Today’s daf TB Yevamot 121 continues to discuss what the circumstances are when witnesses may testify that the man has died and his wife may remarry. One discussion revolves around drowning. The rabbis make a distinction between water that has a shoreline on all four sides like a small pond or lake (מַיִם שֶׁיֵּשׁ לָהֶם סוֹף) and water that has no visible shoreline like the Mediterranean Sea (מַיִם שֶׁיֵּשׁ שֶׁאֵין לָהֶם סוֹף ).
“And the Rabbis say: If he fell into a body
of water with a visible end, his wife is permitted to marry, but
if he fell into a body of water with no end, his wife is prohibited from
marrying. The Gemara asks: What are the circumstances defining a body of
water with a visible end? Abaye said: Any body of water where
one stands in one place and can see the shore in all four
directions is considered water with a visible end, since anyone emerging
from the water would be seen. However, if the body of water is so large that it
is impossible to see its shore on all sides, the individual may have emerged at
a place where he could not be seen by others standing at the place where he
fell in.” (Sefaria.org translation)
The Gemara shares some
stories where somebody fell in a body water that has no visible end and
survived proving that one should not jump to conclusions concerning his death.
I’ll share with you a story what saved Rabbi Akiva’s life from drowning.
“It is taught in a baraita:
Rabban Gamliel
said: Once I was traveling on a boat, and from a distance I saw a boat
that shattered and sank. And I was grieved over the apparent death
of the Torah scholar who was on board. And who was it? Rabbi Akiva. But when I
disembarked onto dry land, he came, and sat, and deliberated before me about halakha.
I said to him: My son, who brought you up from the water? He said to me:
A plank from the boat came to me, and I bent my head before each and every wave
that came toward me. The waves did not wash me off of the board, and I
reached the shore.” (Sefaria.org translation) Rabban Gamliel’s grief over Rabbi
Akiva’s death was premature.
A plank saved Rabbi Akiva’s life. The Hebrew word for plank, daf (דַּף ) is the same for a page of Talmud. Rabbi Frand at a Siyyum Hashas, a celebration at the conclusion of studying the entire Talmud one daf a day, quoted this story playing on both meanings of the word daf. He asked: what has saved the Jewish people throughout our history? He quoted our Gemara to answer this question “What saved you? He said to me: a daf!” It is the daf Talmud that we cling to that has saved the Jewish people.
That’s a great incentive to
continue our dafyomi journey.
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