YEVAMOS - 062b – הבא על יבמתו – פרק ששי – יבמות, סב ע”ב

Grandchildren are like children!^[1]

בני בנים הרי הן כבנים - he presently thinks: that the son or the daughter died and had a son who combines with his father's sister or his mother's brother, the grandfather is no longer obligated in pru urvu; and the reason is that the deceased had a son — otherwise he would not have fulfilled it, for we require populating the world; and this is difficult for Rav Huna.

When that was taught, it was to complete.

כי תניא ההיא להשלים - as where the elder had only one son, and the son married a woman and fathered a daughter — the elder is exempt, for this one has completed his obligation; but if he had a son and a daughter from the start, even if they died without children, he has fulfilled pru urvu.

They objected: Grandchildren are like children; if one of them died or was found to be a saris, he has not fulfilled pru urvu.

This is a refutation of Rav Huna — a refutation:

Grandchildren are like children:

Abaye thought to say: a son's son and a daughter's daughter, and all the more so a son's daughter; but a daughter's son — no.

Rava said to him: He formed it to be inhabited is required — and here it is!^[2]

Everyone agrees, at least, that two from one — no.

דכולי עלמא - both according to Abaye and according to Rava.

תרי מחד - and the second died without children — the elder has not fulfilled pru urvu.

And no? But the Rabbis said to Rav Sheshes: Marry a woman and father children; and he said to them: The children of my daughter are my children!

There he was putting them off, for Rav Sheshes had become sterile from Rav Huna's lecture.

איעקר מפרקיה דרב הונא - for he would lengthen his expositions, and they needed to urinate and would hold themselves back and become sterile, as taught in Bechoros (44b).

Rabbah said to Rava bar Mari: From where is this matter that the Rabbis said: Grandchildren are like children?

מנא הא מילתא כו' - it refers to the children of his daughter, for the son of his son is obvious to us.

If you say from what is written (Bereishis 31:43): The daughters are my daughters and the sons are my sons —

if so, and the flock is my flock, too?

Rather, what you acquired from me; here too, what you acquired from me.^[3]

Rather, from here (I Divrei HaYamim 2:21): And afterwards Chetzron came to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilad, and she bore him Seguv; and it is written (Shoftim 5:14): From Machir came down lawgivers; and it is written (Tehillim 60:9; Tehillim 108:9): Yehudah is my lawgiver.

מני מכיר ירדו מחוקקים - and we cannot say from his sons' sons, but from his daughter's sons, for another verse is written: Yehudah is my lawgiver; and it can only be found to come from both in this way: that lawgivers came from Chetzron through the daughter of Machir — thus a daughter's sons are like his sons.

Our Mishnah is not like Rabbi Yehoshua,

מתניתין - which teaches unless etc. — thus if he has, he may desist — is not like Rabbi Yehoshua.

as it was taught: Rabbi Yehoshua says: If a man married a wife in his youth, he should marry a wife in his old age; if he had children in his youth, he should have children in his old age,

as it says (Koheles 11:6): In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

לערב - in the time of his old age.

אי זה יכשר - which seed will be fitting and God-fearing and will endure.

Rabbi Akiva says: If he learned Torah in his youth, he should learn Torah in his old age; if he had students in his youth, he should have students in his old age, as it says: In the morning sow your seed, etc.

They said: Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students, from Gabbas to Antipatris, and they all died in one period, because they did not treat each other with respect;

מגבת עד אנטיפרס - [they were all between these towns].

and the world was desolate, until Rabbi Akiva came to our Rabbis in the south and taught it to them: Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehudah, Rabbi Yosi, Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua; and it was they who upheld the Torah at that time.

שמם - for the Torah was forgotten.

It was taught: They all died between Pesach and Shavuos.^[4]

Rav Chama bar Abba said, and some say Rabbi Chiya bar Avin: They all died a bad death.

What is it?

Rav Nachman said: Askara.^[5]

Rav Masna said: The halachah follows Rabbi Yehoshua:

Rabbi Tanchum said in the name of Rabbi Chanilai: Any man who has no wife lives without joy, without blessing, without goodness.

Without joy — as it is written (Devarim 14:26): And you shall rejoice, you and your household;

ביתך - a wife.

without blessing — as it is written (Yechezkel 44:30): to cause a blessing to rest on your house;

without goodness — as it is written (Bereishis 2:18): It is not good that man should be alone.

In the West they say: without Torah, without a wall.

Without Torah — as it is written (Iyov 6:13): Is it that I have no help in me, and that wisdom is driven from me?;

האם אין עזרתי בי - my wife, as it is written (Bereishis 2:18): a helper against him; at once wisdom is driven from me, for he must occupy himself with the needs of his household, and his learning is forgotten.

without a wall — as it is written (Yirmiyahu 31:22): A woman shall encompass a man.^[6]

Rava bar Ulla said: without peace, as it is written (Iyov 5:24): And you shall know that your tent is at peace, and you shall visit your home and not sin.

וידעת כי שלום אהלך - when you have a tent; and his tent is none other than his wife, as it says: Return to your tents.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Whoever knows of his wife that she is God-fearing and does not visit her is called a sinner, as it says: And you shall know that your tent is at peace, etc.

ואין פוקדה - in intimacy at the time of her cycle.

כי שלום אהלך - complete in fear of Heaven.

And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: A man is obligated to visit his wife when he sets out on a journey, as it says: And you shall know that your tent is at peace, etc.

בשעה שיוצא לדרך - because she desires him more at that time.

Is it derived from here?

It is derived from there: and your desire shall be to your husband — this teaches that a woman longs for her husband when he sets out on a journey!

תשוקתך - your desire.

Rav Yosef said: It was needed only near the time of her period.

ה"ג לא נצרכה אלא סמוך לווסתה - [even though] the Rabbis said (Shevuos 18b): a man must separate from his wife, etc. — even so, when he sets out on a journey he should visit her.

And how long?

Rava said: An onah.

עונה - if she usually sees by day, she is forbidden the whole day; and if she usually sees at night, she is forbidden the whole night.

And this applies to a voluntary matter; but for a mitzvah matter they are preoccupied.

וה"מ - that he is obligated to visit her when he goes for a voluntary matter; but for a mitzvah matter, no — because he is preoccupied with the mitzvah; or alternatively, he would become preoccupied with intimacy and neglect the mitzvah.

The Rabbis taught: One who loves his wife as himself, honors her more than himself, guides his sons and daughters on the straight path, and marries them off near their maturity — about him the verse says: And you shall know that your tent is at peace.^[7]

יותר מגופו - for degradation is harder for a woman than for a man.

One who loves his neighbors, draws his relatives close, and marries his sister's daughter^[8]

והנושא בת אחותו - a person's longing for his sister is greater than for his brother, and through this he comes to cherish his wife.

Tosafos

וכל שכן ברא לברתא - Although we said above that two males do not count as a son and a daughter — here, where he comes by the power of the one who exempted him from pru urvu, it is obvious that the son properly stands in place of the daughter.

חייב אדם לפקוד את אשתו - Rabbeinu Tam says that this visiting is not intimacy; rather, when he wishes to go on a journey, if he is far from her he should not set out unless he returns to her and visits her, whether with intimacy or with other things, and speaks to her heart. And it asks: is it derived from there — this teaches that a woman longs for her husband when he goes on a journey — and presumably, since she desires him, he should visit her, for about one who honors his wife the verse says: then you shall call, etc.? And it answers: Rav Yosef said: it was needed only for his wife who is a niddah — this is the reading in all the old books — and this is the explanation: that one verse comes to teach that even if his wife is a niddah he should visit her. And how long? An onah — even though intimacy is forbidden, nevertheless it is joy and pleasure for her, since he wishes to go on a journey. And so we say at the beginning of HaDar (Eruvin 63b): One who sleeps in a chamber where a husband and wife sleep — about him the verse says: The women of My people you drive out from their pleasant house; and Rav Yosef said there: even if his wife is a niddah. And what they emended in the books, it was needed only near the time of her period, does not seem right at all, for they emended it so because they wished to explain visiting as intimacy; and in Shevuos (18b) it proves that near the time of her period is a Torah law, from and you shall separate the children of Israel, etc.; and further, it applies it to one going out for a voluntary matter — and if so, even according to the one who says (Niddah 15a) that the periods are rabbinic, and so near the time of her period is also rabbinic — nonetheless, why should it be permitted for one going out for a voluntary matter?

סמוך לפירקן - It refers to his sons too, as we say in HaNisrafin (Sanhedrin 76b); and although the Rabbis did not institute marriage for a minor, as we say later in perek Almanah (68a), nonetheless for this purpose they instituted marriage for him, so that his relations should not be licentious.

והנושא את בת אחותו - The Rashbam explained that the same applies to his brother's daughter, but he mentioned his sister because she persuades him with words, and it is common that he marries her daughter. And Rabbeinu Tam says that it said his sister's daughter specifically, because she is of his fortune, as we say: most children resemble the mother's brothers.

Notes

1. 1. Continues from [Yevamos 62a].
2. 2. He formed it to be inhabited — [Yeshayahu 45:18]; that is, the essence of the mitzvah is that the world be populated.
3. 3. That is: Lavan meant that what you acquired from me is mine; so there is no proof from there for a daughter's children.
4. 4. For this reason customs of mourning are kept during the days of the Omer.
5. 5. Askara — a disease of the throat that chokes.
6. 6. That is: the wife surrounds and guards her husband like a wall.
7. 7. Near their maturity — near the age of adulthood.
8. 8. The passage continues on [Yevamos 63a].