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Yevamos 43b

יבמות מ״ג ע״ב

Yevamot 43b

Learn Yevamos 43b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

רבי יוסי's view on the three-month wait and on engagement during mourning, and a new משנה on יבום with several widows

Overview

The גמרא continues examining רבי יוסי's opinion about the three-month wait before a woman remarries (הבחנה). First it asks whether he rejects the wait entirely. It answers either that he does, or that he only lets women who were engaged and then divorced marry right away. That second answer makes him sound like רבי יהודה, so the גמרא finds a difference: רבי יוסי forbids a fully married woman to become engaged within three months. A ברייתא seems to contradict this, so רבא rewords the ברייתא. That rewording is in turn attacked, because a woman widowed from engagement does not mourn. The גמרא then defends רבי יוסי against the earlier קל וחומר about mourning before תשעה באב. It first suggests the question is a מחלוקת תנאים. When רב אשי weakens the proof for that, he answers that a widow's new, private mourning is stricter than the old, public mourning for the חורבן. Finally, a new משנה begins about יבום: one brother may do יבום with several widows, and יבום or חליצה with one wife releases her צרה.

Opening lines

וְלֵית לֵיהּ לְרַבִּי יוֹסֵי לְהַבְחִין?

And does Rabbi Yosei not hold of waiting to tell apart?

לֵית לֵיהּ.

He does not hold of it.

וְאִיבָּעֵית אֵימָא:

And if you wish, say:

לְעוֹלָם אִית לֵיהּ,

actually, he does hold of it,

The steps (18)

  1. ChallengeDoes רבי יוסי reject the waiting rule completely?
  2. ResolutionYes, רבי יוסי does not hold of it
  3. ResolutionHe does hold of the wait, but the wording changes
  4. ChallengeThen רבי יוסי is the same as רבי יהודה
  5. ResolutionThe difference: a married woman becoming engaged
  6. ChallengeA ברייתא shows רבי יוסי allows engagement
  7. RejectionThe opening words of the ברייתא are not a real problem
  8. ChallengeThe real problem comes from the end of the ברייתא
  9. Resolutionרבא rewords רבי יוסי's statement
  10. ChallengeA woman widowed from engagement does not mourn
  11. ResolutionThe question is a dispute between תנאים
  12. ProofA ברייתא that forbids engagement from ראש חודש אב
  13. ChallengeMaybe the ברייתא only forbids the engagement party
  14. ChallengeThen marriage would also mean only the feast
  15. RejectionMarriage brings joy even without a feast, engagement does not
  16. ResolutionFresh personal mourning is stricter than old communal mourning
  17. StatementOne brother may do יבום with all the widows
  18. Statementיבום or חליצה with one wife frees the other