Yerushalmi Yevamot 12:6 ירושלמי יבמות י״ב:ו׳

MISHNAH: The commandment of ḥalîṣah: He and his sister-in-law come to the court of law and they give him appropriate counsel, as it is said: “The Elders of his city shall call him and speak to him¹¹⁴Deut. 25:8.”. She says: “My levir refuses to erect a name in Israel for his brother, my levir does not want;¹¹⁵Deut. 25:7.” and he says: “I do not desire to take her¹¹⁴Deut. 25:8..” They have to speak in the holy language¹¹⁶The entire ceremony must be conducted in Hebrew. Since it is to be assumed that the parties do not know Hebrew, the text has to be read to them by the judges, for them to repeat.. “His sister-in-law comes to him before the Elders’ eyes, strips his shoe from his foot, and spits out before him¹¹⁷Deut. 25:9.,” spittle that is visible to the judges. She has to declare and say: “So should be done to a man who would not build his brother’s house.¹¹⁷Deut. 25:9.” Up to this sentence they were reading to them but when it was read for Rebbi Hyrkanos¹¹⁸In the Babli: When R. Hyrkanos was reading it under the oak tree at Kefar ‘Etam. In other places, the name appears as כפר עיכוס. The place is unidentified. under the oak tree in Kefar Abus he finished the paragraph; they established to finish the entire paragraph, “his house shall be called in Israel the house of the one stripped of shoe¹¹⁹Deut. 25:10..” The obligation is on the judges, not on the students¹²⁰The law students who regularly attended court sessions. The judges themselves have to recite “house of the stripped of shoe”.. Rebbi Jehudah said, everyone present has the obligation to say,” the one stripped of shoe, the one stripped of shoe¹²¹In the Babli, the clause is repeated three times.”.

HALAKHAH: “The commandment of ḥalîṣah: He and his sister-in-law come,” etc. “They give him appropriate counsel”. What means, “they give him appropriate counsel”? If he is old, they tell her, what do you do with an old man like him? If she is old, they tell him, what do you do with that old woman? If she is a girl and he is an old man, they say to him, she is a girl and will bring you shame. If he is a boy and she an old woman, they say to her, he is a boy and will bring you shame. If he wants but she does not, one listens to her. If she wants but he does not, one listens to him. The principle: One listens to the one who wants to prevent. If both of them want, such a case came before Rebbi Yose and he said, throw her out¹²²The practice of his court was never to accept levirate. The Babli, 101a, supports levirate for partners that are of similar age. The formulation of the Babli is also that of Sifry Deut. 290..

Rebbi Joḥanan asked, in the case of a sister in law, who runs after whom¹²³If levir and widow live at different places, which court is empowered to deal with the matter?? Rebbi Eleazar answered: “His sister-in-law shall come to the gate¹²⁴Since the verse requires the widow to take the initiative, the appropriate court is the one at the levir’s residence. In the Babli, Sanhedrin 31b, this ia a statement of R. Joḥanan; it is a tannaïtic statement in Midrash Tannaïm on Deut. 25:8..” When Rebbi Joḥanan heard this, he said, Rebbi Eleazar taught us correctly.

Does the recitation prevent [validity]? Rebbi Samuel ben Rav Isaac said, for anybody able to recite, the recitation does not prevent [validity] but for anybody unable to recite, the recitation does prevent¹²⁵Cf. Halakhah 4, Note 100.. Rebbi Mana said, even though Rebbi Samuel ben Rav Isaac said, the recitation does not prevent [validity], he agrees that if one recites, he recites in due order; in particular that it should not be said: “My levir refuses to erect, my levir does not want;” “I do not desire to take her”, but “my levir refuses to erect a name in Israel for his brother, my levir does not want;” “I do not desire to take her.”

There¹²⁶In Babylonia. In the Babli, 39b, the text of the ḥalîṣah document given to the widow is ascribed to Rav Jehudah. In the Tosephta, 12:15, it is quoted as “old text”., they say: “She came before us, stripped his shoe from his right foot, spat before us spittle that was visible on the ground, and said: ‘So should be done to a man who would not build his brother’s house.’ ” Rebbi Abbahu said, since the spittle was visible when it left her mouth it is valid, even if the wind dissipated it¹²⁷He disapproves of the formulation that the spittle has to be seen on the ground.. If she spat blood? Rebbi Abba in the name of Rav Jehudah, Rebbi Zeriqan turned to it, Rebbi Jeremiah in the name of Abba bar Abba¹²⁸He probably is Samuel’s father., Rebbi Ze‘ira turned to it in the name of Samuel: If it contains some liquid spittle, it is valid¹²⁹In the Babli, 105a, no spittle is required since the verse simply says “she shall spit”, not “she shall spit spittle”.. How does the handless [woman] perform ḥalîṣah? With her teeth¹³⁰Agreed to in the Babli, 105a, since the verse requires only that the shoe be stripped off but does not prescribe the way it should be done..

¹³¹A short version of this is in Babli, 105a. There, Levi actually did not know how to respond. The Yerushalmi version is also in Gen. rabba 81(2). The people of Simonia came to Rebbi and told him, please give us a man who preaches, judges, runs the synagogue, teaches reading, teaches Mishnah, and looks after all our needs. He gave them Levi bar Sisi. They made him a big platform¹³²Greek βῆμα “speaker’s platform”. and sat him on it. They came and asked him, how does the handless [woman] perform ḥalîṣah? He did not respond. If she spat blood” He did not respond. They said, maybe he is not competent in studies, let us ask him in homiletics. They came and asked him, what is that which is written: “Truly, I shall tell you what is traced in writing, it is true.¹³³Dan. 10:21.” If it is true, why is it traced, and if traced, why is it true? He did not respond. They came to Rebbi and told him, that required one we asked you for? He told them, by your lives, I gave you one who is my equal! He sent to bring him and examined him. He asked him, what if she spat blood. He said, if it contains some fluid of spittle it is valid. How does the handless [woman] perform ḥalîṣah? He said, with her teeth. What is that which is written: “Truly, I shall tell you what is traced in writing, it is true.” If it is true, why is it traced, and if traced, why is it true? He said, until the decision of the court is sealed, it is traced. After it has been sealed, it is true. He asked him, and why did you not give any answers? He said to him, they made me a big platform and sat me on it; by that my spirit became bloated¹³⁴He forgot all he knew.. He quoted about him: “If you became subject to contempt when you rose, if you planned, hand to mouth¹³⁵Prov. 30:32.”; why did you become contemptible in the words of the Torah? That you used them to aggrandize yourself.

It was stated: A mistaken ḥalîṣah is valid¹³⁶Tosephta 12:13; quoted in Babli 106a together with the disagreement of R. Simeon ben Laqish and R. Joḥanan.. What is a mistaken ḥalîṣah? Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said, a case where one told him, perform ḥalîṣah and she will be permitted to you after some time. Rebbi Joḥanan said, yesterday I was sitting and learning that “if he has the intention but not she, or she has the intention but not he, ḥalîṣah is always invalid unless both of them have the intention!¹³⁷Tosephta 12:13; it is required that both parties act with the intention of freeing the woman for marriage outside the family.” What is a mistaken ḥalîṣah for Rebbi Joḥanan? A case where one told him, perform ḥalîṣah and she will pay you a hundred talents. Rebbi Mana said, if this was stipulated as a condition, she has to pay¹³⁸If it was a formal stipulation, not a vague promise. The Babli, 106a, disagrees since the levir has the obligation to perform ḥalîṣah if levirate is inappropriate in the eyes of the rabbinate and holding up the woman to extort her money is immoral.. A case came before Rebbi Huna and he followed Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish. When he heard that Rebbi Joḥanan disagreed, he changed his opinion and forced a second ḥalîṣah. A case came before Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba. He told him, my son, this woman does not want to be married in levirate; therefore perform ḥalîṣah and remove your candidacy from her, then she will marry you in a regular marriage. After the ḥalîṣah, he said to him: Even if Moses and Samuel came, they could not permit her. He referred to himself as “they are wise to do evil; they do not know how to do good¹³⁹Jer. 4:22..”

There are Tannaim who state that ḥalîṣah is shameful; there are Tannaim who state that ḥalîṣah is praiseworthy. Rav Ḥisda said, he who says that ḥalîṣah is shameful follows the early Mishnah, that ḥalîṣah is praiseworthy follows the late Mishnah¹⁴⁰Mishnah Bekhorot 1:7: “The obligation of levirate has precedence over ḥalîṣah. That was in earlier times, when people had the intent to fulfill the commandment, but now, when people do not have the intent to fulfill the commandment (but to enjoy the marriage) they said, the obligation of ḥalîṣah has precedence over levirate.”. Rebbi Yose said, you might even say, in both cases one follows the early Mishnah, or in both cases one follows the late Mishnah. He who says that ḥalîṣah is shameful, since he damaged one thing in the Torah he shall come and take his damage: “his house shall be called in Israel the house of the one stripped of shoe.¹¹⁷Deut. 25:9.” He who says that ḥalîṣah is praiseworthy, it mentions here “calling” and it is said there: “My name will be called about them¹⁴¹Gen. 48:16. This verse is a blessing.”. Since “calling” there is a praise, so here it is a praise.