1,930. A Yevama Who Was Prohibited to Her Husband

Yibum v’Chalitzah 6:12

Let’s say that a yevama was forbidden to her husband as one of the prohibited relations, such as if he accidentally married his paternal sister, and she is now under a levirate bond to his surviving brother. In such a case, the yevama is not considered the deceased’s wife because such a betrothal isn’t binding. As a result, she need not perform yibum or chalitzah. If her late husband had another wife, that other woman must perform chalitzah or yibum. If the woman who was forbidden to her husband as one of the prohibited relations is permitted to the yavam, and if he wants to marry her in addition to performing yibum with the other widow, he may do so.

Yibum v’Chalitzah 6:13

If a yevama is prohibited to her husband because of a negative or a positive commandment, or because she’s a secondary relation, but she isn’t prohibited to the yavam by these causes, then she may perform yibum with one exception: if the deceased remarried his ex-wife who had married someone else in the interim. In such a case, she should perform chalitzah to the exclusion of yibum. Similarly, if there’s a doubt as to whether a yevama was forbidden to her husband or to the yavam as one of the prohibited relations, she should only perform chalitzah and not yibum. Accordingly, let’s say that a man betroths a woman but there’s a doubt as to the validity of the betrothal. Later, his brother, who is married to the sister of this woman, dies. In such a case, the surviving brother should only perform chalitzah, not yibum. Because of the doubt, he must also give his current wife a get. The yevama is forbidden to him out of doubt that she might be a prohibited relation, and the woman he married is forbidden to him out of doubt as related to a woman with whom he performed chalitzah. Such a woman is prohibited as a secondary relation as was discussed in halacha 1:13.