About this episode
Presentation in PDF format If the men mentioned in the previous Mishnayot were married to other women at the time they testified/ruled, etc. and then their wife died, they would be allowed to marry the women mentioned. Is this the case only if they died and are not divorced? On what does it depend? Does this mean that if a woman had two husbands who die (as first he testified that her husband died, then her second husband died) she can still marry a third time, as we don't hold like Rebbi who holds that a chazaka is created by two instances, not three? If the women were married to others in the interim, then also, they could marry. In the cases where they are forbidden to marry them, she is permitted to his son or brother. Why is this the case, when it says in a different case that when the wife is forbidden, her daughter, mother, and sister are forbidden as well? The third chapter starts with a case of four brothers of which two of them marry two sisters, and then die childless. The women must do chalitza and not yibum as each man theoretically has to marry two sisters and that is forbidden. The Gemara explains this in two possible ways. The first, because we hold there is zika (when she falls to yibum to him, it is as if they are married, and he has the zika of two sisters which is forbidden. The second, perhaps after the third brother does yibum with one, the fourth brother will die, and then there will be no opportunity to perform the mitzva of yibum (or chalitza) as she is forbidden to him on account of his wife, her sister and it is forbidden to cause the mitzva of yibum to be canceled. The Mishna also listed a number of unique cases of four brothers and two sisters where each one can marry one of the brothers or one can and the other cannot. What if they did yibum anyway? Do they have to get divorced or not? According to Rabbi Eliezer, it is a debate between Beit Shamai and Beit Hillel. There is a debate between Rav and Shmuel regarding a case of three sisters who fell to yibum to three brothers. First, they understand Rav is talking about when all the brothers died at once. They correct it to a case of each of the brothers dying one after the other with the chalitza of each wife being performed before the next brother dies. Shmuel's opinion will be explained in two ways in the continuation of this sugya.