Study Yevamot folio 19A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
from a single household, i.e., husband, and everyone agrees that only one wife from each household may be taken in levirate marriage, as the verse states: “To build his brother’s house,” which is interpreted to mean that the remaining brother may perform levirate marriage with only one wife of his
And if you would say that by Torah law, indeed, one of them may be taken in levirate marriage and thereby exempt the other, and this was prohibited only by rabbinic law, this would be a rabbinic decree due to the concern lest those who were not aware of the details mistakenly say that in general i
But this cannot be, as R' Shimon’s reason is mentioned explicitly in the baraita, and there he does not state that this is a decree of the rabbis. Rather, his reason is due to the question with regard to the strength of levirate betrothal, specifically whether the status of marriage is achieved by l
But if the levirate betrothal of the second brother is not levirate betrothal, i.e., it does not have the full status of marriage, then there was never in fact any connection between the two. If she is then taken by the third brother in levirate marriage, he would be engaging in sex with the wife o
Abaye said to him: From here you cannot prove what R' Shimon’s opinion was. Is there no difference to you between a levirate bond to a single yavam and a bond to two yevamim? Perhaps when R' Shimon said that a levirate bond is substantial enough to render her like a married woman, this applies onl