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Yevamos 94a

יבמות צ״ד ע״א

Yevamot 94a

Learn Yevamos 94a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Is one witness believed that a יבם died? Failed proofs, רבא's refuted קל וחומר, the 'pearl' of ריח הגט, and a new משנה about marrying the wife's sister.

Overview

The גמרא asks whether one witness is believed when he says the יבם has died, which would free the woman to marry anyone. The worry is that she dislikes the יבם, so she might accept a weak report without checking. רב ששת tries to prove from a משנה about reversed reports of deaths that one witness is normally believed. The גמרא answers that the משנה can be about two witnesses against two, where the second pair are עדי הזמה. A second proof, from a משנה saying the woman herself is not believed, is rejected: the same reading would wrongly trust one witness for a man, and the line has its own purpose according to רבי עקיבא. רבא then offers a קל וחומר from a married woman, but a scholar shows it fails. The reason the woman is not believed, that she may not check carefully because she dislikes the יבם, applies to one witness too. Next, רב says רבי אלעזר בן מתיא missed a 'pearl' in the פסוק: the rule of ריח הגט, that even an incomplete גט disqualifies a woman from marrying a כהן. Finally, a new משנה begins about a man who married his wife's sister after a false report that his wife had died.

Opening lines

דְּסָנְיָא לֵיהּ.

because she hates him.

אֲמַר לְהוּ רַב שֵׁשֶׁת: תְּנֵיתוּהָ.

Rav Sheshet said to them: You learned it.

אָמְרוּ לָהּ: ״מֵת בַּעְלִיךְ

If they said to her: "Your husband died,

וְאַחַר כָּךְ מֵת בְּנֵךְ״ וְנִשֵּׂאת,

and afterward your son died," and she married,

The steps (18)

  1. QuestionThe worry: she dislikes the יבם
  2. Proofרב ששת quotes a משנה about reversed reports
  3. ChallengeIt can't be two witnesses against two
  4. ChallengeAt most it would be a doubtful ממזר
  5. RejectionThe משנה is precise about who is a ממזר
  6. ProofSo it must be one witness, who is normally believed
  7. RejectionIt can be two against two, with עדי הזמה
  8. ConclusionHere too, עדי הזמה
  9. ProofProof from a משנה that the woman herself is not believed
  10. RejectionThe end of that same משנה breaks the proof
  11. ResolutionThe משנה was needed for רבי עקיבא's view
  12. Statementרבא's קל וחומר: one witness is believed for a יבמה
  13. RejectionThe woman herself shows the קל וחומר fails
  14. RejectionWhy she is not believed, and why the same worry applies to one witness
  15. Statementרב says רבי אלעזר בן מתיא missed a 'pearl'
  16. QuestionWhat is the pearl?
  17. ResponseThe pearl: even a partial גט disqualifies from כהונה
  18. StatementNew משנה: he married her sister after hearing his wife died