Two yevamoth [wives of two brothers] — one says: My husband died; the other says: My husband died — the first is forbidden (to remarry) because of the husband of the second, and the second is forbidden because of the husband of the first. [Perhaps he is living and she is linked to him. And even though his wife says that he is dead, she is not believed to permit the other "to the marketplace" by her testimony, one yevamah not testifying for another.] If one has witnesses [that her husband has died] and the other does not have witnesses, the one who has witnesses is forbidden [to marry "to the marketplace"] and the one who has no witnesses is permitted. [She is not forbidden by reason of her husband, for she is believed to say: My husband has died; and she is also not forbidden by reason of her yevamah, for witnesses have come (to testify) that he died.] If one has children and the other does not have children [and neither had witnesses] — the one who has children is permitted, and the one who does not have children is forbidden. If they were taken in yibum [If there were two yavmin here, and they were taken in yibum], and the yavmin died, they are forbidden to marry ["to the marketplace" — one because of the first husband of the second; the second, because of the first husband of the first. Even though both are married to their yavmin on the premise that their husbands have died, it is by their own testimony that they are married. And they were believed, for a woman who says, "My husband has died" is taken in yibum. But now, they are not permitted to marry "to the marketplace." For if they marry "to the marketplace," the testimony of the one will be found to have helped the other, and yevamoth do not testify one for the other.] R. Elazar says: Since they were permitted to the yavmin [on the premise that their husbands have died], they were permitted to marry "to the marketplace," for we do not apprehend any more that they might be alive. (The halachah is not in accordance with R. Elazar.)]
Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
שתי יבמות – the wives of two brothers.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
Introduction
This mishnah deals with a situation in which, while it may be assumed that a husband is dead, it cannot be assumed that his brother, the yavam is dead.
We should remind ourselves of two rules learned in the previous chapter: 1) a woman is believed when she says, “My husband is dead”; 2) a sister-in-law is not believed when she says, “Your husband is dead.”
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
מפני בעלה של זו – perhaps he is living and she is bound/chained to him, and even though that his wife states that he has died, she is not believed to permit this one (i.e., the woman) to the whole world through her [words on her] lips for the widow of a brother who died without issue does not provide testimony on her fellow widow of a brother who died without issue.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
Two sisters-in-law, one says, “My husband is dead”, and the other also says, “My husband is dead”, this one is forbidden on account of the husband of this one, and this one is forbidden on account of the husband of this one. Although in this case we believe each sister-in-law when she states that her own husband is dead, neither sister-in-law is free to remarry lest the yavam, her brother-in-law is alive. Even though each woman’s sister-in-law says that the other’s yavam is dead, sisters-in-law are not allowed to testify for one another, because they might hate each other. Our mishnah teaches that these women are not believed vis-a-vis the other, even though they are believed vis-a-vis themselves..
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
לזו עדים – whose husband died and the other [woman whose husband died] does not have witnesses.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
If one had witnesses and the other had no witnesses, she who has the witnesses is forbidden, while she who has no witnesses is permitted. If there are witnesses that one woman’s husband has died, the other woman may remarry without fear that he is alive and she is liable for yibbum. That is to say, she is believed with regard to her own husband, and the witnesses are believed with regard to the other husband (her yavam). However, the woman who has witnesses that her own husband died but does not have witnesses that her yavam died, cannot rely on her sister-in-law’s testimony that he died, and therefore cannot remarry.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
זו שיש לה עדים אסורה – to marry to the entire world, for she is a widow of a brother who died without issue who did not have witnesses that he died.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
If the one has children and the other has no children, she who has children is permitted and she who has no children is forbidden. The woman who had children is, of course, exempt from yibbum. The woman who did not have children is liable.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
וזו שאין לה עדים מותרת – for on account of her husband, she is not forbidden, for she is believed to state: “my husband died,” and because of her being a widow of a brother who died without issue also, she is not forbidden for witnesses came testifying that he had died.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
If they contracted yibbum, and the yevamim died, they are forbidden [to marry again]. Rabbi Elazar says: since they were permitted to marry the yevamim, they are subsequently permitted to marry any man. In this case two sisters-in-law, both of whom say, “My husband died”, have no witnesses and no children, and then have yibbum with two other brothers (not married to either of these two women). This is permitted, as we learned in 15:1. If afterwards, one of these brothers dies, the women may not remarry, lest the other brother-in-law still be alive, as we learned in section one. The innovation is that even though an assumption was made that both original husbands had died, and therefore both women were permitted to have yibbum, nevertheless, we continue to fear that one of the women is lying and that the other woman’s brother-in-law is still alive. Rabbi Elazar holds that since we made the assumption that both original husbands were dead, we cannot go back to assuming that they might be alive. Therefore the women are permitted to marry whomever they want, without fear that they are still tied to their brothers-in-law.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
לזו בנים ולזו אין בנים – and there are witnesses neither to this one nor to that one; the woman who has children is permitted [to remarry] and the one who has no children is prohibited [from remarrying].
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
נתיבמו – that they had here two widows of brothers who died without issue and they married their levirs and the levirs died, they are forbidden to marry anyone in the whole world: this one (i.e., the first woman), because of the first husband of the other one, and that one (i.e., the second woman) because of the first husband of the other one, even though both were married to their levirs because of the presumption that their husbands had died, through their own testimony hey married, and they were believed, for the woman who said: “my husband died,” should be married by her levir. But now, that they would will be married to anyone in the world, no, for if they would marry to anyone in the world, it would be found that the testimony of this woman would be beneficial to that one (i.e., woman) and the testimony of that one (i.e., woman) would be beneficial to the other (i.e. woman), and widows of brothers who died without issue cannot give testimony one for the other.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
הואיל והותרו ליבמין – on the presumption their husbands had died, they were permitted to marry anyone in the world, and furthermore, we don’t suspect lest that they are living, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eleazar.
