Yevamot 50 - April 26, 25 Nissan

Presentation in PDF format Today's daf is dedicated in honor of Jon and Yael Cohen on their 24th wedding anniversary. Mazel tov! How is the last issue Menashe had with Isaiah resolved? If the Torah said that one has a set amount of years to live and Isaiah said that Chizkiyahu was given fifteen extra years to live, how can that be? The answer is that there is a tanaitic debate on how to answer the question. One opinion is that one has a set amount of years and if one is worthy, one will live to that age, but if one is not, the number of years is reduced. Another opinion is that if one is worthy, one can get more than what was allotted. Rav Yosef comments on the last part of the Mishna which had many different cases of when a sister dies, her husband or ex-husband can marry her sister - by saying that here is an example of where Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi added something that was unnecessary. Is there meaning to a get given to one wife after a get was already given to her co-wife or maamar performed on one wife after maamar was already performed on the other or intercourse to fulfill the mitzva of yibum after it was already done to the other or chalitza after chalitza? The rabbis and Rabban Gamliel disagree. The Mishna brings every possible permutation of get, maamar, intercourse and chalitza that were performed either by two brothers on one yevama or one yabam on two wives waiting for yibum. The main ramifications are - are the woman's relatives forbidden to the yabam? If a betrothal was performed, would it be valid? Does one still need to do chalitza or is the yibum obligation taken care of? How strong are each of these actions in removing the zika (connection) of the yevamot to the yabam? Chalitza or intercourse end the yibum requirement entirely - but is that only true if it was the first action done or it is even if it took place after another action such as maamar or get took place? This is also a subject of debate. Why is giving a get to a yevama effective to prohibit the brothers from performing yibum on her or any of the other wives, if they a get is not effective for someone who isn't married? Why is maamar effective to forbid the yabam from marrying any of the other wives? Why according to the rabbis are intercourse after get or maamar not enough to end the yibum obligation but chalitza after get or maamar would be sufficient?