If one fell into (a body of) water, whether it has an end or does not have an end, his wife is forbidden (to remarry). R. Meir said: It once happened that a man fell into the great pit and came up after three days. ["water that has an end" — where all four sides are visible around the water; "water that does not have an end" — where one cannot see all around it. R. Meir makes no distinction between the one and the other, but the sages do in the baraitha, saying that (if he fell into) water that has an end, his wife is permitted if he remained there longer than the optimal survival time; and (if he fell into) water that does not have an end, his wife is forbidden, for it may be that he may have come up (on the other side) and continued on, as per R. Yossi in our Mishnah. The halachah is in accordance with the sages. ("And he came up after three days":) R. Meir holds that one can survive in water many days. Therefore, even in water which has an end, where if he emerged he would have been seen, we apprehend that he may have emerged after many days and not been seen. And R. Yossi disagrees and says: "It happened with a certain blind man that he went down to bathe in a cave, etc."; and the instance of a cave is one of water which has an end, and they waited until they would have died and married their wives.] R. Yossi said: It happened with a certain blind man that he went down to bathe in a cave, and his attendant went down after him, and they waited (the amount of time it would take) for them to die, and they married their wives. Another incident (which occurred) in Assia. They lowered someone into the sea and came up only with his leg. The sages said: (If the leg were severed) above the knee-joint, she may remarry; below the knee-joint, she may not remarry. [Since he can live (in that condition), she may not remarry, for it may be that he had emerged and not been seen, it being water that did not have an end.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
מים שיש להם סוף – that appears all four directions that surround the water and water that is not in sight of shore, that a person cannot see all about him. But Rabbi Meir does not make a distinction between a body of water that is not within sight of shore and a body of water that is within sight of shore but the Sages dispute in the Baraita (see Tosefta Yevamot, Chapter 14, Halakha 5 and Talmud Yevamot 121a) and state that a body of water that is within sight of shore, his wife is permitted if he tarried there a period of time where it is impossible that he would live, according to this period of time within the water. But water that is not in sight of shore, his wife is forbidden [to remarry] for lest after he came up from there, he left and went on his way, as Rabbi Yosi stated in our Mishnah, and the Halakha is according to the Sages.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
Introduction
This mishnah deals with deciding whether a person who has entered into a body of water and not reappeared can be assumed to have drowned.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
ועלה לאחר שלשה ימים – for Rabbi Meir holds that a person can live within the water for a number of days, and because of this, even in water that is within sight of a shore, that if he comes out, someone will see him, for we suspect that perhaps after he would come out after many days and they wouldn’t see him. But Rabbi Yosi disputes on this and says that there is an incident about a blind person who went down to ritually immerse in a cave and the cave had water that is in sight of a shore and they remained until they died and their married off their wives.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
If a man fell into water, whether it had [a visible] end or not, his wife is forbidden [to marry again]. According to the first opinion in the mishnah, even though a man may have fallen into a large body of water and not reappeared, we cannot assume that he is dead. In the Talmud, this opinion is ascribed to Rabbi Meir. The Sages hold that if the water has an end, then his wife may remarry. If the water has an end and we did not see him come out, then we know that he didn’t come out the other side and we can assume that he has drowned. However, if the water has no end, he might have washed up alive on some distant shore and his wife should not remarry.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
מן הארכובה ולמטה – since he would be able to live, [his wife] should not remarry lest he leaves and no one sees him, for they are a body of water that is not within sight of a shore.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
Rabbi Meir said: it once happened that a man fell into a large cistern and came out after three days. Rabbi Meir now offers a story that illustrates his principle, that even if the water has an end, the person might be alive. In such a case, if people saw that he didn’t come up, they might have left the place where he allegedly drowned, assuming that he was dead. Therefore, we cannot make such an assumption and his wife cannot remarry.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
Rabbi Yose: it once happened that a blind man descended into a cave to immerse and his guide went down after him; and after waiting long enough for their souls to depart, permission was given to their wives to marry again. Rabbi Yose disagrees with Rabbi Meir. He brings a story where a blind man and his guide fell into a cave that had water in it and the Sages waited a while and then left and declared that the wife could remarry. If we extrapolate, we can conclude that if the water has an end, she may remarry.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
Another incident occurred at Asia where a man was lowered into the sea, and only his leg was brought up, and the Sages ruled: [if the recovered leg contained the part] above the knee [the man’s wife] may marry again, [but if it contained only the part] below the knee, she may not marry again. This mishnah deals with a case where a person was cast into the sea and according to the Talmud he was bound. Later, they drag his leg out of the water. If when they drag the leg out of the water, it is from the knee and up, then we can assume that the person is dead. Even if he survived the loss of part of his leg, he would not be able to swim without a full leg. However, if only the lower part of the leg was cut off, the man might have been able to swim and he might have come out of the water somewhere else. Therefore his wife cannot remarry. Note that this mishnah became all too relevant in determining whether widows of Sept. 11 victims could remarry. Since the World Trade Center is like “water that has an end”, it can be assumed that someone who didn’t show up afterwards had indeed died, and his widow was allowed to remarry.
