Yevamos 8:4-5

Yevamos 8:4

Rabbi Yehoshua said he heard that a eunuch performs chalitzah and chalitzah is performed with the widow of a eunuch, and a eunuch does not perform chalitzah and chalitzah is not performed with the widow of a eunuch; he was unable to reconcile this contradiction. Rabbi Akiva explained it as follows: a man who was castrated performs chalitzah and chalitzah is performed with his widow, but a man who was born a eunuch does not perform chalitzah and chalitzah is not performed with his widow because there was never a time that he was suited to perform this mitzvah. Rabbi Eliezer disagreed, saying that a man who was born a eunuch performs chalitzah and chalitzah is performed with his widow because he might be cured medically but one who was castrated does not perform chalitzah and chalitzah is not performed with his widow because he cannot be cured. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Beseira testified about a castrated man named ben Megusas from Jerusalem, who married his wife through yibum. This confirms the position of Rabbi Akiva.

Yevamos 8:5

A man born a eunuch does not perform chalitzah or yibum. Similarly, a congenitally infertile woman does not perform chalitzah or yibum. If a eunuch performed chalitzah with his brother’s widow, he does not disqualify her from marrying a kohein because they performed a meaningless act. If he had conjugal relations with her, he does disqualify her from marrying a kohein because this is a prohibited relationship. (Aside from the context of yibum, relations with a brother’s wife are prohibited.) Similarly, if brothers perform chalitzah with a congenitally-infertile woman, they do not disqualify her from marrying a kohein, but if they have conjugal relations, they do disqualify her.