002 - הִלְכוֹת אִסּוּרֵי בִּיאָה פֵּרֶק ב

Laws of Issurei Bi'ah, Chapter 2

1. One's father's wife, one's son's wife, one's brother's wife and the wife of one's father's brother—all four are arayos to him forever: whether from betrothal or from marriage, whether during their husbands' lifetime or after their husbands' death—except for the wife of his brother who left no son—or after they were divorced. If he had relations with one of them during her husband's lifetime, he is liable twice: on account of a close relative and on account of a married woman, since both prohibitions take effect at once.

2. Therefore, one who has relations with his mother, who is his father's wife, is liable twice. Whether during his father's lifetime or after his father's death, he is liable twice: once on account of his mother and once on account of his father's wife. Whether his brother is from his father or from his mother, whether born of a marriage or of an illicit union, that brother's wife is an ervah to him. But the wife of his father's brother from the mother's side is a sheniyah, as we have explained. Likewise his sister, whether from his father or from his mother, whether born of a marriage or of an illicit union—for example, his mother or his father had relations with others and he has a sister from that union—she is an ervah to him, as it says, "מוֹלֶדֶת בַּיִת, אוֹ מוֹלֶדֶת חוּץ" ("whether born at home or born outside," Vayikra 18:9).

3. The daughter of his father's wife who is his sister is the one who is an ervah to him, as it says, "עֶרְוַת בַּת-אֵשֶׁת אָבִיךָ מוֹלֶדֶת אָבִיךָ" ("The nakedness of your father's wife's daughter, born of your father," Vayikra 18:11). But if his father married a woman who had a daughter from another man, that daughter is permitted to him, for she was not born of his father. Now, he is already liable for her as his sister; why then does it say "בַּת-אֵשֶׁת אָבִיךָ" ("your father's wife's daughter")? To make him liable for her on this count as well.

4. Therefore, one who has relations with his sister who is the daughter of his father's wife is liable twice: once on account of "עֶרְוַת אֲחוֹתְךָ" ("the nakedness of your sister," Vayikra 18:9), and once on account of "עֶרְוַת בַּת-אֵשֶׁת אָבִיךָ" ("the nakedness of your father's wife's daughter," Vayikra 18:11). But if his father violated or seduced a woman and fathered a daughter from her, and he had relations with that daughter, he is liable only on account of his sister, for the daughter of a woman who was violated is not the daughter of his father's wife.

5. His mother's sister—whether her sister through her father or through her mother, whether from a marriage or a sister born of an illicit union—is an ervah to him as a mother's sister. Likewise his father's sister, whether through the mother or through the father, whether from a marriage or from an illicit union, is an ervah to him as a father's sister.

6. If a man had relations with a woman out of wedlock and fathered a daughter from her, that daughter is an ervah to him as his daughter, even though the Torah does not say "You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter." Since it forbade a daughter's daughter, it did not need to mention the daughter; her prohibition is from the Torah and not from the words of the Sofrim. Therefore, one who has relations with his daughter by his wife is liable twice: on account of his daughter and on account of the ervah of a woman and her daughter.

7. Once a man has betrothed a woman, six women among her relatives become forbidden to him, and each of them is an ervah to him forever, whether he married her or divorced her, whether during his wife's lifetime or after her death. They are: her mother, her mother's mother, her father's mother, her daughter, her daughter's daughter and her son's daughter. If he had relations with one of them during his wife's lifetime, both are burned.

8. If he had relations with her after his wife's death, they are liable to kares and do not carry the death penalty by the court, as it says, "בָּאֵשׁ יִשְׂרְפוּ אֹתוֹ, וְאֶתְהֶן" ("they shall burn him and them with fire," Vayikra 20:14): when both are alive—his wife and the woman with whom he had relations—he and the ervah are burned; when both are not alive, there is no burning.

9. Likewise, his wife's sister is an ervah to him until his wife dies. Whether her sister through her mother or through her father, whether from a marriage or a sister born of an illicit union, she is an ervah to him.

10. If he transgressed and committed adultery with one of these seven women, whether unwittingly or wilfully, even though he and the adulteress are liable to death by the court or to kares, his wife does not become forbidden to him—except for the sister of his betrothed, who makes his wife forbidden to him, as we explained in Hilchos Gerushin.

11. When a man has relations with a woman out of wedlock, her relatives—the seven women we mentioned—do not become forbidden to him. But the Sages forbade a man who was unfaithful with a woman to marry any of the seven women who are her relatives as long as that woman is alive. For she will come to visit her relatives, he will be alone with her, being familiar with her, and he will come to sin by having relations with an ervah. Moreover, even if he is only suspected regarding a woman, he should not marry one of her relatives until the woman about whom he was suspected dies. If he did marry the relative of a woman with whom he was unfaithful, he need not divorce her.

12. One who is suspected regarding an ervah, or about whom an evil report has gone out concerning her, should not live with her in the same alley and should not be seen in that neighborhood. It once happened that people were spreading rumors about a man and his mother-in-law, and the Sages gave him disciplinary lashes because he passed by the entrance of her house.

13. One who has relations out of wedlock with a woman and her daughter, or with a woman and her sister, and the like, is like one who had relations with two unrelated women. For they become arayos to one another only through marriage, not through an illicit union. Likewise, if his father, his son, his brother or his father's brother violated or seduced a woman, she is permitted to him and he may marry her, for the Torah says only "wife," and here there is no marriage.

14. If his father or his son married a woman, he is permitted to marry her daughter or her mother, as we have explained. A man is permitted to marry his brother's son's wife, and a man may marry a woman together with her sister's daughter or her brother's daughter. The Sages instructed that a man should marry his sister's daughter, and the same applies to his brother's daughter, as it says, "וּמִבְּשָׂרְךָ לֹא תִתְעַלָּם" ("and do not hide yourself from your own flesh," Yeshayahu 58:7).