If there were two brothers and one of them died, and the second took his brother's wife in yibum, and then a brother were born, and then he [the second brother] died — the first woman goes out by reason of "the wife of his brother who was not in his world," and the second by reason of being her tzarah. If he made a ma'amar in her and he died, the second receives chalitzah, and she is not taken in yibum. R. Shimon says: He can take either one in yibum or give chalitzah to either one. [And she exempts the other thereby. This does not relate to "If he made a ma'amar in her," but to the first part, viz.: "The first one goes out, etc." R. Shimon holds that since when he was born she had already been taken in yibum, and had never had a yibum linkage to him (the one who was born later) from the first brother, she is permitted to him. The halachah is not in accordance with R. Shimon.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
ומת – the levir who married the wife of the brother who died without issue.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
Introduction
This mishnah continues to deal with the same topic as the previous mishnah, the exemption of “the wife of his brother who died before he was born” and her rival wife.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
מיבם לאיזו שירצה – and she exempts her [co-wife] colleague, and this does not refer to performing a statement of intention [of levirate marriage] , but rather, it refers to the first clause [of the Mishnah], as it is taught, the first is prohibited, etc. and as Rabbi Shimon states for since he was born, she had already had a levirate marriage performed on her and she did not have on this one the levirate relation through the marriage of his first brother ever, she is permitted to him, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
If there were two brothers and one of them died, and the second had yibbum with his dead brother’s wife, and after a [third] brother was born the second died, the first wife is exempt on account of her being the wife of his brother who died before he was born, while the second is exempt as her rival. If he had ma’amar with her, the second wife must perform the halitzah but she may not have yibbum. Rabbi Shimon says: he may have yibbum with either of them or perform halitzah for either of them. The scenario in this mishnah is only slightly different from that in the previous one. Again, Reuven and Shimon are brothers. Shimon dies and in this case Reuven has yibbum with Shimon’s wife even before Levi is born. In the previous mishnah Levi was born and then Reuven had yibbum with Shimon’s wife. When Reuven dies, his wife who had previously been married to Shimon is exempt from yibbum with Levi because she is “the wife of his brother who died before he was born”. The rival wife is again, also exempt. The innovation of this mishnah is that even though when Levi was born, the woman was no longer waiting to have yibbum, in other words she was at the time a regular wife to Reuven and not a shomeret yavam, and Reuven did not die before Levi was born, in any case she is forbidden to Levi because he was not yet born when Shimon died.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
If Reuven had ma’amar with the woman and then died, according to the first opinion, the ruling is the same as it was in the previous mishnah. Since she is only partially Reuven’s wife, she does not fully exempt her rival wife from yibbum.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
In this section we see that R. Shimon disagrees with the previous opinion and rules that in the case under discussion in this mishnah, either the wife who was formerly married to Shimon or the rival wives may have yibbum or halitzah. Since Levi was born when the woman was no longer a shomeret yavam, all connection she had to Shimon is lost. She only becomes liable for yibbum because of her marriage with Reuven, and Levi was born before Reuven died (unlike Shimon). Therefore, according to R. Shimon, Levi must have halitzah or yibbum with either wife. In other words this is only a normal case of a man’s wives becoming liable for yibbum. Note that the mishnah says that Levi performs halitzah, even though in reality the woman performs halitzah by taking off his shoe and spitting.
