Yevamos 63a

יבמות ס״ג ע״א

Yevamot 63a

Learn Yevamos 63a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Yevamos 63a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

רבי אלעזר's teachings on wives, land and blessing; business versus farming; רב פפא's practical advice; and stories of difficult wives

Overview

This amud opens by finishing an earlier teaching: whoever lends money to a poor person in his time of need is promised that ה׳ will answer him. The גמרא then gives a סימן, a list of keywords for a series of teachings from רבי אלעזר. A man without a wife or without land is not a complete 'אדם'. A wife is an 'עזר' if her husband is worthy and an opponent if he is not. אליהו shows רבי יוסי how a wife helps: she turns raw wheat and flax into bread and clothing. Further teachings cover אדם finding his match in חוה, רות and נעמה being 'grafted' onto אברהם's family, and the world being blessed because of ישראל. Next come sayings that business earns more than farming, and רב פפא's practical advice on food, clothing, building, land, marriage and friends. The amud ends with stories about difficult wives. These include רב's wife, who always cooked the opposite of what he asked, and his son, whom he told not to lie even to fix it. Finally, רבי חייא explains why he was still kind to his wife, and his answer continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (33)

1. StatementLending to a poor person in his time of need
2. StatementA memory list for רבי אלעזר's teachings
3. StatementA man without a wife is not a complete man
4. StatementA man without land is not a complete man
5. StatementA helper or an opponent, depending on merit
6. StatementAnother version: the written spelling versus how we read it
7. Questionרבי יוסי asks אליהו how a wife helps
8. Responseאליהו: she turns raw materials into food and clothing
9. Statementאדם was only settled once he found חוה
10. StatementTwo good shoots grafted onto אברהם
11. StatementThe whole world is blessed because of Israel
12. StatementIn the future all craftsmen will work the land
13. StatementNo occupation is lower than farming
14. Statementרבי אלעזר speaks to a plowed field
15. Statementרב speaks to the swaying grain
16. Statementרבא compares money in business and money in land
17. StatementGrow your own food rather than buy it
18. StatementBuy cloth goods rather than weave them, except a cloak
19. StatementPatch a house rather than rebuild it
20. StatementRush for land, take your time with marriage, and choose a friend wisely
21. StatementCalamity comes to the world because of ישראל
22. Statementרבי חייא blesses רב to be saved from something worse than death
23. QuestionIs anything worse than death?
24. Responseרב finds the פסוק: a bad wife is more bitter than death
25. Statementרב's wife always made the opposite of what he asked
26. Statementרב's son flips the requests
27. Statementרב thinks his wife has improved
28. ResponseThe son reveals his trick
29. Statementרב praises his son's cleverness
30. Rejectionרב tells his son not to lie
31. Statementרבי חייא brings gifts to his difficult wife
32. Questionרב asks why he is so kind to her
33. ResponseWives raise our children and save us