Yevamos Chapter 1, Mishnah 1: The Fifteen Women

Yibum and Chalitzah Forbidden Relations Kiddushin

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Welcome to Seder Nashim and to Maseches Yevamos. We begin with chapter 1, mishnah 1. To understand the mishnah, we first need the basic principle of the mitzvah of yibum: when a man dies without leaving children, his wife falls to yibum, and she must undergo yibum with her late husband's brother.

An ervah who exempts from yibum:

A brother's wife is forbidden by Torah law, and only in a case where the brother left no children was she permitted for the sake of yibum. However, if that widow is also an ervah with respect to the surviving brother, meaning a woman who is forbidden to him in her own right, he cannot perform yibum with her.

For example: the brother who died had married his brother's daughter. When he died, his widow should fall to yibum before his brother, except that this woman is the daughter of the surviving brother. Since another prohibition of ervah rests upon her, he cannot perform yibum with her, and she is exempt from the mitzvah of yibum. She does not even require chalitzah, which is the alternative to yibum.

A tzarah and the tzarah of a tzarah:

Suppose the deceased brother was married not only to the daughter of the surviving brother but also to another woman, who is called a 'tzarah' (co-wife). If one of the widows of the man who died childless was an ervah, the tzarah is exempt as well, and this is derived from a verse.

And not only that: if that tzarah underwent yibum with a third brother, who has no ervah connections in this case and is not married to the brother's daughter, and that brother has another wife, and he dies, then the other wife is called the 'tzarah of a tzarah', and she too is exempt. And so it continues on and on without end, all according to the number of brothers.

Our mishnah lists fifteen women who can be an ervah, and because of this they themselves are exempt from yibum, and so are their tzaros, the women married along with them to the same husband, and the tzaros of their tzaros, and so on.

The words of the mishnah:

"Chamesh esrei nashim potros tzaroseihen v'tzaros tzaroseihen min hachalitzah u'min hayibum ad sof haolam" - these fifteen women exempt, meaning that they cause no obligation of yibum or chalitzah to take effect upon their tzaros and upon the tzaros of their tzaros, without end, all according to the number of brothers.

And these are they:

Bito - the daughter of the surviving brother.
Bas bito - his daughter's daughter.
Bas beno - his son's daughter.
These three refer to descendants born to him not from his wife, but from a woman with whom he had a chance relationship and who bore a child from it. Even so, they are an ervah to him.
Bas ishto - his wife's daughter.
Bas benah - her son's daughter.
Bas bitah - her daughter's daughter.
These three, although they are not his biological children but rather his wife's descendants, are also an ervah to him.
Chamoso - his mother-in-law, his wife's mother.
Em chamoso - his mother-in-law's mother.
Em chamiv - his father-in-law's mother.
Achoso me'imo - his sister from his mother's side, and not from his father's side. The obligation of yibum applies only toward a brother from the father, so the case is that a paternal brother married the surviving brother's maternal sister, a marriage that is permitted to him, since she is not his relative but rather the sister of his brother from her mother. But once he dies, the surviving brother cannot perform yibum with her, since she is his sister.
Achos imo - his mother's sister.
Achos ishto - his wife's sister.
Eshes achiv me'imo - the wife of a brother who is his brother only from his mother's side. After she was widowed from him she married his paternal brother, and when that brother died he cannot perform yibum with her, since she is his yevamah by virtue of another brother, from his mother's side.
Eshes achiv shelo hayah b'olamo - the wife of a brother who did not live in the world at the same time as he did, such as where the surviving brother was born after his brother's death. The Torah requires that the two brothers live together in the world, and therefore one who was born afterward is not fit for yibum, and his brother's wife is a complete ervah to him.
Kalaso - his daughter-in-law, his son's wife.

All of these, in the words of the mishnah, exempt their tzaros and the tzaros of their tzaros from chalitzah and from yibum until the end of the world, according to the number of brothers.

Cases in which the tzarah is permitted:

In all these arrangements of tzaros, where the brother died leaving one wife who is an ervah toward his brother and another wife who is her tzarah, there are cases in which the tzaros are permitted:

Mesah: the ervah died before her husband died.
Mi'anah: her betrothal to the deceased brother was rabbinic, and she performed mi'un, which nullifies a rabbinic betrothal.
Nisgarshah: she was divorced from his brother.
Nimtzeis ailonis: she was found to be a woman incapable of bearing children.

In all these cases the tzaros are permitted, since they are not the tzarah of an ervah at the time of the brother's death. Once the brother died and left the tzarah to fall to yibum, she is no longer the tzarah of an ervah, and therefore she is permitted to undergo yibum.

As for the ailonis: an ailonis has no standing for the mitzvah of yibum, and she is not considered to be part of the framework of yibum at all. Consequently the tzarah is not considered the tzarah of someone who belongs to this framework, and therefore the tzarah is permitted.

The mishnah concludes by establishing that one cannot say about his mother-in-law, his mother-in-law's mother, and his father-in-law's mother that they were found to be an ailonis or that they performed mi'un. For by their very definition they had children, since that is how they became a mother-in-law, a mother-in-law's mother, and a father-in-law's mother, and therefore they cannot be an ailonis. So too regarding mi'un: rabbinic betrothal takes effect only with a minor girl who has not yet reached the age of mitzvos, and since they already had children, they are no longer minors. Therefore these cases are not relevant to them.

In summary: in this mishnah we learned the basic principle of the exemption of the 'tzarah of an ervah': a widow who is an ervah to the surviving brother is exempt from chalitzah and from yibum, and along with her, her tzarah and the tzarah of her tzarah are exempt until the end of the world. We listed the fifteen women to whom this law applies, and we clarified the cases in which the exemption falls away - she died, she performed mi'un, she was divorced, or she was found to be an ailonis - as well as the three women to whom these cases do not apply at all.

Original maamar

אות יבמות א:א

חֲמֵשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה נָשִׁים פּוֹטְרוֹת צָרוֹתֵיהֶן וְצָרוֹת צָרוֹתֵיהֶן מִן הַחֲלִיצָה וּמִן הַיִּבּוּם עַד סוֹף הָעוֹלָם. וְאֵלּוּ הֵן, בִּתּוֹ, וּבַת בִּתּוֹ, וּבַת בְּנוֹ, בַּת אִשְׁתּוֹ, וּבַת בְּנָהּ, וּבַת בִּתָּהּ, חֲמוֹתוֹ וְאֵם חֲמוֹתוֹ, וְאֵם חָמִיו, אֲחוֹתוֹ מֵאִמּוֹ, וַאֲחוֹת אִמּוֹ, וַאֲחוֹת אִשְׁתּוֹ, וְאֵשֶׁת אָחִיו מֵאִמּוֹ, וְאֵשֶׁת אָחִיו שֶׁלֹּא הָיָה בְעוֹלָמוֹ, וְכַלָּתוֹ, הֲרֵי אֵלּוּ פּוֹטְרוֹת צָרוֹתֵיהֶן וְצָרוֹת צָרוֹתֵיהֶן מִן הַחֲלִיצָה וּמִן הַיִּבּוּם עַד סוֹף הָעוֹלָם. וְכֻלָּן אִם מֵתוּ, אוֹ מֵאֲנוּ, אוֹ נִתְגָּרְשׁוּ, אוֹ שֶׁנִּמְצְאוּ אַיְלוֹנִיּוֹת, צָרוֹתֵיהֶן מֻתָּרוֹת. וְאִי אַתָּה יָכוֹל לוֹמַר בַּחֲמוֹתוֹ וּבְאֵם חֲמוֹתוֹ וּבְאֵם חָמִיו שֶׁנִּמְצְאוּ אַיְלוֹנִיּוֹת אוֹ שֶּׁמֵּאֵנוּ: Fifteen categories of women constitute familial relations that are forbidden as incestuous, and consequently, these women exempt their rival wives and the rival wives of their rival wives from ḥalitza and from levirate marriage forever, i.e., they also exempt rival wives of rival wives of rival wives, and so on. And these women are: The daughter of the yavam, i.e., the deceased brother had married a daughter of his brother, which means that when he died childless, his brother’s own daughter came before her father for levirate marriage, and therefore she is exempt. And the same applies if the deceased brother’s widow is the daughter of the daughter of the yavam, or if she is the daughter of his son, or the daughter of his wife. And similarly, if the yevama is the daughter of the son of the wife of her yavam or the daughter of his wife’s daughter, or if she is the mother-in-law of her yavam, or his mother-in-law’s mother, or his father-in-law’s mother, then she is exempt from ḥalitza and levirate marriage. The mishna continues its list of close relatives. If the yevama is the maternal half sister of the yavam, or if she is the sister of his mother, or his wife’s sister, then she is exempt from both ḥalitza and levirate marriage Or if she was the wife of his maternal half brother, and after this brother died or divorced his wife, she married another of his father’s brothers, who was not her relative, and this brother died, she is exempt. In this case, the obligation to enter into levirate marriage should be incurred by the surviving brother, but since she was previously the wife of his maternal brother, she is exempt. And the same applies to the wife of a brother with whom he did not coexist, i.e., the wife of a man who died before his brother was born. As will be explained, the obligation of levirate marriage does not apply to the yavam in this case. Since levirate marriage does not apply to him, the yevama remains forbidden to him as his brother’s wife. And the last case is if one’s yevama had previously been his daughter-in-law, and after his son had died one’s brother married her, before he too passed away. These fifteen women exempt their rival wives and the rival wives of their rival wives from ḥalitza and levirate marriage forever. § And with regard to all of these women listed as prohibited relations, these halakhot apply only if they were married to the deceased brother until the time of his death. However, this is not the case if they died during the deceased brother’s lifetime, or if they refused their husbands when they were minors. This refusal is referring to the decree of the Sages that a girl under the age of twelve whose father is no longer alive may be married off by her mother or brothers. However, this marriage is not final, as she can terminate it by performing an act of refusal, i.e., by declaring, while still a minor, that she does not desire this marriage. In this case, the marriage is annulled retroactively and she is considered as though she were never married at all. Or if those women were divorced by their husband, the deceased brother, or were found to be a sexually underdeveloped woman [aylonit], i.e., a woman who is so underdeveloped that she is not considered a woman in the full sense, these halakhot do not apply. Her marriage is considered a mistaken marriage and is null and void. In all these cases their rival wives are permitted, as the exemption for rival wives of forbidden relatives applies only when the forbidden relative was the brother’s wife at the time of his death, when the halakhot of levirate marriage came into effect. § And the mishna comments that the language of this principle is imprecise, as you cannot say with regard to his mother-in-law and with regard to his mother-in-law’s mother and with regard to his father-in-law’s mother that they were found to be an aylonit, as an aylonit is sterile and therefore cannot become a mother or a mother-in-law. Nor is the mishna precise when it states: Or refused, as refusal applies only to minors, who cannot give birth.