Intro to Yevamos

(Apologies for the gap and lack of posts... I was away for a week on Business.. Just getting back into the routine. Although I have been keeping up with the Daf [6-hour plane flights sure helped] Getting back into the "schedule" takes a bit of adjustment. Sometimes I feel as if I should take a break and comment on the minutes we need to squirrel away in the day just to keep up with the Daf Yomi cycle. Let alone blog about it :-)

We start a new Mesecta/Tractate (Yevamos) and a new Seder/order (Nashim - The Order of Women). A little background to Yevamos, and some term that will be used in the pages ahead:

Background:
When a man dies childless, his wife is not automatically released from the marriage. Instead the Torah commands that the Brother of the Deceased marries the widow as his wife (Yibum). If not, the act of Chalizah must be performed to release her. (The shoe of the brother is removed by the widow before the court and she spits before him stating; "So should be done to the man who will not build his brother's house". Deuteronomy 25:5-10)

The Torah in Leviticus 18:16 states that it is forbidden for a bother to marry his brother's former wife. When a Man dies with children, or if a man divorces his wife, his brother may not marry her as the Torah defines this as a Ervah (One of the 21 forbidden relationships).

Other Ervah prohibitions remain in effect even under the circumstances of Yibum.

If the man who died had multiple wives and anyone of them was an Ervah to the Yavam (Surviving brother), both the Ervah and her Tzarah (Other wife i.e. co-wife) are released from the Yibum/Chalitzah requirement.


Terms:
Yibum - The Marriage between the Surviving bother and the widow when the deceased is childless

Chalitzah - The procedure which a women, removed the shoe of the surviving brother to release her obligation to marry him

Ervah - One of 21 Forbidden relationships

Yavam - The surviving paternal bother of the deceased

Tzarah - A co-wife, if the deceased had more then one wives

Yevamah - The Widow.