S'il y avait quatre frères, dont deux mariés à deux sœurs, et qu'ils sont morts, les deux survivants exécutent la chalitzah, mais pas le yibum, [car puisque les deux femmes sont liées à chaque frère, la première à exécuter le yibum viole "la sœur de son lié, «qui est comme sa femme.] S'ils étaient avant et les ont épousés, ils doivent les renvoyer. R. Eliezer dit au nom de Beth Shammai: Ils peuvent les garder, et Beth Hillel dit: Ils doivent les renvoyer. [La Gemara à Yevamoth renverse ceci, à savoir: Beth Shammai dit: Ils doivent les renvoyer, et Beth Hillel dit: Ils peuvent les garder. Et ceci est la halakha, afin que s’ils se soient déjà mariés avec eux, ils les gardent.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
חולצות ולא מתיבמות – for since both of them are tied by their interdependence of a childless widow and her late husband’s brothers (i.e., they cannot marry otherwise until released from their dead husband’s brother) to this one and to that one first and if he (i.e., one of the brothers) marries the wife of a brother who died without issue, he strikes against the sister of his obligated leviratical relation who is like his wife.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
Introduction
This mishnah is a continuation of yesterday’s mishnah. It contains the second example of Rabbi Eliezer’s list of disputes between Beth Shammai and Beth Hillel.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
משום ב"ש יקיימו וב"ה [אומרים] יוציאו – in the Gemara in [Tractate] Yevamot 28a in the chapter “Four Brothers” (chapter three), they reverse it, as the School of Shammai states that they should release her, and the School of Hillel states they should uphold it [and remain wed], and such is the Halakah that if he went ahead and married [the two sisters], they may remain wed.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
[In the case of] four brothers of whom two were married to two sisters, if those married to the sisters died, behold, these should perform halitzah and not enter into levirate marriage (with the brothers-in-. If they went ahead and married them, they must put them away (divorce. Rabbi Eliezer says in the name of Beth Shammai: they may keep them. But Beth Hillel say: they must put them away. In the case in our mishnah, Reuven, Shimon, Levi and Judah who are brothers, are each married, Reuven and Shimon being married to Rachel and Leah who are sisters and Levi and Judah being married to other women not related to Rachel and Leah. If Reuven and Shimon die without children, Rachel and Leah need to perform halitzah or enter into levirate marriage with either Levi and Judah. However, they cannot both be married to the same brother, since a man cannot marry two sisters. Since each sister is “tied” to each brother (by her need to perform halitzah or be married), the best thing to do is for each to perform halitzah, the release from levirate marriage. From here we learn that it is forbidden for a man to marry the sister of a woman who is tied to him, in a similar way that it is forbidden for a man to marry two sisters. According to Beth Shammai, if, even though it is forbidden to do so, Levi and/or Judah married Rachel or Leah, they are not forced to divorce them. According to Beth Shammai the law that says that they must perform “halitzah” is only “lekhathilah”, meaning ab initio. One should not do marry these sisters, but if one did the action is valid. According to Beth Hillel, this marriage is forbidden even “bediavad”, meaning even after it was done, it remains forbidden, and they are forced to divorce them. Beth Hillel probably reasons that if this marriage was permitted “bediavad”, “lekhathilah” people would marry in this situation.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
Questions for Further Thought: • Why do clauses 1a and 1c repeat the same opinion? What might this tell us about the structure and formation of the mishnah?
