Yevamos 20b

יבמות כ׳ ע״ב

Yevamot 20b

Learn Yevamos 20b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Yevamos 20b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Why women forbidden by a לאו do חליצה and not יבום: a Torah rule or a rabbinic גזירה?

Overview

The גמרא explains that חייבי לאוין still need חליצה while חייבי כריתות do not, because קידושין take effect with the first group but not with the second. רבא then challenges the view that, by Torah law, חייבי לאוין need חליצה but are never subject to יבום. His first challenge, about relations exempting the צרה, he answers himself. His second, a ברייתא saying that a פצוע דכא who does יבום still acquires the woman, forces a new approach. רבא tries saying an אלמנה מן האירוסין is forbidden to a כהן גדול by an עשה and a לאו, but that would make every לאו in the Torah an עשה too. So he explains the ban as a rabbinic גזירה. The גמרא tests that גזירה against several cases where no decree is made, and it falls apart because a ממזרת and a נתינה are rare. רבא then says the first ביאה was banned because of the second ביאה, and a ברייתא supports this. He briefly retracts in favor of ריש לקיש's rule that an עשה does not override a לאו when both can be kept, but a ברייתא refutes that, so the rabbinic decree stands. Finally, רבי יוחנן and רבי אלעזר argue whether a כהן גדול's ביאה with his widowed יבמה frees her צרה.

Opening lines

The steps (28)

1. ResponseWhy women forbidden by a לאו need חליצה but women forbidden under כרת do not
2. Challengeרבא challenges from a ברייתא: relations exempt the צרה
3. Resolutionרבא answers himself: the ברייתא speaks of two separate cases
4. Challengeרבא raises a new challenge about men who cannot have children
5. ChallengeThe rest of the ברייתא: relations by these men acquire the woman
6. Resolutionרבא: אלמנה מן האירוסין is both an עשה and a לא תעשה
7. ChallengeWhat about a ממזרת and a נתינה?
8. ResolutionThe answer: 'והתקדשתם'
9. ChallengeThen the whole Torah would be עשה and לא תעשה
10. Resolutionרבא: a rabbinic גזירה because of an אלמנה מן הנשואין
11. ChallengeWhat about a ממזרת and a נתינה?
12. ResolutionA ban in a מצוה case because of non-מצוה cases
13. ChallengeThen block יבום with a paternal brother's wife too
14. Resolutionיבום is tied to inheritance, which everyone knows
15. ChallengeThen block יבום for a childless widow
16. Resolutionיבום is tied to having no children, which everyone knows
17. ChallengeThen block יבום for a brother who lived at the same time
18. Resolutionיבום is tied to the brothers 'dwelling together', which everyone knows
19. ChallengeWhy not ban יבום for all women because of an אילונית?
20. ResolutionAn אילונית is rare
21. ChallengeA ממזרת and a נתינה are also rare
22. Resolutionרבא: the first ביאה is banned because of the second
23. ProofA ברייתא supports רבא
24. Rejectionרבא takes back his reason and quotes ריש לקיש
25. ConclusionHere, חליצה keeps both
26. ChallengeA ברייתא says the ביאה still acquires her
27. ConclusionFull refutation of רבא's last explanation
28. StatementA כהן גדול who does יבום with a widow: does it free the צרה?