Mesechtas Yevamot

Mesechtas Yevamot has 16 chapters and 121 pages. The subject of this masechet deals with the laws of yibum (levirate marriage) and chalitzah (the ceremony releasing a woman from yibum), and the laws regarding marrying women whose husbands' whereabouts have been lost.

The Mishnah also deals with the specific details of the laws of yibum. Among them: maamar yevamin, which is a form of betrothal specific to a yevamah (the widow requiring yibum). The manner of this betrothal: he gives her money or something of value, and says to her: "Behold, you are betrothed to me with this maamar yevamin." According to Beit Shammai, maamar constitutes a complete marriage (according to Rashi, this is rabbinical, and according to Tosafot, it is Torah law). According to Beit Hillel, this marriage is not complete, but rather a rabbinic enactment that one should betroth the woman before yibum, so that yibum should not be performed in an immodest manner - through intercourse without prior betrothal and seclusion.

The Rebbe stated regarding this masechet that it is a "Chassidic masechet."

Our Rebbes' Novellae on the Masechet

Chezkat Issurim (Presumption of Prohibition)

Chazakah (presumption) is a Torah law that when a doubt arises, out of doubt one should follow the status that existed before the doubt arose. The source of this law is in the Torah's approach to a house in which tzaraat (leprosy) appeared, where the house is considered a leprous house only from the time when the signs of tzaraat were definitely present.

When a doubt arises, there is a dispute among the Rishonim in a case where there is doubt whether a certain woman is divorced, and consequently there is also doubt regarding her tzarah (rival wife) whether she is a tzarat ervah (a rival wife of a woman forbidden due to a relationship that constitutes ervah), and if so, just as the ervah is exempt from yibum, so too the second is exempt. Some hold that if a person divorced his first wife - who was forbidden due to ervah, and only afterward married her tzarah, we assume out of doubt that her tzarah is not an ervah - just as she was not an ervah before he married her. Others hold that since the ervah was married, we say she was also married afterwards - like the previous status which is the chazakah, and therefore out of doubt her tzarah is possibly considered an ervah.

Maamar for a Pregnant Yevamah

According to the established halachah that yibum with a pregnant yevamah is not considered valid yibum, since he could not perform yibum at that time, the Tzemach Tzedek questions whether maamar with a pregnant woman is considered valid maamar, or not, and therefore he needs to perform a second maamar before performing yibum.

Apparently - answers the Tzemach Tzedek, one could say that this is similar to regular kiddushin (betrothal) which is effective and valid even if not suitable for intercourse, therefore such a maamar is also effective and valid.

An Engaged Wife Does Not Become Impure for Him

The Gemara states: "For his betrothed wife, he (the Kohen) does not mourn and does not become impure for her, and similarly she does not mourn and does not become impure for him." Rashi explains: "And does not become impure - she does not need to handle him, etc. This is what I heard. But it seems to me that 'does not become impure' means, for example, on a festival when Israelites are warned about impurity as in 'you shall not touch their carcasses.'"

The Rebbe notes from this that caution regarding impurity on a festival is not because of entering the Temple and going up for the festival and bringing the olat reiyah (pilgrimage burnt offering) - because women are not obligated in all this, as these are time-bound positive commandments. Furthermore: the fact that the betrothed woman "does not become impure for him" is simply equivalent to "and does not become impure" for the betrothed Kohen, and the prohibition of corpse impurity for a Kohen applies not only in the Land of Israel but also outside it, and even when the Temple is not standing. And therefore it is understood that also the fact that the betrothed woman "does not become impure for him" (due to the obligation to purify oneself on a festival) also applies outside the Land of Israel, and even when the Temple is not standing.

Fundamentals in the Chapter "HaIsha SheNiset"

A zonah (harlot) is a married woman who committed adultery with a man who is not her husband.

If this occurred willingly, the woman is forbidden to her husband and it is forbidden for her to live with him anymore. If it was through coercion, she is permitted to her husband - if she is the wife of a Israelite, but the wife of a Kohen who was raped is forbidden to her husband. A married woman for whom one witness came and testified that her husband died is permitted to remarry, but she must thoroughly check if her husband has indeed died.

In a case where she remarried and it eventually became clear that her husband had not died, she is considered rabbinically as a zonah and is forbidden to her husband.

Shomeret Yavam

A shomeret yavam is a woman whose husband died without children, and therefore she is bound to yibum, and she "guards" (from the expression "and his father kept the matter") and awaits yibum.

There is a dispute in the Gemara whether such a woman has the laws of marriage regarding the yavam, since she is bound to him to betroth her and she is forbidden to the entire world. If so, it is considered that the Torah extended the marriage of the deceased brother to the living brother. This dispute is called in the Gemara "Is there zikah (bond) or is there no zikah." If indeed there are marriage laws upon her and "there is zikah," the Sages instituted that she should indeed have all the laws of marriage prohibitions, which are prohibitions regarding relatives.

One of the disputes arising from this question is whether if a shomeret yavam died, is the yavam permitted to marry her mother, or do we say that it is considered as if she is his wife's mother, and she is forbidden to him by the prohibition of a mother-in-law. Rav's opinion is that her mother is permitted, but Shmuel ruled that her mother is permitted, and all the poskim have ruled accordingly.

The Rebbe's Explanations

• Page 5b. Until it is combed, spun, and twisted. Likutei Sichos Vol. 34, p. 123 (p. 135)
• Page 25b. In Rashi's commentary beginning with "And there isn't." (Admission of a litigant only applies in monetary cases and not in capital cases). Likutei Sichos Vol. 34, p. 106 (p. 118)
• Page 29b. And does not become impure. Likutei Sichos Vol. 32, Vayikra p. 61 (p. 74)
• Page 37b. A person should not marry a woman with the intention to divorce her. Likutei Sichos Vol. 34, p. 138 (p. 150), Chabad Library
• Page 82a. Immersion in a spring. Toras Menachem
• Page 61b. We learn from Moshe. Likutei Sichos Vol. 6, p. 256 (p. 266)
• Page 62a. Three things Moshe did on his own initiative and the Holy One, blessed be He, agreed with him, he separated from his wife. Likutei Sichos Vol. 18, p. 288 (p. 297)
• Page 62a. A convert who converts is like a newborn child. Toras Menachem Vol. 26, p. 33 (p. 33)
• Page 62b. Twelve thousand pairs of students, etc. Likutei Sichos p. 149 (p. 152)
• Page 114a. That they should not become impure through direct contact. Likutei Sichos Vol. 7, p. 147 (p. 159)
• Conclusion on Mesechtass in Tanach, Berachos, Nazir, Yevamos, Kerisus. Sefer HaSichos 5751 - Vol. 2, p. 835 (p. 385).

The Tzemach Tzedek's Explanations

The Tzemach Tzedek Rebbe's explanations in this Mesechtas are on the first chapter, second chapter, third chapter, fourth chapter, tenth chapter, twelfth chapter, thirteenth chapter, fourteenth chapter, fifteenth chapter, and sixteenth chapter.

• The Tzemach Tzedek Rebbe, "Mesechtas Yevamos," Tzemach Tzedek on the Shas, Brooklyn, 5755 (1995), pages 161-180, on the HebrewBooks website

External Links

• Mesechtas Yevamos