Resources for Yevamos daf 44

מראה מקומות

1.      The גמרא says that the משנה that talks about four women is teaching us that one should not marry more than four יבמות so that they will be able to fulfill their עונה to each one at least once a month. רש"י explains that a ת"ח is obligated in עונה once a week so if he has four wives he will be able to fulfill his עונה to each once a month. The ריטב"א asks what seems to be two questions: first, our משנה isn’t only talking to ת"ח—its talking to all people. Second, each woman is entitled to an עונה once a week, so how is the fact that he has other wives cause that she doesn’t have a חיוב עונה once a week? He answers with an incredible חידוש: our משנה is only talking about יבמות. He explains that since a יבמה is a קנין שהקנו לו מן השמים he doesn’t have a חיוב עונה more than once a month and perhaps it is even less than that. However, a regular husband must fulfill his חיוב עונה to each and every wife. He also adds that there is no חרם דרבינו גרשון when it comes to a יבמה and he can take as many as יבמות as he wants, but in all the above cases we give him an עצה טובה not to do it. The רמב"ם in הלכות אישות פּרק י"ד הל׳ ד disagrees fundamentally with the ריטב"א and says that חז"ל said that any man can marry up to four women and in that case he only has a חיוב עונה to each woman once a month. In other words, according to theרמב"ם  the חיוב עונה is dependent on the man and not the woman, whereas according to the ריטב"א it is תלוי on the woman and not the man. The שולחן ערוך in אה"ע סימן ע"ו סעיף ז paskens like the רמב"ם .

2.      The גמרא brings the דרשה of בית אחד הוא חולץ ואינו חולץ שני בתים. There is an interesting שאלה as to what the גמרא means: does it mean you don’t need to give חליצה to both women or that you aren’t allowed to give חליצה to both women? The טור in סימן קס"א says, "ולא יחלוץ אלא לאחד מהם". The ב"י understands that the טור is לאו דוקה and he just means you don’t need to give חליצה to more than one wife. However, the ב"ח disagrees and says that the טור is דוקה and that there is an איסור דאורייתא  to do חליצה to both women and if you if you do you have made both women פּסול לכהונה! The ב"ש in ס"ק א disagrees and says there is no איסור. The ריטב"א in ד"ה גירסת מקצת says "אפשר" there is an איסור דאורייתא to not be מבזה a person with an unnecessary חליצה for no reason.

3.      The גמרא says כל שאינו עולה ליבום אינו עולה לחליצה. While it isn’t obvious from our גמרא, תוספות in ד"ה כל says that the reverse is also true: if you can’t do חליצה then you can’t do יבום. Therefore, he has a question as to why a חרש must do יבום if he can’t do חליצה? He answers that a חרש really is עולה לחליצה and it’s just "פּומייהו הוא דכאיב להו" which means it is a side reason they can’t do חליצה so they are still considered עולה לחליצה. In the רבי עקיבא איגר on משניות he asks why the משנה in the second פּרק of סנהדרין says that a מלך doesn’t do חליצה [since we can’t have the woman spitting at him] and [therefore] he can’t do יבום either? There is no reason the king can’t do יבום other than the fact that he can’t do חליצה, and the reason he can’t do חליצה is just a side reason so how is that different than the חרש who is considered עולה לחליצה? The אגרות משה in אה"ע חלק א סימן קנ"ח answers with a יסוד: there is a difference between someone who can’t do חליצה versus someone who isn’t allowed to do חליצה. A חרש can’t physically do it, but a king isn’t allowed to have it done.

He explains that the fact that one can’t do one מצוה should not impact whether one can do a separate מצוה. However, the principle of כל העולה teaches us that יבום and חליצה are connected. However, this is only makes sense if מצד הדין the person can’t do חליצה. We would then say that if the תורה said not to do one then it would say not to do the other. However, if the תורה doesn’t say a person can’t do a מצוה and it’s just a physical issue which makes the מצוה impractical, then there is no reason it should impact his ability to do the other מצוה which is יבום. 

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