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Yevamos 65a

יבמות ס״ה ע״א

Yevamot 65a

Learn Yevamos 65a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Yevamos 65a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Presumed childlessness, כתובה claims, and who is believed about infertility

Overview

The amud opens by finishing an earlier point. The laws of וסת and שור המועד each need three times to set a pattern, which matches רבן שמעון בן גמליאל. Then a ברייתא rules that a woman who had no children with two husbands may marry a third only if he already has children. If she marries a man without children, she leaves without a כתובה. The גמרא asks whether the earlier husbands can take back their כתובה money if the third marriage is also childless. It answers no, because she can say she only became weak now. It also asks whether she can claim her כתובה from the third husband after having children with a fourth. רב פפא rejects the first answer, which could make the גט void, and says instead that she only became healthy now. Finally, when husband and wife blame each other for having no children, רבי אמי rules that she is believed, because only she can know. רבי אמי and רבא then disagree about whether a man may marry another wife without divorcing the first.

Opening lines

קוֹבַעַת לָהּ וֶסֶת,

[A woman does not] establish a set pattern for herself,

עַד שֶׁתִּקְבָּעֶנָּה שָׁלֹשׁ פְּעָמִים.

until she has established it three times.

וְאֵין מִטַּהֶרֶת מִן הַוֶּסֶת,

And she is not freed from the set pattern

עַד שֶׁתֵּעָקֵר מִמֶּנָּה שָׁלֹשׁ פְּעָמִים.

until it is uprooted from her three times.

The steps (13)

  1. ProofMenstrual patterns and the goring ox need three times
  2. StatementA woman childless with two husbands must marry a man who has children
  3. QuestionCan the first two husbands take back their כתובה money?
  4. ResponseShe can say she only became weak now
  5. QuestionCan she claim her כתובה from the third husband after having children with a fourth?
  6. ResponseBetter for her to stay quiet
  7. Challengeרב פפא: we cannot stay silent about a void divorce
  8. ResolutionRather, she only became healthy now
  9. StatementWhen husband and wife blame each other, she is believed
  10. QuestionWhat is the reason she is believed?
  11. ResponseShe can know; he cannot
  12. Statementרבי אמי: marrying a second wife requires divorcing the first
  13. Statementרבא: a man may marry several wives if he can support them