YEVAMOS - 122a – האשה בתרא – פרק ששה עשר – יבמות, קכב ע”א

[Abaye deferred her] for three festivals.^[1]

תלתא ריגלי - Torah scholars would gather to hear a derashah – the laws of Pesach on Pesach – and she would ask them. And in the Responsa of the Geonim I found: all these “festivals” of the Amoraim are the day on which a great man died; it is fixed in his honor, and every year when that day comes, Torah scholars from all around gather and come to his grave together with the rest of the people, to hold a yeshivah there.

Rav Adda bar Ahavah said to her: Go before Rav Yosef, whose knife is sharp.^[2]

She went before him.

He resolved it from this Mishnah: A gentile who was selling fruit in the market and said, “These fruits are orlah,” “they are from Azikah,” “they are neta reva’i”^[3]

של ערלה הן - They are fruit of a young planting, which are finer than the fruit of an old tree.

של עזיקה - From an orchard that is fenced (me’uzak), with a wall around it to guard it, and it is the shemittah year. And I find it difficult: what prohibition is there here? If the time of removal^[4] has passed, it makes no difference whether from a guarded field or an ownerless one – both are forbidden; and before that time, both are permitted.

– he has said nothing; he meant only to praise his merchandise.^[5]

לא אמר כלום - To forbid them on that account; rather we follow the majority, that this man is lying and meant to praise his merchandise. Likewise neta reva’i – to let it be known that they are fruit of a young planting. And it seems to me that this Azikah is the name of a town in Eretz Yisrael whose fruit is choice; and if this gentile was abroad, praising his fruit and saying “I brought them from Azikah,” we do not worry that he is telling the truth and that perhaps they were not tithed and a Jew sold them to him – he meant only to praise his merchandise. Here too, this gentile meant only to frighten the Jew into cutting fodder for his animals.

Abba Yudan of Tzaidan said: It happened that a Jew and a gentile were walking on the road, and a gentile came and said, “Alas for the Jew who was with me on the road, who died on the road, and I buried him,” and they permitted his wife to marry.^[6]

חבל - It is a loss and a grief.

And again, it happened with a band of people who were walking to Antioch, and a gentile came and said, “Alas for a band of people who died, and I buried them,” and they permitted their wives to marry.

קולר - A band.

And again, it happened with sixty people who were walking to the fortress of Beitar, and a gentile came and said, “Alas for sixty people who were walking on the road to Beitar, who died, and I buried them,” and they permitted their wives to marry.

לכרכום ביתר - When Beitar came under siege.^[7]

One may testify by the light of a lamp or by the light of the moon, and one may permit a wife to marry on the strength of a disembodied voice.^[8]

מתני' על פי בת קול - They heard a voice crying, “So-and-so has died,” and saw no man in his form.

It happened that someone stood on top of a mountain and said, “So-and-so son of so-and-so from such-and-such a place has died.” They went and found no one there, and they permitted his wife to marry.

And again, it happened in Tzalmon that someone said, “I am so-and-so son of so-and-so; a snake has bitten me and I am dying.” They went and did not recognize him, and they went and permitted his wife to marry.

Rabbah bar Shmuel said: It was taught: Beis Shammai say: One may not permit a wife to marry on the strength of a disembodied voice; and Beis Hillel say: One may permit her to marry on the strength of a disembodied voice.

What does he teach us? It is our Mishnah!

גמ' מאי קמ"ל - Rabbah bar Shmuel – that according to Beis Hillel one may permit her to marry and we act as they do; the anonymous Mishnah says so too, and as a matter of course the halachah follows an anonymous Mishnah.

This is what he teaches us: that if you find an anonymous ruling that one may not permit her to marry – it is Beis Shammai.^[9]

בית שמאי היא - And the halachah does not follow that anonymous ruling.

They went and found no one there.^[10]

But perhaps it was a demon?

Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav: They saw the form of a man.

שראו לו דמות אדם - At first, when he cried out.

But demons too look like men!

They saw his shadow.^[11]

But demons too have a shadow!

They saw the shadow of his shadow.

בבואה דבבואה - The shadow of his shadow.

But perhaps demons too have the shadow of a shadow!

Rabbi Chanina said: Yonasan the demon told me: A shadow – they have; the shadow of a shadow – they do not have.

לימדני יונתן שידא - He was a demon, or expert in them.

But perhaps it was a rival wife?

ודלמא צרה הואי - That he had married a wife in another place, and she came to ruin [this wife] and then went away.

The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: In a time of danger one writes and gives [a get], even though one does not recognize [the man].

בשעת הסכנה - When a person is in danger, for example one who was thrown into a pit and said, “Whoever hears my voice, let him write a get for my wife” – they write and give it, and we rely on him in everything he says, when he says “I am so-and-so son of so-and-so.” Here too it is like a time of danger, for if she does not believe this one she will find no other, and she will remain an agunah.^[12]

Rabbi Akiva said: When I went down to Neharde’a to intercalate the year,^[13] I met Nechemyah of Beis Dli. He said to me: I have heard that in Eretz Yisrael they do not permit a woman to marry on the testimony of one witness, except for Yehudah ben Bava.^[14]

And I said to him: The matter is so.

מתני' ונומיתי לו - I said to him.

כן - Yes, the matter is as you said, that all disagree with him.

He said to me: Tell them in my name: You know that the country is overrun with troops; I have a tradition from Rabban Gamliel the Elder that one may permit a woman to marry on the testimony of one witness.

משובשת בגייסות - So that I cannot go to them and testify to what I heard.

When I came and set out the matter before Rabban Gamliel, he rejoiced at my words and said: We have found a companion for Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava.

In the course of this, Rabban Gamliel recalled that people were killed at Tel Arza, and Rabban Gamliel permitted their wives to marry on the testimony of one witness.

And it became the established practice to permit a woman to marry on the testimony of a witness quoting a witness, of a slave, of a woman, or of a maidservant.^[15]

Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua say: One may not permit a woman to marry on the testimony of one witness.

Rabbi Akiva says: Not on the word of a woman, nor of a slave, nor of a maidservant, nor of relatives.

Does Rabbi Akiva really hold that a woman is not believed?

But it was taught: Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says in the name of Rabbi Akiva: A woman is believed to bring her own get, by a kal va’chomer:^[16]

גמ' להביא את גיטה - From overseas; and although we need her own statement, that she say “It was written and signed in my presence” – for even when a valid man brings it he must say so.

If the women of whom the Sages said that they are not believed to say “her husband died” are believed to bring their gittin, then this one, who is believed to say “her husband died” – is it not logical that she is believed to bring her get?

נשים שאמרו - The five women^[17] of the previous perek (117a).

נאמנות להביא גיטה - In the second perek of Gittin (23b).

It is only the women of whom the Sages said who are not believed; a woman in general is believed!

This is no difficulty: here, before they established the practice; there, after they established the practice.^[18]

They said to him: It happened that Levites went to Tzoar, the city of palm trees, and one of them fell ill, and they brought him into an inn.

מתני' אמרו לו - To Rabbi Akiva: It happened that Levites…

On their return they said to the innkeeper: “Where is our companion?” She said to them: “He died, and I buried him,” and they permitted his wife to marry.

נומית להם - She said to them.

And shall a kohen’s daughter not be like an innkeeper?^[19]

ולא תהא כהנת - That is: shall a Jewish woman, or even a kohen’s daughter of fine lineage, not be believed like this inferior innkeeper? The Gemara explains what her inferiority is.

He said to them: When she is like the innkeeper – she will be believed.^[20]

אמר להם - Rabbi Akiva.

לכשתהא הפונדקית נאמנת - That is: when it turns out that this is true, that they believed the innkeeper – for they did not rely on her; rather she spoke innocently and brought them his staff and bag.

[ס"א לכשתהא כפונדקית נאמנת - That is: in the same kind of case in which they believed the innkeeper, any other woman is believed too; for the innkeeper brought out [his belongings] to them, and they relied on the signs.]

The innkeeper brought out to them his staff, his bag and the Sefer Torah that had been in his hand.

של עזיקה - Rashi explained: from a fenced and guarded orchard, and it is shemittah; and he found it difficult, since before the removal it is always permitted. Rabbeinu Tam does not accept this, for it is taught explicitly in the Toras Kohanim:^[21] “And the grapes of your untended vine you shall not gather” – from the guarded you may not gather, but you may gather from the ownerless. And if you ask: it is taught in the Toras Kohanim and in Perek HaBayis veha’Aliyah (Bava Metzia 118a): Those who guard the aftergrowths take their wages from the terumas halishkah^[22] – apply here “from the well-watered land of Israel”, from what is permitted to Israel, and guarded produce is forbidden to Israel, etc., as was explained. The Ri said: they did not guard it, but only kept animals away and told people that it was needed [for the offerings]. And ownerless produce too may be harvested only with a change; and the Toras Kohanim, which teaches “from the guarded you may not gather,” means even with a change, and “from the ownerless you may gather” means: eat.

דחזו ליה בבואה - In the Yerushalmi: Rabbi Acha bar Chanina in the name of Rabbi Chama: This applies in the field, but in town even if they did not see the shadow of a man. But it is taught: One who was thrown into a pit and said, “Whoever hears my voice, let him write a get for my wife” – they write and give it, and Rabbi Nasan said: provided he saw the shadow of a man. Rabbi Bun said: demons are found in pits just as they are found in fields. And that which is said (Megillah 3a), A person should not greet his fellow at night, for we fear he is a demon – that is in the field, like Yehoshua, who was outside the camp of Israel. In the Yerushalmi the Amoraim disagree about a document found with “So-and-so died” or “was killed” written in it – whether his wife may be permitted to marry.

Notes

1. 1. At the end of 121b: a gentile threatened a Jew that he would kill him as he had killed so-and-so the Jew who refused to cook for him on Shabbos. The wife of that man heard it and came before Abaye, who deferred her case for three festivals.
2. 2. An idiom: a sharp mind, quick to cut through to the ruling.
3. 3. Orlah is the fruit of a tree in its first three years, forbidden to eat or benefit from. Neta reva’i is fruit of the fourth year, which must be eaten in Yerushalayim or redeemed. The seller claims his fruit comes from young trees, whose fruit is finer.
4. 4. Shemittah produce may be eaten only while that kind is still found in the field. Once it is gone (the time of removal, biur), it must be removed from the house. Rashi asks why fruit from a guarded field should be worse.
5. 5. Since the seller only praises his goods, his words are not taken as a statement of fact. So too the gentile who boasted of killing a Jew spoke only to frighten the other into working; his words do not count as testimony that the husband is dead.
6. 6. Here the gentile speaks casually (mesiach lefi tumo), not meaning to testify. Such a statement is accepted as evidence of the husband’s death, and the wife may remarry.
7. 7. Beitar was the last fortress of the Bar Kochba revolt. It fell to the Romans after a long siege, with enormous loss of life.
8. 8. Witnesses who saw the dead man and recognized him by lamplight or moonlight may testify to free his wife.
9. 9. An anonymous Mishnah (stam mishnah) generally sets the halachah. Rabbah bar Shmuel teaches that an anonymous ruling forbidding testimony by a voice follows Beis Shammai and is not the halachah.
10. 10. The Mishnah’s case: a voice from a mountaintop announced a man’s death; they went up, found no one, and still freed his wife. The Gemara asks how we know a man was speaking.
11. 11. Bavu’ah – a shadow. Demons can take the form of a man, so the Gemara looks for a sign that the speaker was human.
12. 12. An agunah (“anchored” woman) is a wife whose husband has disappeared without proof of death. She may not remarry, so the Sages eased the rules of evidence for her.
13. 13. Adding a second Adar to the year so that Pesach falls in the spring.
14. 14. That is: no one allows a woman to remarry on one witness’s word except Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava.
15. 15. A witness repeating what he heard from another, a slave and a woman are not accepted as witnesses in other matters. For an agunah the Sages accepted them.
16. 16. One who brings a get from overseas must declare “It was written and signed in my presence.” Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar holds that the woman herself may bring her own get and make that declaration.
17. 17. The five women of the Mishnah on 117a: her mother-in-law, her mother-in-law’s daughter, her co-wife, her yevamah and her husband’s daughter. They are not believed to say her husband died, since out of ill will they may wish to ruin her.
18. 18. Rabbi Akiva’s “not on the word of a woman” was said before the practice of accepting one witness was established. Afterwards he agreed that a woman is believed too.
19. 19. The Sages argue: an innkeeper is a woman of low standing, yet she was believed. Should a woman of good lineage, even a kohen’s daughter, be believed any less?
20. 20. Rabbi Akiva answers: they did not rely on the innkeeper’s word but on the signs she produced – his staff, his bag and his Sefer Torah.
21. 21. Toras Kohanim (the Sifra) is the halachic midrash on Vayikra.
22. 22. The terumas halishkah is the fund collected from the yearly half-shekel, used to buy the communal offerings. The omer and the two loaves came from guarded shemittah aftergrowth, and the guards were paid from this fund.