Topics covered: Chapter 2, Mishna 4, 5 Why is the Torah so strict in prohibiting Jews to marry non-Jews? What happens when they violate this prohibition? What happens when a Jewish couple is betrothed, and later they can’t remember which …

Topics covered: Chapter 2, Mishna 2, 3 Who counts as a child of a man such that he is not considered childless in relation to creating the levirate bond? Who counts as a brother to the man who died, in …

Topics covered: Chapter 2, Mishna 2, 3 How far will the Sages go in creating secondary prohibited relationships by rabbinic decree to keep people from coming to mistakenly violate prohibited relationships that are written explicitly in the Torah?   #Judaism …

Topics covered: Chapter 2, Mishna 2, 3 Rabbi Shimon’s view re the late-born  brother makes so much sense. Why does the majority disagree? Sometimes yibum does not apply, but chalitzah does. Why? When making rabbinic decrees to ensure people don’t …

Topics covered: Chapter 2, Mishna 2 Rabbi Shimon disagrees with the Rabbis regarding a widow who comes before the surviving brother (who’s already married), and he marries her, betroths her or does nothing AND then a third brother is born. …

Topics covered: Chapter 2, Mishna 1, 2 Is the levirate bond “substantial?” Meaning, if a yavam (the surviving brother) and a yevama (the widow) are obligated in yibum-or-chalitzah and one of them dies before they perform either rite, is the …

Topics covered: Chapter 1, Mishna 2 Yibum applies when a man dies married but childless and has a surviving brother. How do we define “brother?” Does a maternal half brother count? We learn the answer by looking at the the …

Topics covered: Chapter 1, Mishna 2 Having established that Beis Shammai followed their own rulings, but the law is like Beis Hillel in the case of a daughter’s co-wife, we learn that Yonasan, the sharp-tongued brother of Dosa ben Harkinas, …

Topics covered: Chapter 1, Mishna 2 If Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel acted according to their conflicting opinions, factions would have formed among the Jewish people, and yet they didn’t. One answer is that Beis Shammai didn’t act according to …