Un principe général a été énoncé à propos d'une yevamah: si elle est une issur ervah (interdite comme une ervah), elle [sa tsarah, et, il va sans dire, elle-même], n'est soumise ni à la chalitzah ni au yibum. [Il en est de même pour un eilonith, il est écrit (Deutéronome 25: 6): "Et ce sera le premier-né qu'elle porte"—pour exclure un eilonith. De même, la femme d'un seris chammah (né sans testicules) et d'un hermaphrodite n'est soumise ni à la chalitzah ni au yibum, il est écrit (Ibid. 5): "et il n'a pas de fils"—exclure ceux qui sont incapables d'engendrer des enfants. Et la femme d'un prosélyte et d'un esclave affranchi n'est soumise ni à la chalitzah ni au yibum, il n'y a pas de «fraternité» entre prosélytes ni esclaves. Mais une femme stérile ou une vieille femme reçoit la chalitzah ou est prise en yibum.] Si elle a été interdite comme issur mitzvah ou issur kedushah (voir la prochaine Michna), elle est soumise à la chalitzah, mais pas au yibum. Si sa sœur [la sœur d'une ervah] était sa yevamah [comme lorsque deux sœurs de ses deux frères lui tombèrent devant lui pour yibum, l'une d'entre elles lui étant interdite comme ervah (par exemple, sa belle-mère ou sa fille -in-law)], soit elle reçoit la chalitzah, soit elle est prise en yibum [Car dans un tel cas, il ne contrevient pas à «la sœur d'un lié à lui (in yibum)», un ervah n'étant pas lié à lui ].
Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
לא חולצת ולא מתיבמת – her rival/co-wife and all the more so she herself, and similarly, a barren woman, as it is written (Deuteronomy 25:6): “[The first son] that she bears [shall be accounted to the dead brother that his name not be blotted out in Israel],” excluding a barren woman [ and similarly, the wife of a eunuch born without visible testicles and an androgynous individual does not engage in Halitzah nor levirate marriage, as it states ( there -Deuteronomy 25:5): “[When brothers dwell together and one of them lies] and leaves no son, [the wife of the deceased shall not be married to a stranger, outside the family],” excluding those for whom it is inappropriate for them to have children, and the wife of a convert and the wife of a freed slave does not engage in Halitzah nor levirate marriage, for there is no legal status of consanguinity neither for converts nor slaves, but a barren woman and an elderly women either engages in Halitzah or levirate marriage.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
Introduction
This mishnah gives some general principles for when a woman is liable for yibbum (or halitzah) and when she is forbidden/exempt.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
אחותה – [her sister] who is a woman forbidden to a man on account of consanguinity when she is [also] her sister-in-law [widow of her childless brother-in-law] such as, for example, when two sisters fell to him from his two brothers and the one is prohibited upon him because of consanguinity such as when she is his mother-in-law or daughter-in-law, she performs Halitzah or levirate marriage but now did not come in contact with the sister of his levirate relation because someone forbidden on account of consanguinity is not his levirate relation.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
A general rule has been said about the yavamah: Wherever she is prohibited as a forbidden relation, she may neither perform halitzah nor have yibbum. If her prohibition is due to a commandment or a prohibition due to holiness, she must perform halitzah but she may not have yibbum. If her sister is also her sister-in-law, she may perform halitzah or have yibbum. This general rule has been amply illustrated in the previous chapter and a half. If the yavamah was prohibited to her yavam according to the biblical laws of incest, she may not perform halitzah nor have yibbum. Indeed, she is not truly subject to the laws of yibbum, since the prohibition of incest “trumps” the obligation of yibbum.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
This section mentions two lesser prohibitions, the “prohibition due to a commandment” and a “prohibition due to holiness. Tomorrow’s mishnah will explain what both of these categories are. Suffice it now to say that they are less consequential than the biblical incest prohibitions mentioned in the previous section. If a woman who is prohibited to her yavam in one of these ways should be liable for yibbum, she must perform halitzah but may not have yibbum. This is another way of stating that she is biblically liable for yibbum, but to avoid the problems that this type of yibbum would cause, the only option is halitzah.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
If the sister of the prohibited woman is also her sister-in-law, meaning there is a situation in which two sisters married to two brothers, and then both brothers die and both women become liable for yibbum to a third brother, even though this brother is prohibited from one of the sisters, he can have yibbum or halitzah with the other. I will illustrate this complicated situation using names. Reuven, Shimon and Levi are brothers. Leah and Rachel are sisters. Leah marries Reuven and Shimon marries Rachel, and then both men die without children. Levi is married to Rachel’s daughter (from a marriage before she married Shimon). Levi can therefore not have yibbum with Rachel, since a man cannot marry a woman and her daughter. Nevertheless, Levi can have yibbum with Leah. Although in general a man cannot have yibbum with the sister of his yavamah (we will learn this in chapter three), in this case since Rachel was forbidden to him, she was never his yavamah. Therefore, Leah is permitted.
