Yevamos 21b

יבמות כ״א ע״ב

Yevamot 21b

Learn Yevamos 21b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Yevamos 21b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Which relatives the חכמים forbade as שניות: כלת בתו, the wife of the mother's maternal half-brother, and relatives one generation up

Overview

The amud opens by fixing רב's list of four women whose rabbinic prohibition (שניות) stops after one generation. After two tries, the גמרא settles that the 'כלה' on the list is כלת בתו, his daughter's daughter-in-law. רב חסדא explains, from a saying of רבי אמי, that she was forbidden only so people would not confuse her with כלת בנו. אביי, רב פפא and רב אשי each name a real family where that mix-up could happen. Next the גמרא asks whether the wife of the mother's maternal half-brother is forbidden. רב ספרא says no, since the Rabbis do not make a גזירה לגזירה, but רבא shows they did exactly that with the grandmothers, the grandfathers' wives and the uncles' wives. Using רב יהודה בר שילא's principle from ארץ ישראל, the גמרא concludes she is forbidden: she is linked through one marriage, while the in-law cases need two. Finally, the wife of the father's father's brother and the father's father's sister are discussed. אמימר permits them, and רב הלל challenges him with a list of sixteen שניות, a debate that continues onto the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (27)

1. ChallengeOne's own daughter-in-law is a Torah prohibition
2. ResolutionRead it as his son's daughter-in-law
3. ChallengeA ברייתא says the son's daughter-in-law has no stopping point
4. ResolutionRead it as his daughter's daughter-in-law
5. Proofרב חסדא's teaching from רבי אמי
6. Statementרב חסדא works out the meaning himself
7. Statementאביי's example: the family of בר ציתאי
8. Statementרב פפא's and רב אשי's examples
9. QuestionIs the wife of the mother's maternal half-brother forbidden?
10. Responseרב ספרא: we do not add a decree on top of a decree
11. Rejectionרבא: the secondary relatives already work as decree upon decree
12. ProofSecond example: the grandfathers' wives
13. ProofThird example: the uncles' wives
14. ProofA principle from ארץ ישראל about wives of male relatives
15. Challengeרבא shows the principle cannot be a general rule
16. ResolutionThe principle exists to include our case
17. ChallengeWhy is our case different from the in-law cases?
18. ResolutionOne marriage versus two marriages
19. Questionרב משרשיא asks about the generation above
20. ProofProof from the list that leaves them out
21. RejectionThe list was not complete
22. ChallengeWhat else did he leave out?
23. ResolutionHe left out the list of רבי חייא's school
24. Statementאמימר permits these two relatives
25. Challengeרב הלל's count of sixteen
26. ChallengeYour way of counting would give seventeen, not sixteen
27. ResolutionOpening the answer: this is not a difficulty