Yerushalmi Yevamot 15:1 ירושלמי יבמות ט״ו:א׳

MISHNAH: A woman went overseas with her husband. If there was peace between him and her and there was peace in the world and came and said, “my husband died”, she can remarry, “my husband died”, she can marry in levirate¹Not only can she remarry but the local court will oversee the liquidation of the husband’s inheritance on her word. Since the consequences of her remarrying while her husband is alive are so devastating (cf. Mishnah 10:1) we trust that she will not knowingly remarry if her husband is alive.. If there was no peace between him and her but there was peace in the world, she cannot be believed²In the Babli and the independent Mishnah mss. there is another clause “if there was peace between him and her but no peace in the world.” Since the first sentence requires two conditions, peace between him and her and peace in the world, it is clear that the other clause was omitted by an oversight of the scribe. This is confirmed by the Halakhah, which discusses why in case of war she is not believed without supporting evidence.. Rebbi Jehudah says, she is never believed unless she comes crying with torn clothes. They said to him, in any case she can remarry.

HALAKHAH: “A woman went with her husband,” etc. Just as you say, ³Mishnah Ketubot 2:4. This belongs to a series of statements illustrating the principle that “the mouth that prohibits is the mouth that permits”. If nobody at that place knew that she had been married before, then if she asserts that she was married she forbids herself for every other male. If then she qualifies the statement that now she is no longer married because she is divorced, her testimony must be accepted since if one believes her that she was married one must believe her that she is divorced; if one does not believe her that she was married, one does not have to believe her that she is divorced but it makes no difference since as an unmarried woman she can contract marriage. But if there were witnesses who could testify that she was married, she has to prove her case by documents or witnesses if she wants to remarry as a divorcee.“if there are witnesses that she is a married woman and she says, I was divorced, she is not trustworthy;” would I say it is the same here? There is a difference for witnesses of death since if he comes he disproves [the testimony]⁴But if the husband comes and claims that he did not divorce her, it is his word against hers; she is not automatically proven to be a liar.. Then she should be trustworthy to say: “my levir died”! That is impossible since we have stated⁵Mishnah 15:10. There is no relaxation of standards of proof before a court except in the case of testimony about a husband’s death.: “A woman is not trustworthy if she says ‘my levir died’ to remarry, or ‘my sister died’ to enter her house⁶To marry her brother-in-law..” Rebbi Abba said, she is trustworthy for her husband whom she married out of her free will; she is not trustworthy about her levir on whom she was thrown against her will. Rebbi Hoshaia asked, think of it, then she should not be trustworthy if she was forced to marry him⁷If she was married off by her father while she was underage. There is no mention in the Mishnah of a restriction on women marrying on their own. No answer is given to the question.!

Not only according to the current Mishnah that a single witness can permit her⁸Mishnaiot 16:7–8, a change in practice dated to the times of Trajan or Hadrian. In order to minimize the cases in which a woman is prevented from remarrying if the documentation of her husband’s death cannot be completed, the standards of proof have been extremely relaxed., but even according to the earlier Mishnah that a single witness cannot permit her, she permits herself. What is the difference between herself and a single witness? A single witness is suspected to want to cause trouble to her; she is not suspected to want to cause trouble to herself⁹Since Mishnah 10:1 requires her to satisfy herself that her husband is really dead. The Babli agrees, 93b..

Is a single witness trustworthy in wartime? Let us hear from the following: A person was living in the times of Rebbi. They asked him about X; he said, he died. They asked him about Y; he said, he died. They asked him, are they all dead? He answered, if they were alive would they not have come¹⁰It seems that they were local residents.? Rebbi Jeremiah in the name of Rebbi Ḥanina: The case came before Rebbi and he said, the ones married should stay married, the ones not married should not marry¹¹Those who remarried based on the unsupported testimony of one witness may remain married; those who want a ruling of the court in that matter will not get one.. Rebbi Ayvo bar Naggari said, it happened in wartime. That implies that a single witness is trustworthy in wartime¹²If the wife accepts his testimony. In the Babli, 115a, there is an inconclusive discussion which may be interpreted (cf. RIF, Nimmuqe Yosef, in Wilna ed. 32b–33a; Meïri, ed. Albeck, p. 436) to follow the Yerushalmi..

What is the difference whether peace is in the world or war is in the world? If war is in the world, she might think that he died although he is not dead¹³If most of individuals in his group are known to have been killed. But her husband may have escaped or been taken prisoner. The same argument in the Babli, 114b.. So far if war was in the North and she came from the North, in the South and she came from the South. If there was war in the North and she came from the South; she says I am coming from the North, but I am arguing that you came from the South¹⁴The court will argue that she has no knowledge of what really happened.. If she says, I am coming from the South, it is because she thinks to free herself¹⁵She might lie to the court to make it appear that her husband never was near a dangerous place.. If she says, he died on his bed, I am arguing that he went to war; it is because she thinks to free herself¹⁶The Babli, 114b, accepts the testimony that the husband died in his bed even in a time of war..

What is a quarrel¹⁷This wording shows that the reading in the Mishnah before the authors of the Yerushalmi was not אֵין שָׁלוֹם בֵּינוֹ לְבֵינָהּ וְשָׁלוֹם בָּעוֹלָם but קְטָטָה בֵּינוֹ לְבֵינָהּ וְשָׁלוֹם בָּעוֹלָם as in the Babli.? Rebbi Abba in the name of Rav Ḥiyya bar Ashi. “You never gave me qiddušin, you did not divorce me, I never was your wife,” that is not a quarrel¹⁸If everybody knows that she is married to him, that is talk which is not serious.. “You gave me qiddušin, you divorced me, but you never paid me what is owed me under my ketubah,” that is a quarrel¹⁹In the opinion of the Babli, 116a, she is disqualified from testifying about her husband’s death only if the rabbinic court, which she pretends handled her divorce, denies the divorce ever took place. It is possible to read such an interpretation into the wording of the Yerushalmi.. When Rebbi Abba said this before Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba, he said to him, my son, even if she clearly requests to be divorced.

“Rebbi Jehudah says, she is never believed unless she comes crying with torn clothes.” They objected to Rebbi Jehudah: Think of it, if one came crying, the other did not cry. To this one you forbid, to that one you permit²⁰In the language of the Babli, 116b, the well-coached one will be permitted to remarry, the simple-minded one will be prevented.. Rebbi Ḥananiah, the colleague of the rabbis, objected: Think of it, maybe her son went overseas and died there, she remembers that and cries²¹There are many causes that might induce a woman to cry, not necessarily her husband’s death..