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Yevamos 5b

יבמות ה׳ ע״ב

Yevamot 5b

Learn Yevamos 5b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

How שעטנז teaches that an עשה pushes aside a לא תעשה, and why עליה is needed to block an עשה from pushing aside a לאו with כרת

Overview

This amud first finishes defending the idea that the side-by-side פסוקים of שעטנז and גדילים (דברים 22:11-12) can teach a lesson. A lesson like that needs a free, extra word. The גמרא tries 'גדילים', then 'צמר ופשתים יחדו', then 'שעטנז'. Each time it is pushed back, because the word has its own job. In the end it says the unusual word שעטנז carries everything, both the rule that the material must be combed, spun and twisted (שוע, טווי, נוז) and the link that teaches that an עשה pushes aside a plain לא תעשה. Then the גמרא asks why the word עליה was needed to stop יבום with a wife's sister, since we have no source that an עשה can push aside a לאו with כרת. It tries to learn such a source from מילה, פסח and תמיד, alone and in pairs and all together, and rejects every option. It then answers that we might have learned it from כיבוד אב ואם, and brings a ברייתא about honoring parents and שבת. The גמרא suggests reading that ברייתא as a father asking for real שבת labor, begins to reject that reading, and the discussion continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

מִקְּרָא קַמָּא.

From the first verse.

אִם כֵּן, לֵימָא קְרָא:

If so, let the verse say:

״צִיצִית תַּעֲשֶׂה לָּךְ״,

"You shall make ציצית for yourself,"

״גְּדִילִים״ לְמָה לִי?

Why do I need "twisted fringes"?

The steps (19)

  1. ResponseThey learn it from the first verse
  2. ResolutionThe word 'twisted fringes' is extra, so it is free
  3. Challenge'Twisted fringes' teaches the number of strings
  4. Resolution'Wool and linen together' is extra, so it is free
  5. Challenge'Together' teaches the two-stitch rule
  6. ResolutionThe word 'שעטנז' itself is extra, so it is free
  7. ChallengeThe word שעטנז is also needed for another rule
  8. ResolutionBoth lessons come from the word שעטנז
  9. ChallengeWhy would we think an עשה beats a לאו with כרת?
  10. RejectionWe cannot learn from מילה
  11. RejectionWe cannot learn from פסח either
  12. RejectionThe daily offering is rejected because it is frequent
  13. QuestionTry learning from two cases together
  14. RejectionThe first two pairs share special features
  15. RejectionThe last pair and all three together fail too
  16. Resolutionעליה is needed because of honoring parents
  17. ProofThe ברייתא about honoring parents and שבת
  18. ProofReading the ברייתא as cooking and slaughtering
  19. RejectionThe גמרא begins to reject that reading