Study Yevamot folio 35B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Mishnah: When a man who has a brother dies childless, his widow [yevama] and one of his brothers [yavam] may perform a ritual through which she is freed of her levirate bonds [ḥalitza]. It is then considered, with regard to forbidden relationships, as though they had been married and divorced. Ther
If the offspring is not viable, then it emerges that the ḥalitza was indeed necessary. Therefore, he is forbidden to engage in sex with her relatives and she is forbidden to engage in sex with his relatives, as though they had been married and divorced, and the ḥalitza disqualifies her from marryi
With regard to one who consummates the levirate marriage with his yevama, i.e., he had sex with her under the assumption that there is a levirate bond and so there is a mitzva to do so, and then she is found to have been pregnant at the time of the sex and she gave birth, in the event that the offs
And if the offspring is not viable, and therefore there was in fact a levirate bond, he may maintain her as his wife since his sex with her was a valid consummation of levirate marriage.
If they consummated the levirate marriage and 7 months later she gave birth, there is uncertainty whether the child is 9 months old, i.e., counting from conception, and is the offspring of the first husband, and as such there was no levirate bond, or whether the child is only 7 months old and is th