Yevamot 92b — the Talmud in English

Rav Yehuda said ![](pamud.bmp "

precise column location")

Rav said: From where [do we know] that betrothals do not take effect

for a stranger

with a yevama

who has not yet undergone halitza, and even according to the Rabbis, who hold generally that betrothals take effect with those liable for prohibitions?

as it is stated: “The wife of the dead shall not be outside, to a strange man”—

The verse teaches, by saying “she shall not be,”

there shall not be in her a status

of betrothals

for

a man

stranger.

And Shmuel said: In our poverty,

that we do not know how to interpret the verse—

she requires a bill of divorce.

And the Gemara explains Shmuel’s words:

Shmuel is uncertain,

whether

this “the wife of the dead shall not be”—

if

only

for

prohibiting her

by a negative commandment—

it came

the verse came only to teach this.

If

also for this,

that betrothals do not take effect with her—

it came

the verse “she shall not be.”

Rav Mari bar Rachel said to Rav Ashi: So said Ameimar: The halakha is in accordance with Shmuel,

that a yevama who married outside requires a bill of divorce.

Rav Ashi said: Now that Ameimar has said

that

the halakha is in accordance with Shmuel—

if her yavam was a kohen,

and his yevama married a stranger, and she required a bill of divorce from him, in accordance with Shmuel—then the bill of divorce prohibits her to the kohen yavam because she is a divorcee.

And therefore,

he performs halitza for her

the kohen, and he does not perform yibbum with her.

And she is permitted to him

the yevama to the stranger who married her after the yavam’s halitza.

And we challenge this:

Has he profited by his wrongdoing!?

For the stranger has gained a benefit through his transgression! For it turns out that through his marriage to the yevama in violation, the stranger gained more than he would have had if he had not married her in violation: before he married her, the yavam could have performed yibbum with her and she would not have married him, whereas now that the stranger married her and prohibited her to the kohen yavam, he gained that she would be his wife.

If so, we find a sinner profiting!?

Rather,

so Rav Ashi said:

If

she married the stranger, and

her yavam was an Israelite—

he gives her

the

second,

the stranger,

a bill of divorce

against his will, for the court compels him to do so, so that a sinner should not profit,

and she is permitted to him

for yibbum.

Rav Giddel said that Rav Hiyya bar Yosef said that Rav said: A yevama—

betrothals

are what

she does not have

for a stranger, but

she does have marriage,

and he proceeds to explain it.

The Gemara assumes that this is what Rav said: If the yevama married a stranger, as, for example, they said to her, “Your husband died, and afterward your son died, and you are not obligated in yibbum”—she requires a bill of divorce.

And therefore the Gemara asks:

If she does not have betrothals—

then

she likewise does not have marriage!

For marriage is impossible without betrothals.

And we answer:

Say,

say that this is what Rav said:

She has neither betrothals nor marriage

to require her to receive a bill of divorce.

And if you wish, say: What does “she does have marriage” mean—

through fornication!

That is, Rav did not say this with regard to requiring her to receive a bill of divorce, but with regard to the fact that if she married a stranger, even though he had not yet had intercourse with her, it is like fornication, and she becomes forbidden to her yavam. And this halakha is

in accordance with Rav Hamnuna!

For Rav Hamnuna said: A shomeret yavam who committed fornication—

is forbidden to her yavam.

And if you wish, say: Actually, it is as we said initially,

that

she does not have betrothals

with a yevama who marries outside on the testimony of one witness or two witnesses—to require her to receive a bill of divorce.

But

she does have marriage

to require her to receive a bill of divorce, if they said to her, “Your husband died, and afterward your son died,” and afterward it became clear that her son had died before her husband.

And as for what is difficult for you: If she does not have betrothals, surely all the more so she does not have marriage—do not raise this difficulty:

For certainly her marriage is not complete marriage.

Rather, the Sages required her to receive a bill of divorce because

it is confused

the law of a yevama who marries outside on the testimony of one witness

with

the law of

a married woman whose husband went to a country overseas,

and one witness came and said to her, “Your husband died,” and she married on the basis of one witness through the court, and afterward her husband came back—for she indeed requires a bill of divorce.

And people will come to say that even a married woman does not require a bill of divorce.

Rabbi Yannai said: At a gathering

—a day of gathering or a session that they called an “assembly”—

they counted and concluded,

the Sages counted for a vote and agreed by majority opinion:

Betrothals do not take effect with a yevama

outside!

Since it is stated, “The wife of the dead shall not be outside, to a strange man,” and we expound: There shall not be in her a status for a strange man!

Rabbi Yohanan said

to Rabbi Yannai:

Rabbi!

Is

this not our Mishna

which says that betrothals do not take effect with a yevama outside!?

For we learned:

a. With regard to one who transfers ownership of something that has not yet come into the world, such as the produce of a date palm that has not yet grown, the tannaim disagreed about the matter.

Some hold: One who transfers ownership of something that has not yet come into the world—his acquisition is an acquisition. But according to the Sages, one who transfers ownership of something that has not yet come into the world has not acquired it.

b. And they did not disagree only about this matter; rather, anyone who performs an act of acquisition in a manner in which the effect of the acquisition does not take effect immediately, but the effect of the acquisition is after a time, since it is impossible for the effect of the acquisition to take effect now—he is included in one who transfers “something that has not yet come into the world.”

And according to the Sages, it is impossible to perform an act of acquisition now so that it will take effect in the future, in a matter in which the acquisition cannot take effect now. Therefore, even when the time arrives at which the effect of the acquisition can take effect, it does not take effect. And therefore—

a gentile, who cannot betroth an Israelite woman while he is still a gentile,

says to

an Israelite woman:

“Behold, you are betrothed to me,”

and your betrothals shall take effect

after I convert.

Or an Israelite says to a gentile woman, who is not fit to become betrothed to him in her gentile status: “Behold, you are betrothed to me,”

after you convert.

Or a Canaanite slave says to an Israelite woman: “Behold, you are betrothed to me,”

after I am freed,

and become fit for betrothals.

Or an Israelite says to a Canaanite slave woman: “Behold, you are betrothed to me,”

after you are freed.

Or he says to a married woman: “Behold, you are betrothed to me,”

after your husband dies.

Or he says to his wife’s sister, who is not fit to become betrothed to him while her sister is alive: “Behold, you are betrothed to me,”

after your sister dies.

Or

he says to a yevama obligated in halitza, who is not fit to become betrothed now: “Behold, you are betrothed to me,”

after your yavam performs halitza for you.

Each and every one of these

is not betrothed,

for this is like one who transfers ownership of something that has not yet come into the world, and according to the Sages, one who transfers ownership of something that has not yet come into the world has not acquired it.

And it is proven from the Mishna that betrothals do not take effect with a yevama, and therefore one who says to a yevama obligated in halitza: “Behold, you are betrothed to me after your yavam performs halitza for you”—she is not betrothed.

He said to him

Rabbi Yannai to Rabbi Yohanan:

Had I not lifted up a potsherd for you,

if I had not raised a potsherd for you from the floor of the sea [Rabbeinu Tam]—

would you have found the pearl beneath it!?

Would you yourself have found the pearl lying beneath it?

That is, if I had not revealed to you that betrothals do not take effect with a yevama, you would not have known the true reason for the Mishna. Rather, you would have said that anyone who performs an act of acquisition whose effect is to take place after a time—the acquisition does not take effect, even if he is able to make the effect of the acquisition take effect immediately.

Reish Lakish said to

Rabbi Yohanan:

Had a great man not praised you

—if Rabbi Yannai, who is a great man, had not praised your words—

I would have said to you,

I would have said to you myself: Your proof is no proof, since

the Mishna

this one [which you proved from what we learned in it, “after your yavam performs halitza for you, she is not betrothed,” because it is something that has not yet come into the world], that betrothals do not take effect with a yevama outside—

it is Rabbi Akiva, who says: Betrothals do not take effect with those liable for negative commandments.

And included in this is a yevama outside, for she is among those liable for negative commandments.

But according to the Sages, betrothals do take effect even with a yevama!

And the Gemara questions Reish Lakish’s interpretation of the Mishna:

And if

this Mishna is according to the words of

Rabbi Akiva, then what we learned in it is difficult:

It says:

When he said to her

the one betrothing to the woman becoming betrothed: “Behold, you are betrothed to me”

after your yavam performs halitza for you—

she is not betrothed, because this is something that has not yet come into the world.

And if it is Rabbi Akiva—why do the

betrothals not take effect with her

after he performs halitza for her!?

For we have heard Rabbi Akiva say: A person can transfer ownership of something that has not yet come into the world!