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Yevamos 018: Bitul Mitzvas Yibum
Shlomo Flam asks:
Rebbi meir forces the 2 remaining of 4 brothers to give chalitza, in order
not to possibly be Mevatel the Mitzvah of Yibum (if the remaining brother
dies before doing Yibum)...
i don't understand this logic: he will not allow at least one legitimate
yivum and force 2 chalitzas.
imagine the 2 brothers are ready to do yivum and we don't allow it because
one of them may die. it does not make sense the "main" mitzva is yivum and
we don't allow it to take place? there must be a different explanation than
what is on the surface.
yours,
shlomo flam
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The Kollel replies:
1) We see from here that Chalitzah is also an important Mitzvah and by
doing Chalitzah it may be that to a certain extent one accomplishes as much
as Yibum accomplishes. However, this is not a simple matter and, in fact,
the Ritva writes something very similar to your logic, as I hope we will
see later on, b'Siyata d'Shemaya.
2) However, let us first look at the Ramban. He relates to the question of
Tosafos (DH Dilma) who asks that we generally are not worried that someone
will die, so why here are we concerned that the other brother will die? The
Ramban answers that when there is nothing to lose, the Halachah is actually
concerned that someone will die, while all the places that we say that
Chazal are not concerned about dying relate to scenarios where there is
some need not to be concerned about death. For example, if a Kohen gave his
wife a Get and said that the Get will be valid an hour before he dies, it
is not possible to be worried that he will die, because this would mean
that his wife may never eat Terumah. If we would require the Kohen Gadol
before Yom Kippur to prepare another wife because his present wife might
die, we would have to prepare for him an unlimited number of wives, because
if we are worried that one wife might die we might just as well be worried
that a number of wives might die.
3) The Ramban then writes what is relevant to our topic: "Since Yibum and
Chalitzah are equal, we do not bring ourselves to any doubt by abolishing a
Mitzvah" if we require Chalitzah instead of Yibum.
Hence, according to the Ramban, our Gemara is concerned that a brother
might die because nothing will be lost as a result, because one achieves
just as much with Chalitzah as one does with Yibum.
4) However, the Ritva writes that this idea is not sufficiently clear (and
I think that this is what is disturbing you), because the Gemara later
(21a) states that if one does Chalitzah instead of Yibum, one has performed
nothing. The Ritva adds that the answer of the Ramban can work only
according to Aba Shaul who maintains (39b) that the Mitzvah of Chalitzah
takes precedence to the Mitzvah of Yibum.
5) I would refer you to the very lengthy notes on the Chidushei ha'Ritva
published by Mosad ha'Rav Kook. In the "Milu'im" at the end of the Sefer,
Rav Yaffen writes a lot on this question. In chapter 10:7, he cites
Mefarshim -- including the Netziv in Ha'amek She'elah 154:1 -- who prove
from our Sugya that Chalitzah is a positive Mitzvah, not merely a process
necessary to allow the Yevamah to remarry.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom
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