Yevamot 84 – All possible cases of yibum

Based on previous discussions, Talmud formulates a rule: a woman may be permitted to her husband but forbidden to her brother-in-law, a.k.a. yavam; she may be permitted to the yavam but not to the husband; she may be permitted to both; she may be forbidden to both. How?

For example, consider if a woman was a widow and a regular Kohen married her, but his brother was a High Priest. The brother would not be allowed to do a yibum – since a High Priest should not marry a widow – and thus, she is permitted to her husband but not to the yavam.

A non-trivial example of the second category is this. A regular Israel married an illegitimate woman (mamzeret). He has a brother who is himself a mamzer. An ordinary Israel cannot marry a mamzeret, but a mamzer can. Thus, we have a case of a woman who is forbidden to her husband but is permitted to her yavam.

A new example: a High Priest married a widow. This was a prohibited marriage, so the woman became disqualified (chalalah). Now she cannot marry any Kohen, not because she is a widow, but because she is a chalalah. This is a situation where she is forbidden both to her husband and her yavam.

The fourth category includes all other combinations, even though the Talmud finds cases that are not listed in the first three categories and do not belong to the fourth, which means that the examples lists are not exhaustive.

Art: The Widower by James Jacques Joseph Tissot