How long do you really have to wait? TB Yevamot 43

We have previously learned that some women like a widow should wait three months before they remarry in order to determine the paternity of her baby. Today’s daf TB Yevamot 43 determines exactly how many days a woman really must wait.

Rabbi Eliezar proposes the most lenient position. “And so Rabbi Elazar would teach us in the name of Rabbi Ḥanina the Great that the three months are counted as follows: One counts the majority of the days of the first month, and the majority of the third month, and the entire middle month.” (Sefaria.org translation) By my calculation a woman would only have to wait 62 days before she could remarry.

Next comes Ameimar.  “Ameimar permitted one to betroth a woman on the ninetieth day itself.”

Finally we learned that Rav and Shmuel require 92 days because they exclude the day the first husband dies and the day she becomes betrothed. “Rav Ashi said to Ameimar: Didn’t Rav and Shmuel both say that she needs to wait three full months, excluding the day on which the husband died and excluding the day on which she is betrothed? It is apparent that it is still prohibited to betroth a woman on the ninetieth day itself. Ameimar said to him: That which you heard, that the days of the husband’s death and of the betrothal are not included, was stated only with regard to a nursing woman, as it was Rav and Shmuel who both said: A nursing woman needs to wait twenty-four months before being betrothed, excluding the day on which the baby was born and excluding the day on which she is betrothed.” (Sefaria.org translation)

“The Gemara summarizes: The halakha is that a nursing mother needs to wait twenty-four months, excluding the day on which the baby was born and excluding the day on which she is betrothed. And if she was widowed but was not nursing, then she needs to wait only three months, excluding the day on which her previous husband died and excluding the day on which she is betrothed.” (Sefaria.org translation) This indeed is the halakha. Rambam, Mishneh Torah. Sefer Nashim, Hilkhot Gerushin, chapter 11, Halakha 26; Shulkhan Orukh, Iben Ha’ezer, chapter 13, paragraph 1 and paragraph 11.