Resources for Yevamos daf 2

1.     One of the things that is striking about our מסכתא is that it is the first one in סדר נשים.  Why we would we start סדר נשים with a  מצוה connected to such sadness? After all, we have a principle of אתחולי בפּורענותא לא מתחילינן! Interestingly, the מאירי writes in his הקדמה לבית הבחירה ד"ה אמנם that קידושין is really the first מסכתא in סדר נשים and יבמות comes after גיטין, which is easier to understand. Assuming our order of מסכתות, one answer given by תוספות ישנים here is that מועד קטן is the last מסכתא in מועד(according to some). Therefore, we want to be סומך פּורענותא לפּורענותא.  Another possibility he gives is that it יבום the first מצוה that happened with a woman as יהודה told his son to be מיבם תמר. As to why it is called יבמות and not “יבום וחליצה”, the רמב"ם in ספר המצוות in עשה רי"ז says it is because מצות יבום קודמת למצות חליצה.

2.     תוספות in ד"ה ואחות אשתו asks why a יבמה who is a נדה isn’t considered an ערוה that would פּטור a woman and her צרה from יבום וחליצה? He answers in his first answer that נדה isn’t similar to אחות אשה (where the פּטור of צרות is learned from) since אחות אשה is an איסור that applies to this יבם more than other men, whereas נדה applies to everyone universally. See the קובץ הערות in the first piece in the ספר and the חידושי ר׳ שמעון who ask the following question on תוספות: why is that relevant? It’s true that נדה and אחות אשה  have חילוקים but we have a principle of אין משיבין על ההקש, and אחות אשה is a היקש to all other עריות!? ר׳ שמעון answers with the following:  many of the ראשונים ask why we don’t list another ערוה-- a case where someone divorces a lady on condition she doesn’t marry ראובן, and then she marries ראובן’s brother and the brother dies and she falls to ראובן for יבום. There also he can’t do יבום because of ערוה. The רשב"א answers that the case is not considered an ערוה to פּטור a צרה because it isn’t an inherent ערוה but rather one that only comes because of a  תנאי. Based on that ר׳ שמעון explains that a נדה is also not an inherent ערוה but rather because of her טומאה. Therefore, it wouldn’t פּטור a צרה. ר׳ אלחנן answers that the whole איסור נדה is inherently temporary so we don’t say on it הואיל ונאסרה שעה אחת נאסרה עולמית

3.     תוספות in ד"ה או שנמצאו אילונית brings the גמרא that says you can’t be מיבם a קטנה  lest she be found to be an אילונית. תוספות asks why you can’t be מיבם a קטנה ממה נפשך—if she is an אילונית she was never married to your brother, and if she isn’t an אילונית then you are doing יבום! He brings ר׳ אברהם מבורגיל who answers that we are talking about a case where we found out she was an אילונית after she died and we are concerned that perhaps he wouldn’t have cared if she was an אילונית in which case she would be married to the brother but the יבם cant do יבום since an אילונית is פּטור from יבום because she isn’t ראוי לילד. There is a fascinating question asked by the שער המלך in הלכות מקוואות פּרק י׳ הל׳ וּ. He asks that you should be allowed to do יבום with a ספק ספיקא: first, maybe she isn’t an אילונית. Even if she is, maybe he would be מקפּיד in which case the ביאה is allowed anyway since she was never married to the brother. He answers that you see from here an important יסוד: since it is possible to be מברר one of the ספיקות (whether she is an  אילונית or not), even though you can’t be מברר it now, it’s not called a ספק.

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