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Yevamos 38a

יבמות ל״ח ע״א

Yevamot 38a

Learn Yevamos 38a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Inheritance cases involving a ספק born after יבום, and a new משנה about the property rights of a שומרת יבם, with עולא's explanation of בית שמאי.

Overview

The amud opens at the end of an argument about רבי ירמיה, who ruled that a ספק (a son whose father is unknown) splits the grandfather's estate with the sons of the יבם. One side says the 'lost path' case does not prove anything here, because the path owner's claim is certain and the ספק's claim is not. רבי ירמיה answers that his ruling works even according to רבנן, whose reason in the path case does not apply here. The גמרא then rules on several inheritance cases. Against the יבם himself, the ספק gets nothing, because a doubtful claim cannot take property from a certain one. Against the יבם's sons, each side takes what the other admits, and they split the leftover sixth. In the cases of the ספק's estate or the יבם's estate, the property is split. A new משנה follows about a שומרת יבם: she may sell property that comes to her, בית שמאי and בית הלל disagree about who gets her property if she dies while waiting, and after יבום she is fully his wife. The גמרא asks why בית שמאי agree in one case but not the other. עולא answers that the cases differ by whether she was an ארוסה or a נשואה when her husband died, and his reasoning continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

דַּרְכַּי (חַד גַּבָּךְ) [גַּבֵּי חַד] הוּא.

My path is with one [of you].

אֲבָל הָכָא, מִי אִיכָּא לְמֵימַר הָכִי?

But here, can one say this?

וְרַבִּי יִרְמְיָה אָמַר לָךְ:

And רבי ירמיה would say to you:

אֲנָא דַּאֲמַרִי אֲפִילּוּ לְרַבָּנַן,

I said [my ruling] even according to the Rabbis,

The steps (15)

  1. RejectionThe path owner's claim is certain, but the doubtful son's is not
  2. Resolutionרבי ירמיה: my ruling works even according to רבנן
  3. StatementNew case: the doubtful son against the יבם himself
  4. ConclusionA doubtful claim cannot take property from a certain one
  5. StatementThe ספק and the sons of the יבם split the grandfather's estate
  6. ConclusionEach side takes what is admitted, and the leftover sixth is split
  7. StatementTwo more cases: the ספק's estate or the יבם's estate
  8. ConclusionIn both cases the property is split
  9. StatementBoth sides agree a waiting widow may sell property she receives
  10. StatementIf she dies, בית שמאי say the two families split
  11. Statementבית הלל say each property stays where it was
  12. StatementOnce he marries her, she is fully his wife, except for her כתובה
  13. ChallengeWhy do בית שמאי agree in the first case but disagree in the second?
  14. Resolutionעולא splits the משנה into two different cases
  15. StatementThe reasoning behind עולא's answer begins