
  5. StatementOne witness against two: she must leave
  6. StatementTwo witnesses against one: she may remarry
  7. ChallengeWhy only if she already remarried?
  8. ResolutionThe משנה means she may even marry from the start
  9. ChallengeIsn't it obvious that two beat one?
  10. ResolutionThe two are disqualified witnesses
  11. Proofרבי נחמיה: follow the majority of voices
  12. ResolutionA first qualified witness cannot be outweighed by women
  13. ResolutionRewording רבי נחמיה's teaching
  14. ChallengeWhy does the משנה need the 'two say dead' case?
  15. ResolutionThe majority counts even to be lenient
  16. StatementOne wife says he died, the other says he did not
  17. StatementOne wife says he died, the other says he was killed
  18. StatementStart of a case where one witness contradicts another