Gemara Clarity

Yevamos 95a

יבמות צ״ה ע״א

Yevamot 95a

Learn Yevamos 95a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Yevamos 95a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Does a husband's sin with his wife's relative forbid his wife, and what is the ברייתא's "light prohibition"?

Overview

The גמרא explains why a man who unknowingly sinned with his wife's sister does not lose his wife. Even a deliberate sin does not forbid her by תורה law, so the רבנן made no decree. A ברייתא learns this from the word ״אותה״: only the wife's own relations forbid her. Without that word, a קל וחומר might have suggested otherwise. The ברייתא records a debate between רבי יהודה and רבי יוסי over whether בית שמאי and בית הלל argued about the wife's sister or the mother-in-law. רבי יוסי reasons that a husband forbids his wife to all men, while she forbids him only to her relatives, and he builds a קל וחומר from this. ריש לקיש gives רבי יהודה's source from ״באש ישרפו אותו ואתהן״, but שמואל rules against רבי יהודה, and רב יהודה acts on that ruling in a real case. Finally, the גמרא tries to identify the ברייתא's "light prohibition": a remarried divorcée, a יבמה, and a סוטה are each proposed and challenged, and the discussion continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אֲחוֹת אִשָּׁה, דִּבְמֵזִיד לָא אֲסִירָא מִדְּאוֹרָיְיתָא,

A wife's sister, where even on purpose she [the wife] is not forbidden by Torah law,

בְּשׁוֹגֵג לָא גְּזַרוּ בַּהּ רַבָּנַן.

by mistake, the Sages did not decree about her.

וּמְנָלַן דְּלָא אֲסִירָא,

And from where do we know that she is not forbidden?

דְּתַנְיָא: ״אוֹתָהּ״,

As it is taught: "her"

The steps (30)

  1. ResolutionA wife's sister is different
  2. QuestionWhere do we learn she is not forbidden?
  3. ResponseThe word ״אותה״ — only her own act forbids her
  4. ChallengeWhy the verse was needed: a קל וחומר
  5. Statementרבי יהודה: the dispute is about the wife's sister
  6. Statementרבי יוסי: the dispute is about the mother-in-law
  7. ProofWhy his prohibition on her is bigger than hers on him
  8. ProofA קל וחומר that an unwitting husband is not forbidden to his wife
  9. QuestionThe logic covers a mistaken sin, so what about a deliberate one?
  10. ResponseThe word ״אותה״ covers even a deliberate sin
  11. Statementריש לקיש gives the source for רבי יהודה
  12. Conclusionשמואל: the הלכה does not follow רבי יהודה
  13. Proofרב יהודה flogs a sinner but does not forbid his wife
  14. QuestionWhich case is the 'light prohibition'?
  15. Responseרב חסדא: remarrying a divorcée after she married another man
  16. RejectionThat prohibition is not light at all
  17. Responseריש לקיש: the light prohibition is a יבמה
  18. QuestionWith whom was the יבמה?
  19. ResponseFirst option: with another man, following רב המנונא
  20. RejectionThe יבמה case is too strict to be the light starting point
  21. ResponseA new reading: a יבמה among the brothers
  22. ChallengeWhy mention relations? מאמר should forbid her too
  23. ResolutionFollowing רבן גמליאל, a second מאמר does nothing
  24. ChallengeBut a גט or חליצה would forbid her too
  25. Responseרבי יוחנן says the light case is a סוטה
  26. QuestionForbidden to whom?
  27. ResponseFirst option: the husband forbids her to the other man
  28. ChallengeBut a גט, or refusing to give her the water, would forbid her too
  29. ResponseA new reading: the סוטה with the other man
  30. ChallengeThat is not light, it is the severe prohibition of a married woman