Five rabbis hold that ma-amar creates a strong bond between the yavam and yevama TB Yevamot 51

How strong a connection does ma-amar (מַאֲמָר) create between the yavam and yevama? On today’s daf TB Yevamot 51 the Gemara strings together five sages who hold that ma-amar is a full-fledged acquisition (kinyan gamur-קִנְיָן גָּמוּר).

“Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Rabban Gamliel, and Beit Shammai, and Rabbi Shimon, and ben Azzai, and Rabbi Neḥemya, they all hold that levirate betrothal (ma-amar-מַאֲמָר) acquires the yevama as a full-fledged acquisition (kinyan gamur-קִנְיָן גָּמוּר), like a regular betrothal.

1.     “The source for Rabban Gamliel’s opinion is that which we said above, that levirate betrothal is not effective after levirate betrothal. Rabbi Yoḥanan maintains that the second levirate betrothal is not effective because she was already fully acquired by the first one.

 

2.     “The source for the opinion of Beit Shammai is as we learned in a mishna: In the case of three brothers, two of whom were married to two sisters, and one who was single, the following occurred: The husband of one of the sisters died childless, leaving behind his wife, and the single brother performed levirate betrothal with this wife. Afterward, the second brother died, whereby the second brother’s wife, the sister of the betrothed, happened before him for levirate marriage as well. In this case, Beit Shammai say: His wife remains with him, i.e., the woman he betrothed is considered like his wife, and he is not required to divorce her. And this other leaves the yavam and is exempt from levirate marriage due to the fact that she is the sister of a wife. This indicates that Beit Shammai hold that the levirate betrothal performed with the first woman makes her fully betrothed, thereby nullifying the levirate bond with her sister.

3.          3. The source for the opinion of Rabbi Shimon is based on the following case cited         in a mishna (96b): In the case of a boy aged nine years and one day old who had             relations with his yevama, and afterward his brother, who is also nine years and one         day old, had relations with her, the second brother disqualifies her from performing         levirate marriage with the first one. Rabbi Shimon says he does not disqualify her. As      it is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Shimon said to the Rabbis: If the intercourse         of the first brother is considered effective intercourse, the intercourse of the second      brother is not considered effective intercourse such that it would disqualify her from     performing levirate marriage with the first brother, as the first brother has already             acquired her through his intercourse. If the intercourse of the first brother is not             considered effective intercourse, the intercourse of the second brother is also not         effective intercourse. And the Sages considered the intercourse of a nine-year-old     boy to be like levirate betrothal, and Rabbi Shimon says that the intercourse of the     second boy is not considered intercourse. This proves that in his opinion the                     intercourse of a nine-year-old fully acquires the yevama, and similarly, so does                 levirate betrothal.

4.          4. This source for ben Azzai’s opinion is as it is taught in a baraita that ben Azzai         says: Levirate betrothal is effective after levirate betrothal in the case of two             yevamin and one yevama, but levirate betrothal is not effective after levirate             betrothal in the case of two yevamot and one yavam. Because the latter case                 involves only one yavam, his levirate betrothal fully acquires the yevama, and                 therefore the levirate betrothal he performs with the second woman is of no account,       as he is already betrothed to the first yevama.

5.          5. The source for Rabbi Neḥemya’s opinion is as we learned in a mishna that                 Rabbi Neḥemya says: With regard to both intercourse and ḥalitza, whether at             the beginning, in the middle, or at the end, nothing is effective after it. And the         Sages considered invalid intercourse to be like levirate betrothal, and Rabbi                 Neḥemya teaches that nothing is effective after it. This indicates that he maintains          that no form of acquisition is effective after levirate betrothal, as levirate betrothal         completely acquires the yevama.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Tosefot ד"ה כּוּלְּהוּ  notes correctly that not all sages hold this position equally. Beit Shammai holds that holds that the acquisition is Torahitic (דאורייתא) in origin. The rest of the sages still hold that ma-amar is rabbinic in nature (דרבנן). Rabban Gamliel holds that only the ma-amar to the first widow is effective and ineffective for her co-wife (צרה). Ben Azzai differentiates between two surviving brothers and one widow and two widows and one surviving brother.

Even though not all the sages hold the position that ma-amar is a kinyan gamur, they all agree that ma-amar has great strength and power meaning that ma-amar is very important in their approach to levirate marriage.