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Yevamos 93b

יבמות צ״ג ע״ב

Yevamot 93b

Learn Yevamos 93b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Who holds one can act on a דבר שלא בא לעולם; and whether one witness about a death is believed in cases of יבום

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a list of sages who hold that a person can act on a דבר שלא בא לעולם, meaning something that does not yet exist or is not yet his. It first closes the story of רבי ינאי tithing fruit before it arrived. רבי ינאי dreamed of a 'bruised reed', and רבי חייא reassured him that the dream pointed to a comforting פסוק. Next the גמרא brings a source for each remaining name: רבי, from a ברייתא about a slave bought on condition to free him; רבי מאיר, from קידושין that take effect 'after' a later event; רבי אליעזר בן יעקב, from separating תרומה with fruit that is not yet ripe or picked; and רבי עקיבא, from a wife's קונם vow on work she has not yet done. Then a new topic begins: is one witness believed that a husband died, so that his widow may do יבום? רב ששת proves from a משנה about reversed testimony that one witness is believed. A second version says that question is obvious, since even the wife herself is believed. In that version the real question is whether one witness who says the יבם died frees the יבמה to marry anyone, and this question continues onto the next amud.

Opening lines

אֶלָּא לָאו, כִּי הַאי גַוְונָא.

Rather, is it not a case like this?

אֲמַר לֵיהּ:

He said to him:

וְהָא אַקְרְיוּן בְּחֶלְמָא ״קָנֶה רָצוּץ״,

But they read to me in a dream: "bruised reed";

מַאי לָאו, הָכִי קָאָמְרִי לִי:

Is it not that they were saying this to me:

The steps (16)

  1. ProofSo the tithing must have been on fruit that did not yet exist
  2. Questionרבי ינאי worries about his dream of a bruised reed
  3. Responseרבי חייא reassures him: it was a good sign
  4. Proofרבי's view: a slave bought on condition to free him
  5. QuestionWhat exactly is the case?
  6. ResponseHe wrote: 'When I buy you, you own yourself from now'
  7. Proofרבי מאיר's view: קידושין that take effect 'after' a later event
  8. Proofרבי אליעזר בן יעקב also holds one can act on what is not yet in the world
  9. Proofרבי עקיבא also holds a vow can take hold on what is not yet in the world
  10. QuestionIs one witness believed for a woman going to יבום?
  11. Proofרב ששת answers from a משנה about reversed testimony
  12. RejectionThe משנה cannot be talking about two witnesses against two
  13. RejectionA second reason the משנה cannot be two witnesses against two
  14. ConclusionSo one witness is believed for יבום
  15. StatementA second version: the first question is not a question at all
  16. QuestionThe real question: can one witness free a יבמה to marry anyone?