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Yevamos 97b

יבמות צ״ז ע״ב

Yevamot 97b

Learn Yevamos 97b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Yevamos 97b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Family riddles, and whether brothers who converted or were freed together may marry each other's wives

Overview

The amud opens with riddles about strange family relationships. In the first, a woman's half brother is married to her mother, and רמי בר חמא notes this works only according to the רבנן of our משנה, not רבי יהודה. More riddles follow. Most are solved by a גוי who lived with a close relative, but the cousin riddle can happen through permitted marriages. Then a new משנה teaches that sons who converted with their mother, or were freed with her, do not do חליצה or יבום for each other's wives. In the גמרא, רב אחא בר יעקב lets freed brothers marry each other's wives, while רב ששת forbids it. The גמרא defines their dispute in two versions, then tests רב אחא's view against the משנה and its word 'אפילו', which turns out to fit either side. Finally it brings a ברייתא about twin converts, and its inference continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

״אַח מֵאַב וְלֹא מֵאֵם,

"A brother from the father and not from the mother,

וְהוּא בַּעֲלַהּ דְּאֵם,

and he is the husband of the mother,

וַאֲנָא בְּרַתַּהּ דְּאִנְתְּתֵיהּ״.

and I am the daughter of his wife."

אָמַר רָמֵי בַּר חָמָא:

Rami bar Ḥama said:

The steps (23)

  1. StatementThe riddle of the half brother who married my mother
  2. StatementThis case does not work according to רבי יהודה
  3. StatementThe riddle of the child who is both brother and son
  4. StatementThe riddle of the mother who is her son's niece
  5. StatementThe water drawers' riddle: my son, and I am his brother's daughter
  6. StatementThe 'woe for my brother' riddle
  7. StatementThe 'we are all siblings' riddle
  8. StatementThe cousins riddle, which works with permitted marriages
  9. StatementNew משנה: brothers who converted with their mother do not do יבום
  10. Statementרב אחא בר יעקב permits יודן's freed sons to marry each other's wives
  11. Challengeרבא objects: רב ששת forbade this
  12. Resolutionרב אחא answers: he forbids and I permit
  13. StatementWhere everyone agrees: paternal brothers permitted, maternal brothers forbidden
  14. StatementThe real dispute: brothers from both parents
  15. StatementSecond version: רב אחא permits even maternal brothers
  16. ChallengeThe משנה about a convert and her sons seems to forbid them
  17. ResolutionNo יבום means the wives are free, not forbidden
  18. ChallengeThe word 'אפילו' in the משנה fits better with forbidding
  19. Resolution'אפילו' means permitted even though people might confuse them
  20. ProofAnother version: the word 'אפילו' actually proves they are permitted
  21. RejectionThe word 'even' also fits the view that they are forbidden
  22. ChallengeA ברייתא about twin brothers who converted
  23. ChallengeReading closely: only 'no liability' for convert twins