Yevamos - Daf 94
- A woman is not believed to say, “My yavam died, that I might marry another.”
Rav Mordechai said to Rav Ashi, and some say it was Rav Acha who said to Rav Ashi, that the following Mishnah is a proof that a single witness is believed to permit a yevamah to marry someone other than the yavam. The Mishnah states: אין האשה נאמנת לומר מת יבמי שאנשא – A woman is not believed to say, “My yavam died, that I might marry another.” Since the Mishnah says that it is only the woman who is not believed, we may infer that a single witness is believed. After the Gemara refutes this, it teaches that the Mishnah needed to teach that a woman is not believed to say that her yavam died, to clarify the position of Rebbe Akiva. We might have thought that since Rebbe Akiva holds יש ממזר מחייבי לאוין – that a mamzer results from a relationship prohibited by a lav, אימא חיישא אקלקולא ודייקא – we can assume that the woman is afraid of being ruined and will be very careful about saying her yavam died, and therefore should be believed. קא משמע לן, that nevertheless, she is not believed. Rashi explains that she might hate the yavam and lie in order to be free from him, despite the risk of being subject to all of the penalties and her children becoming mamzerim.
- A get that does not work except to disqualify a woman from marrying into the Kehunah
Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav: הוה ליה לרבי אלעזר למדרש ביה מרגניתא ודרש בה חספא – Rav Elazar ben Masya could have darshened a pearl from the passuk and instead he darshened a shard. What is the pearl? It was taught in a Baraisa: The passuk states: And nor shall they (Kohanim) take in marriage ואשה גרושה מאישה – and a woman divorced from her husband. This implies, אפילו לא נתגרשה אלא מאישה – even if she was only divorced from her husband, but was not permitted to another man, פסולה לכהונה – she is disqualified from marrying into the Kehunah. Rashi explains that this would be accomplished if the husband said to his wife when he handed her the get, “You are divorced from me, but are not permitted to any other man.” Rashi explains that even though this get does not make her entirely divorced, if he were to die she is permitted to remarry but she would be forbidden from marrying a Kohen. The Baraisa concludes: והיינו ריח הגט דפוסל בכהונה – and this is the “scent” of a get that disqualifies a woman for Kehunah.
- A man marries his wife’s sister when he was told his wife and brother-in-law died overseas
The next Mishnah states: מי שהלכה אשתו למדינת הים – If one’s wife travelled overseas, and they came and told him, “Your wife died,” and then he married her sister, and afterward his wife came back, the law is: מותרת לחזור לו – She (his wife) is permitted to return to him, and he is permitted to marry the relatives of the sister, and the sister is permitted to marry his relatives. Rashi explains that the marriage to the sister is invalid and is considered nothing more than a z’nus relationship. The Gemara says, that this ruling applies, אף על גב דאזיל אשתו וגיסו למדינת הים – even if his wife and his brother-in-law (his wife’s sister’s husband) both travelled overseas, and he, after hearing of their deaths (from a single witness), married the sister, and then his wife and brother-in-law returned, this marriage to the sister is effective in that it prohibits his wife’s sister to his brother-in-law, yet his wife is permitted to him. And we do not say, מתוך שנאסרה אשת גיסו אגיסו תיאסר אשתו עליו – that since his brother-in-law’s wife became prohibited to his brother-in-law, his wife should be forbidden to him.
