1,935. Discovering That There Was a Levirate Bond After All

Yibum v’Chalitzah 6:22

If there was a doubt about the validity of the marriage of the woman who was forbidden as a prohibited relation, or a doubt as to whether she was divorced, then the other widow should perform chalitzah to the exclusion of yibum. Let’s say that the widow was a minor who was able to dissolve her marriage through refusal (miun). She didn’t do so during her husband’s lifetime but she did dissolve her levirate bond through refusal. In such a case, another widow must perform chalitzah to the exclusion of yibum.

Yibum v’Chalitzah 6:23

If the deceased’s second widow married someone else and it was subsequently found that the widow forbidden as a prohibited relation was congenitally infertile, then the one who remarried must be released by both her new husband – through a get – and the yavam – though chalitzah. She is then free to marry someone else.