Talking Talmud

How to change a rabbinic kiddushin to a Torah-level kiddushin? Plus, a story of kidnapping, essentially, from the moment of marriage - or chuppah, at least. Which leaves a second marriage in her case as not significant. But is this story representative?! Kidnapping isn't a normal marriage. Also, a new mishnah: a man who is married to two minors who are orphans, and he dies - what is the yibum/chal...

A new mishnah! Can a couple that divorces remarry each other? How does that affect yibum? And a other mishnah: A case of two brothers who are married to two minor sisters. What happens in the case of one of the brother's death (if he dies without children)? Likewise, the case of deaf-mute women. Namely, rabbinic kiddushin. But an adult and a minor mixes things up. Also, the sages take on more deta...

A mishnah from 107b: defining a minor girl, who would then need to and be able to refuse a betrothal organized by her mother or brother. She needs to have a level of understanding of what's going on. The Gemara gives us way to determine whether she has the ability to take enough responsibility to protect it... The sages are adding layers of protection but establishing by okaying limitations. Plus,...

A new chapter, a new mishnah, and a new topic: miyun - refusal. When a minor girl is in the charge of her family who wants to marry her off - she's allowed to refuse the husband, and nullify a betrothal that has been established between them. The question is whether this kind of refusal works both for a (regular) husband and for a yavam. Also, how many men can she refuse in this way? Also, spotlig...

During the process of yibum/chalitzah - when a yevamah refuses to stand because she's refusing yibum, and insisting on chalitzah. The sage then advises her how to maneuver to ensure that she isn't stuck in an unwanted yibum - but does that work? And if it does, is it ethical? Also, a new mishnah, the last of the chapter. It reviews specific procedure of chalitzah in court. Plus, R. Hyrcanus and re...

Levi goes out to teach Torah in a village, and the people stump him with 3 questions, two of which are about chalitzah. Plus, the family of Eli (and descendants) and God's anger and promise that they would die young - and how Torah and/or gemilut chasadim proved an antidote. Also, a scene of the beit midrash, R. Yehudah HaNasi, and a sage who is rebuked by a shamash as not being on the level, but...

2 new mishnayot, on more practical details and requirements of chalitzah. 1. Can you do chalitzah at night? Can you do chalitzah on the wrong foot? Plus, how does it compare to tzara'at in certain requirements? 2. What if only 2 of the 3 component elements of chalitzah are completed? Is that chalitzah valid? Well, it depends on which of the 3 are completed (removal of the shoe, spitting, reading o...

The Gemara springboards off the "foot" that wears the chalitzah shoe to biblical verses that include the Hebrew word, "regel" that come to be interpreted euphemistically. Including a focus on the story of Yael and Sisera. Also, what about the case of tzara'at and its quarantine time, with the question of implications for chalitzah.

More on the practicalities of chalitzah. To what extent does the chalitzah close the door on the relationship between yavam and yevama? Plus, testimony as to what shoe was in use for chalitzah, and why there was a machloket over the shoe. Also, how do we know that the root of the word "chalitzah" means to remove (as in, removing the yavam from the yevama)? Including Rabban Gamliel's scorn at a poo...

Chapter 12! On chalitzah. The process of what happens before the court, and what kind of shoe the yavam needs to be wearing, and even what happens if he's an amputee. Also: Real life examples of chalitzah (in marked contrast to the absence of real life examples of yibum) || The video of crafting the chalitzah shoe: youtube.com/watch?v=6QzT_li3moE&ab_channel=AllDaf

More on how people received their terumah. Specifically, the different categories of people who can eat terumah, but can't get it in the standard way - something in their status holds each of these people back... Also, a long mishnah: What if a woman doesn't wait 3 months after the death/divorce from a previous husband to remarry, and she conceives and delivers. Which raises questions whether the...

Chalitzah, "just in case" - when it's not clear that everyone's relationship is what it appears to have been. Also, a long mishnah: the cases of the "mixed-up children" - which is makes it really difficult to know who needs yibum and who is prohibited from doing yibum. Plus, who got to pick up their terumah at the threshing floor.

A child born to non-Jews is understood halakhically to be not related to his father. To the extent that identical twins are not considered related. Plus, the story of Niftayim the convert, who didn't have to be concerned about the illicit sexual familial relations. Among several proofs that make the same point. Plus, 2 statements by R. Akiva, including one point about converts and one about Jonah...

First, a story about R. Yochanan, about attribution in his name. A concern that goes back, as it were, to King David and Psalms. Also, a new chapter, with its opening mishnah: a man who rapes or seduces a woman is not knocked out of the running of marrying her relatives. Was this leniency a good thing? Plus, riddles (mind benders).

3 mishnayot on the daf... Mishnah 1: Complicated scenarios to explore the parameters of testimony on a spouse's death that is determined to be incorrect. Including multiple marriages, and multiple reported deaths. Plus, the case of a woman who needs yibum and a 9-year-old brother sleeps with her (ahem) before other (older brothers), and he negates his brothers as possible yavamim. Mishnah 2: More...

A dispute between R. Yehudah and R. Yosei on a dispute between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai over cases of a husband who believes his wife to be dead, and sleeps with either the mother-in-law or the sister-in-law, and how those scenarios would impact his marriage, in the event that the wife turns up alive, after all. Plus, the rationales for the approach to permit the couple to return to each other...

A serious challenge to the validity of one witness - but not because it's only one person, but because of who it is. Also, the opposite case - where the wife travels, is testified to have died, he marries her sister, and then she comes back. What do they do? Because he's not allowed to marry his wife's sister!

First, a brief comment on Daf 91: the reading of the woman's get. Next: Establishing a vow or acquiring something that is not yet in existence in the world, which seems like R. Akiva's position. Except that R. Nachman bar Yitzchak presents a contradictory opinion in the name of R. Akiva himself (after a long chain of names of Tannaim). Which leads to other examples of treating that which does not...

The Gemara addresses what it means for the court to have an opinion - for example, if the court stipulates that the woman who has one witness testifying that her husband has died can remarry. A comparable example is brought with regard to the time that Shabbat ends, based on the darkness of the day - which might be the fault of clouds. In both cases, as it turns out, the court's ruling is in error...

In the case of the woman who has remarried after the testimony that her first husband has died, but not with the consent of the court - she can go back to her first husband, once it is determined that he is alive. Which leads to a debate about the way to talk about the halakhah, and how one should not appropriate another's opinion without naming him. Plus, a comparison to rape that sounds difficul...

The case of a man nullifying a bill of divorce in the presence of the court, while a messenger was bringing the wife the get - he can't do this (she won't know about it!), but if he did it, does it count or not? The court's ability to decide whether his nullification takes effect seems dependent on kiddushin taking place with kesef, money, or an item of monetary value. The question of rabbinic pow...

Why did the rabbis decide that women need a ketubah in marriage to begin with? And when is the absence of a ketubah helpful? Also, a new understanding of our mishnah, specifically with regard to a child born being a mamzer - in the context of terumah, impure produce, and improper designation of sanctity. Plus, to what extent is there a human component even in the determination or designation of ma...

How stringent are the standards of accepting the testimony of those who testify that a woman's husband has died? There are advantages and disadvantages to being "lenient" and accepting one witness's account, for example, depending on whether complications develop later, like that testimony turning out to have been wrong. Which leads to a discussion about witnesses in general, and their reliability...

A series of marriage, a series of children, and how the status changes in her relationship to kohanim change her permissions, as it were, for terumah. Also, introducing the 10th chapter, and the cases that leave the relevant parties in limbo. But the mishnah presents this as pretty serious, even if the people didn't worry too much about it. Plus, the details that fray the marital bond, while the i...

Revisiting: Who can eat terumah? Specifically, the women who may have a relationship with a kohen, in various stages (including pregnancy), or various considerations of his status as a kohen. Plus, Ma'aser Rishon, which is the tithing that goes to the leviim. Can the comparable women re terumah eat ma'aser rishon? Note also that those who are excluded from terumah or ma'aser respectively are calle...