Yevamot 122a — the Talmud in English

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three festivals.

Abaye delayed answering the woman’s question until she had stayed with him for three festivals, during which Torah scholars gathered together, and she would ask them what her status was.

Rav Adda bar Ahava said to her: Go

go

before Rav Yosef, for his knife is sharp.

For his knife is sharp; this is a metaphor, meaning that he will cut through your case quickly and will not delay you like Abaye.

She went before him.

And

he resolved

this woman’s case as forbidden,

from this Mishna:

A gentile who was selling produce in the marketplace,

and said: This produce is fruit of orla, it is from Azeka [

it came from the Land of Israel, from a place called Azeka, and is choice],

it is fourth-year produce—

he has said nothing,

and there is no concern regarding it either because of orla, or because of untithed produce, or because of fourth-year produce, and it is permitted, because one follows the majority of permitted produce, since he

did not intend

by his statement

anything but to enhance his merchandise.

The same is true of this woman: the gentile did not intend to say that he had killed her husband; he merely wished to threaten this person, so that he would cut fodder for his animals.

Abba Yudan of Sidon said: An incident occurred involving an Israelite and a gentile who were traveling on the road. A gentile came and said: Woe for the Jew who was with me on the road; he died on the road and I buried him. And they permitted his wife to marry.

And again, an incident occurred involving a caravan

group

of people who were traveling to Antioch, and one gentile came and said: Woe for the caravan of people; they died and I buried them. And they permitted their wives to marry.

And again, an incident occurred involving sixty people who were traveling to the city of Beitar, and a gentile came and said: Woe for the sixty people who were traveling on the road to Beitar; they died and I buried them. And they permitted their wives to marry.

Mishna:

Witnesses may testify

about a person’s death even if they examined him and identified him only

by candlelight or by moonlight.

And they may permit

a woman

on the basis of a voice

that cries out, “So-and-so has died,” without seeing or knowing who the one crying out thus is.

An incident occurred involving one who stood at the top of a mountain and said: So-and-so son of so-and-so from such-and-such a place has died.

They went and found no person there, and

nevertheless

they permitted his wife to marry.

And again, an incident occurred in Zalmon, involving one who said: I am so-and-so son of so-and-so; a snake bit me, and I am dying.

And they went and did not recognize him, and they went and permitted his wife to marry.

Gemara:

Rabba bar Shmuel said: It was taught: Beit Shammai say: They do not permit a woman to marry on the basis of a voice; and Beit Hillel say: They permit a woman to marry on the basis of a voice.

And we raise an objection:

What does he teach us

Rabba in the name of Shmuel? Is he coming to teach us that this is the

Mishna,

in which we taught the statement of Beit Hillel, and we know that the halakha follows them?

And we answer:

This he teaches us

Shmuel:

that if an anonymous

Mishna is found saying

that they do not permit a woman to marry—

know that

it is Beit Shammai,

and the halakha does not follow it.

We learned in the Mishna:

And they went and found nothing.

And we raise an objection:

But perhaps it was a demon?

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav:

In a case such as

where they saw him

at the beginning of his cry,

the form of a person.

And we raise an objection:

They

the demons

also have the appearance

of human beings!? And we answer:

They saw that he had

they saw that he had

a reflection,

a shadow, whereas demons have no shadow.

And we ask:

But they too,

the demons,

have a reflection!

And we answer:

They saw that he had “a reflection of a reflection,”

a shadow of the shadow, and demons do not have this.

And we ask:

But perhaps they themselves

the demons

have a reflection of a reflection!

Rabbi Hanina said: Yonetah the demon told me:

[

[ the name of a demon, or of a person knowledgeable about demons]: They have a reflection; they do not have a reflection of a reflection.

And we raise an objection:

But perhaps it was a rival wife

of this woman

that was

the crying voice, and she intended to cause harm, so we should not believe her!?

And we answer: As

the tanna of the school of Rabbi Ishmael

said concerning a bill of divorce,

in a time of danger,

such as when a person has been cast into a pit and is near death,

they write and deliver

on the basis of his call from the pit, that they should give a bill of divorce to his wife,

even though they do not recognize

him. Here too, they rely on the testimony conveyed by the voice and are not concerned that it may be a plot by the rival wife, because otherwise she would remain a woman whose marriage status could not be resolved.

Mishna:

Rabbi Akiva said: When I went down to Nehardea

in order

to intercalate

there

the year, I found Nehemiah, a man of the house of Deli,

and

he said to me: I have heard that they do not permit a woman to marry in the Land of Israel on the basis of one witness, except for Yehuda ben Bava.

And I swore

and said

to him:

Indeed,

such is the matter.

He said to me: Tell them in my name: You know that the country is disrupted by troops,

and therefore I cannot go up to the Land of Israel and testify before them to what I

received from Rabban Gamliel the Elder, that they permit a woman to marry on the basis of one witness.

And when I came and presented the matter before Rabbi Gamliel,

the grandson of Rabban Gamliel the Elder,

he rejoiced at my words and said: We have found a colleague for Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava.

Through this matter Rabbi Gamliel remembered that men had been killed at Tel Arza, and Rabbi Gamliel permitted their wives to marry on the basis of one witness.

And it became established that they permit a woman to marry on the testimony of one witness reporting another witness, on the testimony of a slave, on the testimony of a woman, and on the testimony of a maidservant.

Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua say: They do not permit a woman to marry on the basis of one witness.

Rabbi Akiva says: Not on the testimony of a woman, nor on the testimony of a slave, nor on the testimony of a maidservant, nor on the testimony of relatives.

Gemara:

And the Gemara wonders:

And

for

does Rabbi Akiva hold

that

on the testimony of a woman they do not

permit his wife to marry?

But it was taught: Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says in the name of Rabbi Akiva: A woman is deemed trustworthy to bring her bill of divorce

from outside the Land of Israel and to testify concerning it that it was written and signed in her presence,

by a kal va-chomer: What

of the five

women whom

the

Sages

said

are not

they

deemed trustworthy to say that her husband has died—

nevertheless

they are deemed trustworthy

they are

to bring their bills of divorce,

and to say that they were written and signed in their presence—this

woman, who is deemed trustworthy to say that her husband has died

and thereby permit herself to marry—

is it not the law that she is deemed trustworthy

also

to bring her bill of divorce

and testify concerning it?

And the Gemara infers from Rabbi Akiva’s words in the beraita:

Only the five

women whom the Sages said are not deemed trustworthy

to testify concerning the death of her husband; but

an ordinary woman,

who is not one of those five women,

is deemed trustworthy!

And we answer:

It is not difficult:

Here, before it became established

that they permit a woman to marry on the basis of a woman’s testimony.

Here, after it became established

that they permit a woman to marry on the basis of a woman’s testimony.

Mishna:

The Sages said to him

to Rabbi Akiva:

An incident occurred involving the sons of Levi, who went to Zoar, the city of date palms, and one of them became ill, and they brought him to an inn,

and they continued on their way.

When they returned, they said to the innkeeper

the gentile woman:

Where is our companion?

She said

she said

to them: He died, and I buried him. And they permitted

his wife

and

for

would not

an Israelite woman or

a daughter of a koen

be deemed trustworthy

as

she

the innkeeper?

He said to them: When

an Israelite woman or a daughter of a koen brings proof

like the innkeeper,

this one, then she will indeed be

deemed trustworthy.

For they did not rely on her testimony; rather,

the innkeeper

was speaking in this way innocently, and

she brought out to them his staff, his knapsack, and the Torah scroll that had been in his possession.

Gemara: