Today we begin the new massekhet Yevamot in the Seder Nashim, Order of Women. This Seder deals with matrimonial relationships. A list of forbidden women whom we are forbidden to marry because of how closely they are related to the man are found in the book of Leviticus, specifically in parashat Akharei Mot and parashat Kedoshim. The Torah carves out one exception. “When brothers dwell together and one of them dies and leaves no offspring,*offspring Lit. “son,” but daughters are also in view; cf. Num. 27.1–11. the wife of the deceased wife of the deceased Apparently a type of widow whose late husband had a share in his lineage’s patrimony, and whose access to support from that patrimony is now stymied by her lack of offspring; cf. Ruth 4.5. shall not become that of another party, outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall unite with her: he shall take her as his wife and perform the levir’s duty.” (Deuteronomy 25:5, Sefaria.org translation)
Levirate marriage or yibum (יִּיבּוּם) in Hebrew proves that the oral tradition predates the written
Torah because in the book a Genesis Judah instructs his son Er’s widow Tamar
who was without children to marry his Er’s brother Onan. Ramban comments “The
ancient wise men or prior to the Torah knew the great benefit in marrying a
childless dead brother’s wife, and that it was proper for the brother to take
precedence in the matter, and upon his failure to do so, his next of kin would
come after him, for any kinsman who was related to him, who would inherit his
legacy, would derive a benefit from such a marriage. And it was customary for
the dead man’s wife to be wed by the brother or the father or the next of kin
in the family. We do not know whether this was an ancient custom preceding Judah’s
era. In Bereshith Rabbah (85:6) they say that Judah was the one who inaugurated
the commandment of marrying a chalice person’s widow, for since he had received
the secret from his ancestors he was quick to fulfill it. Now when the Torah
came and prohibited marrying former wives of certain relatives, it was the will
of the Holy One, blessed be He, to abrogate the prohibition against marrying a
brother’s wife in case he dies childless, but was not His will that the prohibition
against marrying a father’s brothers wife or a son’s wife or similar wives or
relatives be set aside. It was only in the case of a brother that the custom
had established itself, and the benefit is likely within him and not with the
others, as I have mentioned….” (Genesis 38:8, Rabbi Dr. Charles B. Chavel’s
translation and annotation, published by Shiloh)
One last word of introduction about our massekhet. You may be wondering why Seder Nashim begins with Yevamot that deals what happens in the case of a death. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to begin this Seder with a massekhet dealing with the laws of engagement or the laws of the marriage contract? These are much happier topics to begin the discussion of marriage. The Meiri explains that one is not obligated to marry, but one is commanded to marry his dead brother’s widow if the couple was childless. A commandment obviously should be proceed a voluntary act; consequently, Yevamot is the first massekhet in Seder Nashim.
Tosafot Yeshanim provides three alternative answers. According to a Tosafot tradition the last massekhet in Seder Moed was Moed Katan. If you remember, the last chapter of Moed Katan discussed the laws of the mourning. The topic of death provides the transition from Seder Moed to Seder Nashim. Before we can marry anybody, we have to know who those women we are forbidden to marry are. The very first Mishna enumerates these women and teaches us the one exception, a dead brother’s wife who is childless. Yibum is the first marriage mitzvah in the Torah and that is the third answer Tosafot Yeshanim gives.
Daf TB Yevamot 2 begins:
“The Torah law obligating a man whose brother died without children [yavam] to marry his deceased brother’s widow [yevama] or to free her from her levirate bonds through the act of ḥalitza applies only when it is permitted for the widow to marry her surviving brother-in-law. However, in cases where the yevama is forbidden to her yavam due to her status as a close family relative, the mitzva of levirate marriage is not applicable, and she is exempt from both levirate marriage and ḥalitza.
“The Sages further taught that the exemption of a yevama from levirate marriage also exempts her rival wife. In other words, if the deceased brother had two wives, each a so-called rival of the other, and only one wife is a relative of the surviving brother, then the rival wife is also exempt from both levirate marriage and ḥalitza. Moreover, if that same rival wife entered into levirate marriage with a different brother of the deceased, one to whom she is not forbidden, then were this third brother also to die childless, so that the obligation of levirate marriage would again be incurred by the second brother, not only is the forbidden rival wife exempt from levirate marriage and ḥalitza, her new rival wives from her second marriage are also exempt.
“That is to say, any other wife of the third brother is exempt from the mitzva
of levirate marriage, as she is the rival wife of that first rival wife, who
was exempted from levirate marriage following her first husband’s death due the
exemption of her original rival wife. The same principle applies if that second
rival wife subsequently enters into levirate marriage with another permitted
brother, and so on. In summary, every widow who is exempt from marrying her
brother-in-law due to her status as rival wife of a forbidden relative is
treated as a forbidden relative herself and is therefore exempt from both ḥalitza
and levirate marriage and causes exemption for future rival wives as well.
“MISHNA: The mishna
describes various cases that invoke the principles above. Fifteen
categories of women constitute familial relations that are forbidden as
incestuous, and consequently, these women exempt their rival wives and the
rival wives of their rival wives from ḥalitza and from levirate marriage
forever, i.e., they also exempt rival wives of rival wives of rival wives,
and so on.
“And these women are: The daughter of the yavam,
i.e., the deceased brother had married a daughter of his brother, which means
that when he died childless, his brother’s own daughter came before her father
for levirate marriage, and therefore she is exempt. And the same applies
if the deceased brother’s widow is the daughter of the daughter of
the yavam, or if she is the daughter of his son, or the
daughter of his wife.
“And similarly, if the yevama is the
daughter of the son of the wife of her yavam or the
daughter of his wife’s daughter, or if she is the mother-in-law
of her yavam, or his mother-in-law’s mother, or his father-in-law’s
mother, then she is exempt from ḥalitza and levirate marriage.
“The mishna continues its list of close
relatives. If the yevama is the maternal half sister of
the yavam, or if she is the sister of his mother, or his
wife’s sister, then she is exempt from both ḥalitza and levirate
marriage Or if she was the wife of his maternal half brother,
and after this brother died or divorced his wife, she married another of his
father’s brothers, who was not her relative, and this brother died, she is
exempt. In this case, the obligation to enter into levirate marriage should be
incurred by the surviving brother, but since she was previously the wife of his
maternal brother, she is exempt.
“And the
same applies to the wife of a brother with whom he did not coexist,
i.e., the wife of a man who died before his brother was born. As will be
explained, the obligation of levirate marriage does not apply to the yavam
in this case. Since levirate marriage does not apply to him, the yevama remains
forbidden to him as his brother’s wife. And the last case is if one’s yevama
had previously been his daughter-in-law, and after his son had died
one’s brother married her, before he too passed away. These fifteen
women exempt their rival wives and the rival wives of their rival wives from
ḥalitza and levirate marriage forever…” (Sefaria.org translation)
The Mishnah continues and we shall have an opportunity in the future to analyze those sections I haven’t included today. I just like to highlight two terms. The first term is tzarot (צָרוֹת- or-צָרָה -tzarah in the singular) Sefaria translates this term as a rival wife or a co-wife. Many of you are familiar with the Yiddish word tzuris which means trouble. Tzarot and tzuris share the same root. Having more than one wife the rabbis intimate will only be trouble. Or as my father used to say, “Any man wears more than one wife, deserves it!”
The
second term is ḥalitza (חָלִיצָה).
This is the ceremony that dissolves the link between the widow and the brother
who does not want to marry his deceased brother’s wife. More about that later
too.
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