Yevamot 122b (קכב:) — the Talmud in English

The Gemara explains the statement of the Sages:

What deficiency is there in the innkeeper woman

that they said to him, “Is a priestess not like the innkeeper woman?”

Rav Kahana said: This innkeeper woman

was

a gentile.

And she was speaking innocently: “This is his staff, this is his pack, and this is the grave in which I buried him.”

And likewise Abba, son of Rav Minyomi bar Hiyya, taught: The innkeeper woman was a gentile, and she was speaking innocently: “This is his staff, this is his pack, and this is the grave in which I buried him.”

The Gemara raises an objection:

But they said to her, “Where is our companion?”

This proves that they questioned her, and that this was not an incidental statement.

The Gemara answers that this is what happened:

Once she saw them

, when she saw them returning,

she began to cry.

That is, she initiated the conversation, speaking innocently.

Then

they said to her: “Where is our companion?”

She said to them: “He died, and I buried him.”

The Sages taught: An incident occurred involving a certain man who came to testify concerning a woman

, that her husband had died,

before Rabbi Tarfon.

He said to him: “My son, how do you know this testimony concerning the woman?”

He said: “He and I

, her deceased husband,

were traveling along the road, and a troop pursued us, and he hung

, this woman's husband,

from a branch

, a branch,

of an olive tree, and he broke it off

, severing it from the tree and making a staff from it,

and he turned

with the staff he had made

the troop back.”

I said to him: “Lion, may your strength be firm!”

He said to me: “How do you know that my name is Lion?”

Indeed,

that is what they call me in my city: Yohanan bar Rabbi Yehonatan, Lion of Kfar Sikhya.

Later he fell ill

—that witness—

and died.

And Rabbi Tarfon permitted his wife to marry

, relying upon the testimony of this witness.

The Gemara raises an objection:

And

was

Rabbi Tarfon not requiring examination and interrogation

in the testimony concerning a woman?

But it was taught: An incident occurred involving a certain man who came before Rabbi Tarfon to give testimony concerning a woman.

He said to him: “My son, how do you know this testimony?”

He said to me: “He and I were traveling along the road, and a troop pursued us, and he hung from a fig-tree branch, broke it off, and turned the troop back.”

I said to him: “May your strength be firm, Lion!”

He said to me: “You correctly intended my name, for that is what they call me in my city: Yohanan ben Yonatan, Lion of Kfar Sikhya.”

Later he fell ill and died.

He said to him

Rabbi Tarfon, when he was approaching death: “Did you not

say this to me

that your name was

Yohanan ben Yonatan of Kfar Sikhya, Lion?”

He said to him: “No,”

that is not what I said.

Rather, this is what I said to you:

my name is

Yohanan ben Yonatan, Lion of Kfar Sikhya. And he examined him closely two

and three times, and he aligned his words.

And

only then

Rabbi Tarfon permitted the wife

of the deceased about whom this man had testified to marry!

And we resolve the contradiction: It is a dispute;

it is a dispute among tannaim.

As it was taught: The witnesses concerning women are not examined through detailed examination and interrogation; this is the statement of Rabbi Akiva.

Rabbi Tarfon says: They are examined.

And they disagree concerning Rabbi Hanina's teaching.

As Rabbi Hanina said: By Torah law, both monetary cases and capital cases require detailed examination and interrogation, as it is stated [Leviticus 24]

in Leviticus 24:

“You shall have one law.”

And for what reason did they say

the Sages that

monetary cases do not require detailed examination and interrogation?

In order

not to lock the door before borrowers.

And in what do they disagree?

One Master

, Rabbi Akiva,

holds: Since

there is

a marriage contract to collect—

it is comparable to monetary law

, and they were lenient concerning it so that detailed examination and interrogation would not be required.

And the other Master

, Rabbi Tarfon,

holds: Since we permit

through this testimony

a married woman to everyone—

it is comparable to capital law

, since one who has relations with her is liable to strangulation, and detailed examination and interrogation are required in such a case.

Rabbi Elazar said that Rabbi Hanina said: Torah scholars increase peace in the world, as it is stated [Isaiah 54]

in Isaiah 54:

“And all your children shall be disciples of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.”

The chapter The Last Woman is concluded, and tractate Yevamot is concluded.