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Yevamos 27a

יבמות כ״ז ע״א

Yevamot 27a

Learn Yevamos 27a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

שמואל's rulings on which חליצה frees the צרות (sisters, a woman who got a גט, a woman who got a מאמר), and whether they rest on אין זיקה or on a weak זיקה that cannot make a צרה like an ערוה.

Overview

The גמרא finishes testing שמואל's ruling that one brother does חליצה for all of the sisters. It gives two answers: 'all' really means the middle sister, or a valid חליצה is needed only to free a צרה, not the woman herself. Next it quotes שמואל's full statement. חליצה with the sisters, with a woman who got a גט, or with a woman who got a מאמר does not free her צרה, but חליצה with the צרה frees her. The גמרא asks why the צרות' חליצה frees the sisters, since the צרות seem linked through זיקה too. One answer says שמואל ruled according to the view that there is no זיקה. That answer needs more fixing: the plural 'צרות' is general wording, and the order of the חליצות matters. רב אשי instead says there is זיקה, but it is too weak to make a צרה like an ערוה, and a ברייתא seems to support him. רבי אבא בר ממל pushes back: the ברייתא may follow בית שמאי, together with רבי יוחנן בן נורי's enactment that צרות only do חליצה, which later חכמים completed. The amud ends by opening a new question that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

חָלַץ לַאֲחָיוֹת — לֹא נִפְטְרוּ צָרוֹת.

If he performed חליצה with the sisters, the rival wives are not exempt.

הֵיכָא דְּקָיְימָא חֲלִיצָה דְּשִׁמְעוֹן

Where שמעון's חליצה is available

חֲלִיצָה כְּשֵׁרָה,

as a valid חליצה,

חָלֵיץ לַהּ רְאוּבֵן חֲלִיצָה פְּסוּלָה?

should ראובן perform an invalid חליצה with her?

The steps (26)

  1. ChallengeWhy let one brother do an invalid חליצה when the other could do a valid one?
  2. Resolution'One does חליצה for all' only means the middle sister
  3. ChallengeBut שמואל said 'all of them'
  4. ResolutionMost of the חליצות are with him, so it is called 'all'
  5. ResolutionA valid חליצה is needed only to free a צרה
  6. Statementשמואל's full ruling: the sisters and the צרות
  7. StatementThe woman who received a גט and her צרה
  8. StatementThe woman who received a מאמר and her צרה
  9. ChallengeWhy treat the sisters and the rival wives differently?
  10. Resolutionשמואל holds there is no real זיקה
  11. ChallengeBut שמואל said there is זיקה
  12. Resolutionשמואל spoke according to the other view
  13. ChallengeThen the first sister's rival wife should be freed
  14. ResolutionIt refers only to רחל's rival wife
  15. ChallengeBut he said 'rival wives' in the plural
  16. ResolutionThe plural means rival wives in general
  17. ChallengeHow can רחל be freed through her rival wife's חליצה?
  18. ResolutionIt depends on whom he did חליצה with first
  19. Resolutionרב אשי: שמואל holds there is זיקה, but זיקה cannot make a צרה like an ערוה
  20. ProofA ברייתא supports רב אשי
  21. Rejectionרבי אבא בר ממל: The ברייתא follows בית שמאי
  22. ChallengeIf it is בית שמאי, why not יבום too?
  23. ResolutionIt follows רבי יוחנן בן נורי's enactment of חליצה only
  24. ChallengeBut the enactment was never completed
  25. ResolutionLater חכמים finished the enactment
  26. QuestionA new question is raised