Study Yevamot folio 104B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
R' Elazar said to him: The verse states: “So shall it be done to the man who does not build his brother’s house” (Deuteronomy 25:9). “So” is an exclusionary term indicating that only precisely in this fashion is ḥalitza valid. Therefore, any term that constitutes an action for ḥalitza is indispensa
The Mishnah lists additional halakhot with regard to ḥalitza. If a deaf-mute man underwent ḥalitza, or a deaf-mute woman performed ḥalitza, or if an adult woman performs ḥalitza with a male minor, her ḥalitza is invalid and the woman may not marry. If a female minor performed ḥalitza, she must perfo
Talmud: Rava said: Now that you have said that recitation of the text is not indispensable in order for the ḥalitza to be valid, therefore if a mute man or a mute woman performed ḥalitza, their ḥalitza is valid. Although the statements should be recited ab initio, since the recitation is not indis
The Talmud challenges: But we learned in the Mishnah above: If a deaf-mute man underwent ḥalitza, or a deaf-mute woman performed ḥalitza, or if a woman performs ḥalitza with a male minor, her ḥalitza is invalid. What is the reason that the ḥalitza is invalid? Is it not because they are not competent
The Talmud asks: If that is so, let us also say that a mute man and woman do not have intellectual capacity. Rava said: A mute man and woman do have intellectual capacity. Rather, it is their mouth that hurts them. Mute individuals have full intellectual capacity; they merely lack a means of expr