Yevamos - Daf 54
- Yibum does not take effect if the yavam was sleeping but does take effect if he was dozing
Rav Yehudah said: ישן לא קנה ביבמתו – If the yavam had relations while he was sleeping, he is not koneh his yevamah as his wife, for the passuk states: "יבמה יבא עליה" – her yavam shall come upon her, which implies, עד דמכוין לה לשם ביאה – until he has kavanah for the sake of having relations with her. When the Gemara brings conflicting Baraisos that teach that yibum takes effects whether the yavam or yevamah were awake or asleep, it answers that the Baraisos were dealing במתנמנם – with one who is only dozing, and Rav Yehudah was referring to someone fully asleep. Rav Ashi defines dozing as, נים ולא נים תיר ולא תיר – He is asleep but not fully asleep, he is awake, but not fully awake, so that if people call him, he responds but is not awake enough that he could give a response that requires sevarah (reasoning), but when reminded of something, he remembers.
- The source that העראה is forbidden
The Mishnah had stated אחד המערה – Whether one only begins the act of relations, the yibum is valid. Ullah said: מנין להעראה מן התורה – Where is it known that the beginning of relations is forbidden in the Torah? For the passuk states: "ואיש אשר ישכב את אשה דוה וגלה את ערותה את מקרה הערה – A man who lies with a woman in her affliction (i.e. a niddah) and has uncovered her nakedness, he has made naked her source. The term הערה, made naked, refers to the beginning of relations. The Gemara then goes through an extensive search to learn how we know that העראה applies to all arayos and not just to a niddah, and finally concludes that is learned from the passuk that comes after listing all of the arayos, "כי כל אשר יעשה מכל התועבות האלה ונכרתו הנפשות העשת" – For if anyone commits any of these abominations, the persons doing so will be cut off from among their people. Since this passuk refers to all of the arayos and the niddah, the Torah is making a hekeish between them, to teach, that just as a niddah is forbidden with העראה, so too all of the arayos are forbidden with העראה.
- Niddah mentioned in the passuk of אשת אח teaches that an אשת אח is an issur kares
The Gemara inquires why the passuk of אשת אח mentions a niddah, and answers that it was needed for what Rav Huna asked: רמז ליבמה שאסורה בחיי בעלה מנין – Where is there a remez in the Torah to the law that a yevamah is forbidden to marry her brother-in-law even during her husband’s lifetime after he divorced her? When the Gemara says that it is a sevarah and does not require a remez, for if the Torah only permitted a yevamah to marry her brother-in-law after her husband’s death, then it follows, that during his lifetime, even if they are divorced, that she is forbidden. It rejects this logic, for perhaps the Torah means that after the husband’s death it is a mitzvah for the yavam to marry her, but during his lifetime, the yavam has reshus to marry her. Alternatively, perhaps he may marry her after her husband’s death, but not during his lifetime, and since the rule is לאו הבא מכלל עשה עשה – a negative mitzvah that is derived from a positive mitzvah, which in this case refers to doing yibum, only has the force of an aseh, we would not know that an אשת אח is an issur kares. Therefore, the passuk teaches that an אשת אח is like a niddah. מה נדה אף על פי שיש לה היתר לאחר מכאן בשעת איסורא בכרת – Just as a niddah is permitted at a later time yet is subject to kares at the time of issur, so too a brother’s wife, even though she is permitted at a later time, if her husband dies childless, she is nevertheless subject to an issur kares during her husband’s lifetime.
