If there were three brothers married to three strangers, and the wife of one of them died, and the second made a ma'amar in her and died, they receive chalitzah and are not taken in yibum, it being written (Deuteronomy 25:5): "…and one of them dies … then her yavam (singular) shall come upon her" — when the linkage of one yavam, and not two, is upon her. [For so long as he (the one who made the ma'amar) did not marry her, the linkage of the first is still upon him, and there is added to it the linkage of the second by way of the ma'amar; and when he dies, there remains upon her the linkage of two yavmin.] R. Shimon says: He may take either one in yibum [He holds that we are in doubt as to whether ma'amar acquires completely or does not acquire at all. Therefore, he can take either one in yibum. For if ma'amar acquires, she has only the linkage of the second upon her; and if it does not acquire, she has only the linkage of the first.], and he gives chalitzah to the other. [For one is not exempt by the (sexual) taking of the other (in marriage). For it may be that ma'amar does not acquire, in which instance there are "two yevamoth coming from two houses." And he cannot take both in yibum, for it may be that ma'amar does acquire, in which instance there are two yevamoth coming from one house." The halachah is not in accordance with R. Shimon. And even though we say in our Mishnah that according to Scripture there is (such a thing as) linkage of two yavmin, as indicated by: "Her yavam (singular) shall come upon her," in the gemara it is shown that it obtains only by rabbinical ordinance, lest it be said that two yevamoth coming from one house are taken in yibum.] If there were two brothers married to two sisters and one of them died, and then the wife of the second one died, she is forbidden to him forever, since she was forbidden to him at one time. (See 3:7).
Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
זיקת שני יבמין – for as long as this living brother didn’t marry her, the levirate relation of first is upon him and the levirate relation of the second was added upon him because of the statement of intention he made [to perform a levirate marriage], and when he died, there remained upon her the levirate relation of two brothers-in-law.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
Introduction
This mishnah is quite complex so I recommend paying careful attention to the details. If you are beginning to despair, we are almost out of the most complex section of Yevamoth.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
רש"א וכו' – since he holds that it is doubtful to us if the statement of intention [of performing levirate marriage] acquires completely or does not acquire at all, therefore, he performs levirate marriage on whichever of them that he desires, for if the statement of intention [to perform levirate marriage] acquires, he does not have anything other than the levirate relation of the second but if the statement of intention [of levirate marriage] does not acquire, he has nothing upon him other than the levirate relation of the first woman.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
Three brothers were married to three women who were strangers [to one another] and one of them died and the second brother did ma’amar with her and then he died, behold, these must perform halitzah but may not be taken in yibbum; for it is said “And one of them died…her husband’s brother shall unite with her” (Deuteronomy 25:5) only she who is bound due to one yavam but not she who is bound to due to two yavamim. R. Shimon says: he may have yibbum with whichever of these he wishes and then perform halitzah for the other. If two brothers were married to two sisters, and one of the brothers died, and afterwards the wife of the second brother died, behold, she is forbidden to him forever, since she was forbidden to him for one moment. Reuven, Shimon and Levi are married to Rachel, Tovah and Yael, none of whom are sisters. Reuven dies and Shimon does ma’amar with Rachel. When Shimon dies, Rachel and Tovah should, we would think, become liable for yibbum r halitzah with Levi. Our mishnah, using a midrash based on Deut. 25:5, states that neither woman may have yibbum with Levi. This is because Rachel is bound to Levi through her marriage to two of Levi’s brothers. She is still bound to him by force of her marriage with Reuven, because the ma’amar that Shimon did with her was not as strong as a full yibbum. [If Shimon had done yibbum, her ties to Reuven would have been fully severed.] She is bound to Levi through her marriage to Shimon because of the ma’amar she did do with him. In other words ma’amar is strong enough to create a relationship with the second brother, but not strong enough to sever the ties with the first brother. Therefore Rachel is bound to Levi through the force of her marriage to two brothers who are now deceased. The mishnah understands the words “And one of them died” to exclude a case where two brothers died. Since Rachel is exempt, her rival wife, Tovah, is also exempt. However, since ma’amar is not a biblical institution, and therefore the ties to Shimon are not complete, halitzah must be performed.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
וחולץ לשניה – for one does not free him from [sexual intercourse] with the other, for perhaps the statement of intention [of levirate marriage] does not acquire, and there was two sisters-in-law that come from two homes. But there is no levirate marriage with both for perhaps the statement of intention [of levirate marriage] acquires, and there would be two sisters-in-law coming from one house. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon, and even though we state in our Mishnah that the levirate relation of the two brothers-in-law is from the Torah from a Biblical verse (Deuteronomy 25:5): “Her brother’s husband shall unite with her: [he shall take her as his wife and perform the levir’s duty],” in the Gemara (Tractate Yevamot 31b) it proves hat the levirate relation of two brothers-in-law is Rabbinic as a decree, lest the people state that two sisters-in-law coming from the same house (i.e., widows of the same brother) may both be taken in levirate marriage.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
Rabbi Shimon holds that ma’amar either completely acquires the woman for the man who does ma’amar, in other words it creates a complete and valid relationship according to the Torah, or it doesn’t create any legal relationship whatsoever, not even a rabbinicly ordained marriage. If it creates a complete betrothal, then Rachel’s ties to her first husband, Reuven, are ended by Shimon’s ma’amar. When Shimon dies, she becomes liable to yibbum with Levi only because of her marriage to Shimon. If it doesn’t create any tie, then she was never at all married to Shimon, and she is liable for yibbum with Levi only because of her marriage to Reuven. In either case, she does not fit the category of one who is liable to yibbum through two dead husbands at the same time. Therefore, either of these wives may have yibbum. The second wife must have halitzah, lest the ma’amar not have created a tie with Shimon, and therefore Rachel became obligated for yibbum because of her marriage with Reuven and Tovah became obligated because of her marriage with Shimon. He cannot have yibbum with the second one as well, lest the ma’amar did create a tie, and a yavam cannot have yibbum with two wives of one dead husband.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
Reuven and Shimon are married to Rachel and Leah. Reuven dies and Rachel then would become liable for yibbum with Shimon, except she is exempt because he is married to her sister. The mishnah teaches that even though Leah subsequently dies, and hence Rachel might be able to have yibbum with Shimon, she cannot because she was at one point forbidden to him. Note that this law was already explained in mishnah seven.
