Yerushalmi Yevamot 4:11 ירושלמי יבמות ד׳:י״א

MISHNAH: No sister-in-law should be a party to ḥalîṣah or levirate until after three months. Similarly, no woman¹²⁷Who had been married. Included are preliminarily married women either as a matter of discipline or because of women betrothed in Judea (Note 129). should be married or receive qiddushin until after three months, whether virgin or not virgin, widow or divorcee, married or betrothed. Rebbi Jehudah says, those that had been married may receive qiddushin¹²⁸Since they cannot actually be married until 90 days after the death of the first husband, there is no danger that she will bear a child of undetermined paternity. and those that had received qiddushin can be married except those that had received qiddushin in Judea because he is familiar with her¹²⁹It is explained in Mishnah Ketubot 1:5 that in Judea one permitted the betrothed couple to be together unchaperoned. Therefore, one may assume that they slept together.. Rebbi Yose said, any woman may receive qiddushin except a widow because of her mourning.

HALAKHAH: “No sister-in-law should be a party to ḥalîṣah,” etc. ¹³¹The text of Symmachos is also in Babli Niddah 8b, but the meaning is different there.
In the Babli, the discussion is not about recognizing a pregnancy for the question of remarriage; that question is settled by the proviso that a woman must wait 90 days after her husband’s death (as explained in the Mishnah here) and, if she turns out to be pregnant, she cannot remarry as long as the child is not weaned (Ketubot 5:6, Sotah 4:4; Babli Ketubot 60a/b). The statement there is to the effect that if a woman has missed her period three times and is visibly pregnant, then, starting three months after her last period, any bleeding does not follow the general rules of menstrual flow but the special rules of pregnant women. There is no discussion of the rule and it is not claimed that the rule represents any medical validity.
But in the Yerushalmi it appears from the sequel that one sees in the rule a statement of biological fact. The Halakhah, up to Note 155, is copied in Niddah 1:4. How long is it until a pregnancy is recognized? ¹³²Tosephta Niddah 1:7, including the statement attributed here to Rebbi Yudan. Symmachos said in the name of Rebbi Meїr: After three months. Even though it is no proof, there is a hint: “It was after about three months.¹³³Gen. 38:24.” Rebbi Yudan said, even for a phantom pregnancy, “we were pregnant, we were sick, as if we gave birth to wind,¹³⁴Is. 26:18; as the Babli points out, this statement is addressed to males and therefore not a good support. In the interpretation of the Babli (Note 131), a fake delivery (“delivery of wind”) after recognition of the pregnancy does not change the status of the woman in matters of impurity.” “get pregnant with dry grass, give birth to straw¹³⁵Is. 33:11..” Rebbi Ze‘ira, Rebbi Abba bar Zuṭra said, Rebbi Ḥanina in the name of the Great Rebbi Ḥiyya: Even most of the first, most of the last, and the middle one complete¹³⁶If the pregnancy is recognizable, the rules of pregnancy are applicable after 61 days.. Rav Assi said, a full 90 days. Samuel said, they in their fulness¹³⁷Samuel says the same of Rav Assi, three full (i. e., 30days long) months.. A case came before the rabbis there; we do not know if thirteen of the first and seventeen of the last or seventeen of the first and thirteen of the last, and five complete ones in the middle; they wanted to touch the child because of a doubt of bastardy¹³⁸A woman gave birth to a live baby exactly 180 days after her marriage. The rabbis wondered whether such a short pregnancy was possible for a live baby or whether the short time was proof that the woman had committed adultery in the time between qiddushin and her actual marriage, which would make the child a bastard.. Rav Naḥman bar Jacob told them, such a case came before Abba bar Abba¹³⁹The most famous of Jewish medical men of his age. Presumably Samuel, also a doctor by profession, learned most of his medical knowledge from his father. and he declared it acceptable. Does Abba bar Abba disagree with his son Samuel? Rebbi Abba said, there is a difference between recognizing a pregnancy and giving birth. A pregnancy is recognized after full months, a birth can happen after fractional months. There, we have stated¹⁴⁰Mishnah Niddah 4:5.: “How long can labor be¹⁴¹As a matter of principle, blood lost during labor is neither menstrual nor of the impure type known as zivah (Lev. 15:25). The disagreement is on how long the exemption from impurity can be claimed.? Rebbi Meїr said, even 40 to 50 days. Rebbi Jehudah said, her month is sufficient. Rebbi Yose and Rebbi Simeon say, no labor is longer than two weeks”. “Rebbi Yose in the name of Rebbi Abba: This implies that a woman gives birth after fractional months. Since otherwise one should have stated “thirty days”. Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Abun in the name of Rebbi Abba: This implies that a woman gives birth after full months¹⁴²See above, Note 63, and in the next paragraph.. Since we have stated: “Her month is sufficient.”

Rebbi Yudan asked: Does this hold until she gives birth? No, even if she had a miscarriage¹⁴³If the woman has a miscarriage, is her blood retroactively classified as zivah blood which requires a purification offering? The Babli declares that miscarriages and stillborn babies make their mother impure retroactively (Niddah 38b)..

Rebbi Mana said, I heard in the name of Samuel that there is no difference between recognizing a pregnancy and giving birth, but I do not remember from whom I heard this. Rebbi Abba bar Cohen said before Rebbi Yose, Rebbi Jeremiah said this. Rebbi Ḥizqyah said to him, Rebbi Jeremiah did not say this; Rebbi Yose was offended by him. He said to him: Even Joshua who was bound to Moses would not have said so, but you said so¹⁴⁴To claim that he knew absolutely everything his teacher ever said.! He checked himself and said, it is true that he said that but as a person who quotes something and questions it; does Abba bar Abba disagree with his son Samuel? Rebbi Berekhiah in the name of Samuel: A woman gives birth only either after 271, 272, 273, or 274, days¹⁴⁵After her last period. In the Babli, Niddah 38b, Mar Zuṭra is quoted that a 9 months pregnancy is 271 days, the numerical value of הריון “pregnancy” in the Alexandrian system.. Rebbi Mana said to him, from whom did the rabbi hear this? He said to him, from Rebbi Abba. The position of Rebbi Abba seems inverted. There, he says, there is a difference between recognizing a pregnancy and giving birth¹⁴⁶That the length of a pregnancy is not counted in full months, and here he even counts them in full months of 30 days each., and here, he says so? Rebbi Abba bar Zuṭra in the name of Samuel: {If with ה Rabba, with א Rava.}¹⁴⁷The text in braces is the text from Yebamot; it is a gloss from a student of the Babli to distinguish between quotes of Rabba רבה (Rav Abba bar Naḥmani) and Rava רבא (Rav Abba bar Rav Joseph bar Ḥama), assuming the copyists made no mistakes. Everything which is “many” is 208¹⁴⁸This is the text from Niddah and it makes sense, that if in the Pentateuch there is a promise of הרבה ארבה (cf. Gen. 16:10, 22:17) it implies a seven month birth after א + ר + ב + ה = 1+200+2+5 days. In Babli Niddah 38b, Mar Zuṭra reads 1S. 1:20 that Hanna gave birth to Samuel after 2 seasons (of 91¼ days each) and two days, or 184.5 days, barely more than 6 full months..

Rab Ḥiyya bar Ashi was sitting before Rav who saw him disturbed. He said to him, what is the matter? He said to him, my female donkey is pregnant and will give birth; then I have to get her to copulate before she is out of heat. He said to him, when did the male mount her? He said, on day X. He calculated and said, she still has some time until then. It was stated so: A quick female donkey does not need less than the days of the moon¹⁵⁰354 days in a lunar year. and one who is late is not later than the days of the sun¹⁵¹365 days in a solar year. The Babli, Bekhorot 8a, simply states that impure domestic animals have a gestation period of 12 months.. The words of Rebbi Joshua ben Levi disagree, since Rebbi Joshua ben Levi said, the cattle herd of the government¹⁵²In Niddah 1:4: “of Antoninus”; cf. Kilaim, Chapter 9, Note 79. was there for copulating and those of the house of Rebbi took bulls from them to copulate. Some of them gave birth soon and some of them later¹⁵³It seems, later than the 11 days‘ difference allowed by Rav.. Here it is about a pure animal, there about an impure animal. But is it not written, “do you know the time the mountain goats will give birth, etc.” “Count months, make them complete, you will know the time of their giving birth.¹⁵⁴Job 39:1–2.” “Do you know the time of giving birth?” A pure wild animal is like a domestic impure animal¹⁵⁵This supports the prior assertion of Rav and excludes only domestic pure animals from predicting the exact time of gestation. The Babli, Baba batra 16a/b, uses Job 39:1 to prove that the time of birth of wild animals is unpredictable. Elsewhere, Bekhorot 8a, the gestation period of great predators (lions, wolves, bears, panthers) as well as apes and marmosets is given as three years..

Rebbi Meїr¹⁵⁸He is the author of the anonymous opinion in the Mishnah, as asserted by R. Simeon ben Laqish in the paragraph after the next. N. Rabbinovicz in Diqduqe Soferim Erubin 47a (Note כ) indicates that the Soncino edition, in the quote of the Mishnah here, has “the words of Rebbi Meїr”, a reading rejected by Rashi ad loc. It seems that the Soncino text is the correct quote of a parallel Mishnah. is suspicious about bills of divorce¹⁵⁹He is afraid that a man who had divorced his childless wife would notice too late that she was pregnant and say that, if he had known this, he never would have divorced her. This could invalidate the bill of divorce and make the divorcee and the second husband adulterers and the child a bastard. {Therefore, in modern divorce proceedings, one lets the husband state three times before witnesses that any later action to invalidate the bill will be null and void.}. Rebbi Jehudah is suspicious about a child¹⁶⁰He requires waiting only in cases where there could be a question of the paternity of a child. Since bills of divorce should be handled only by a competent authority, he is confident that the case behind R. Meїr‘s restrictions is not justified.. Rebbi Yose is suspicious about bills of divorce and a child¹⁶¹The “and” is taken in the strict sense: Only if there is a simultaneous question about a bill of divorce and paternity.. Could you say that Rebbi Meїr is not suspicious about bills of divorce, as we have stated¹⁶²תנן is an error of the corrector under the influence of the Babli instead of תנינן.: “Those that had received qiddushin can be married.¹⁶³Since this is stated as R. Jehudah’s opinion, it follows that R. Meїr objects. To dissolve a preliminary marriage, a bill of divorce is needed even though there normally should not be any chance of pregnancy.” Rebbi Ze‘ira in the name of Rebbi Gedula¹⁶⁴Usually, he is called Rav Gidul; a Babylonian of the second generation, student of Rav, who immigrated into Galilee.: The one who repudiates does not have to wait three months; the one who leaves by a bill of divorce needs to wait three months¹⁶⁵Both statements are about underage girls, too young to have children. If the girl had been married off by her father, she cannot repudiate her husband but needs a bill of divorce. R. Meїr requires a waiting period for all divorcees even if there is no question of a possible pregnancy. In the Babli, 34b, this is a statement of Samuel.. This supports Rebbi Me‘ir since Rebbi Meїr is suspicious about bills of divorce. Rebbi Abba in the name of Rebbi Abba bar Jeremiah: A woman who has been raped does not have to wait three months¹⁶⁶In the Babli, 35a, this is a tannaitic statement attributed to R. Yose, whose opinion is interpreted to assume that she will know how to rid herself of the unwanted semen. R. Jehudah is quoted as requiring her to wait three months; his opinion is interpreted as questioning the efficacy of means to rid herself of the unwanted semen.. This supports Rebbi Yose, since Rebbi Yose is suspicious about bills of divorce and a child. It was stated¹⁶⁷In the parallels, only the first part, dealing with waiting before marriage, is quoted. A shortened version is in Tosephta 6:6. The text quoted here is in the Babli, 35a, with the same lack of coordination between nouns and verbs.: The proselyte, the captive, and the slave woman who were redeemed, or converted, or freed, have to wait three months, the words of Rebbi Judah. Rebbi Yose says, they do not have to wait. Their blood¹⁶⁸Their menstrual blood which is an original source of impurity. Gentiles cannot impart impurity by biblical standards; the impurity of menstruation certainly is not applicable to Gentiles. Therefore, a Gentile who converts to Judaism (or becomes fully Jewish in the case of the manumitted slave) really should not be a retroactive source of impurity. In the Tosephta, Niddah 1:3, the attributions are switched, and this seems to be the background both for the remark of Rebbi (not in the Tosephta) and the later discussion since in a switched version, Rebbi seems to prefer the stringency of R. Judah in the matter of remarriage. But it is difficult to change the text against the testimony of both mss. (which, however, represent the same Vorlage.)
The Babli has no possible interest in this discussion since it holds (Avodah zarah 36b) that all Gentile women are rabbinically permanently menstruating {and biblically married, since in talmudic theory, Sanhedrin 58b, a Gentile is married to the first partner he or she is copulating with, without possibility of divorce (a position which seems to be adopted by the Apostle Paul).}, Rebbi Jehudah says, makes impure 24 hours retroactively; Rebbi Yose says, from its moment onwards. Rebbi said, the words of Rebbi Judah are reasonable for the blood, and the words of Rebbi Yose for the child. Rebbi Ḥanina ben Rebbi Abbahu said, my father had a case and he asked Rebbi Ḥiyya, Rebbi Yasa, and Rebbi Immi, and they instructed him following Rebbi Yose for the child. For if it were not so, what could we say? Between Rebbi Jehudah and Rebbi Yose, practice does not follow Rebbi Yose¹⁶⁹In the practical rules of preference, Rebbi Yose ranks over all other students and colleagues of Rebbi Aqiba (Yerushalmi Terumot 3:1, Notes 20–26; Babli Erubin 46b).? But because Rebbi said, “they are reasonable”¹⁷⁰This question makes sense only if Rebbi’s preference is formulated so it endorses R. Jehudah for the rules of remarriage.. Did not Rebbi Abba say in the name of Rebbi Ze‘ira, every time Rebbi taught “they are reasonable”, the disagreement is unresolved except in the case of the fig cake where each party to the controversy accepts the opposition’s argument¹⁷¹This seems to refer to the disagreement between rabbis Eliezer and Joshua over pressed figs among which some heave was lost; Terumot Halakhah 4:10, Tosephta 5:11. In neither source is there a reference to the position taken by Rebbi.. Rebbi Yose said, I stated a difficulty before Rebbi Ḥanina ben Rebbi Abbahu: Even if it is certain that they had sex? He said to him, is a normal Gentile not like one who had sex? Simeon bar Abba said, there came a case before Rebbi Joḥanan and he instructed following Rebbi Yose. Rebbi Eleazar was sorry about this; he said, one disregards the anonymous [Mishnah] and follows an isolated opinion! He found that Rebbi Ḥiyya¹⁷²The Great R. Ḥiyya, not R. Ḥiyya bar Abba mentioned earlier in this paragraph. stated it in the name of Rebbi Meїr. He understood that following Rebbi Simeon¹⁷³R. Simeon ben Laqish, cf. Note 158. The question mark put in the text by the editor of the ms. is unnecessary., he found that Rebbi Ḥiyya stated it in the name of Rebbi Meїr. He said, the old man¹⁷⁴R. Joḥanan. certainly understands the chapters about bills of divorce.

Rebbi Mana asked before Rebbi Yudan: There Rebbi Ḥizqiah, Rebbi Abbahu, said in the name of Rebbi Eleazar: Every place where Rebbi taught a disagreement and afterwards taught it anonymously, practice follows the anonymous Mishnah¹⁷⁵The Babli, Yebamot 42b, Baba qama 102a, Avodah zarah 7a, Niddah 11b, quotes the corresponding statement (in the name of R. Joḥanan) in a very succinct way: Disagreement followed by anonymous statement implies practice follows the anonymous statement; anonymous statement followed by disagreement implies practice does not follow the anonymous statement. Therefore, the Babli has no problem to follow R. Yose in this Halakhah. The same conclusion is reached here in the last sentence of the paragraph.. And here, you say so? He said to him, if not Rebbi, maybe somebody else said it? Since when Rebbi taught a disagreement and afterwards taught it anonymously, practice follows the anonymous [text]. It must be that Rebbi did not find a disagreement in the Mishnah; but if others taught it in disagreement and Rebbi taught it anonymously, certainly practice follows the anonymous [text]. There come Rebbi Ḥizqiah, Rebbi Jacob bar Abba and Rebbi Simeon bar Abba, in the name of Rebbi Eleazar: Even if others taught a disagreement but Rebbi taught it anonymously, practice follows the anonymous [text]. Why does he agree here with a dissenting opinion? Rebbi Samuel ben Inaya in the name of Rebbi Aḥa. That means, if no diagreement is stated together with the anonymous [text], but if a disagreement is stated together with the anonymous [text], practice does not follow the anonymous [opinion]. Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Abun in the name of Rebbi Aḥa. That is, if individual disagrees with individual. But if an individual disagrees next to¹⁷⁶Meaning “after”. the [anonymous] Sages, practice does not follow the anonymous [text].

Rebbi Joḥanan said, everywhere one taught anonymous Mishnaiot, it follows the rabbis unless one’s teacher explains it [differently]. Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish says, all anonymous Mishnaiot follow Rebbi Meїr unless one’s teacher explains it [differently]¹⁷⁷In the Babli, both statements are attributed to R. Joḥanan: Practice follows the anonymous Mishnah as consensus of the majority (Hulin 43a), the formulation usually is due to R. Meїr (Sanhedrin 86a). The attributions of texts in other tannaitic works stated in the latter source have no parallels in Yerushalmi sources.. Rebbi Ze‘ira said before Rebbi Yasa, not that Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish disagrees, only he saw that most anonymous Mishnaiot follow Rebbi Meїr. Rebbi Ze‘ira asked before Rebbi Mana: What kind of teacher? The teacher of the baraita or the teacher of study¹⁷⁸A tannaitic source or the Amora, his personal teacher?? Does not the story of Rebbi Eleazar imply, the teacher of the baraita? “Following Rebbi Simeon¹⁷³R. Simeon ben Laqish, cf. Note 158. The question mark put in the text by the editor of the ms. is unnecessary., he found that Rebbi Ḥiyya stated it in the name of Rebbi Meїr. He said, the old man¹⁷⁴R. Joḥanan. certainly understands his chapters.” We have to say that he received instruction from the teacher of the baraita¹⁷⁹When R. Eleazar questioned the decision of his teacher R. Joḥanan, he certainly did not get his information from the latter. So the “teacher” must be the author of a baraita to be discovered by independent research. when he understood that Rebbi Ḥiyya stated it in the name of Rebbi Meїr.

The woman who performs ḥalîṣah counts from the moment of death¹⁸¹Since she cannot be freed before three months, she may remarry immediately after ḥalîṣah. The Babli, 42a, follows the Tosephta, 6:7, that a sister-in-law who performed ḥalîṣah within the first three months must wait another three months.. The one who leaves by a bill of divorce counts from the moment of delivery of her bill. Rebbi Ḥanina said, from the moment of delivery of her bill. Rebbi Joḥanan said, from the moment of writing. Rav and Samuel, Rav like Rebbi Ḥanina, Samuel like Rebbi Joḥanan¹⁸²Babli 42a.. Samuel objected to Rav: According to you, since you say from the moment of delivery, about what are you suspicious? Because in the meantime she was alone with him! Then one should worry about an old bill of divorce¹⁸³An bill of divorce is old at the moment of delivery if husband and wife were alone together at a place where they could have intercourse. For the House of Hillel, the bill is invalid and the woman is not divorced (Mishnah Giṭṭin 8:4). According to Samuel, Rav should not permit the delivery of a bill of divorce if husband and wife are at the same place and the bill was not delivered on the day it was written and signed.! Rebbi Ḥanina objected to Rebbi Joḥanan: According to you, since you say from the moment of writing, if there were two bills of divorce, one written now and one later, and both delivered on the same day. This one you prohibit and that one you permit!¹⁸⁴The same argument in Babli Giṭṭin 18a. What Rav objected to Samuel, Rebbi Ḥanina objected to Rebbi Joḥanan. What Rebbi Joḥanan objected to Rebbi Ḥanina, Samuel objected to Rav. Practice: She counts from the time of writing if he never was alone with her¹⁸⁵The Babli agrees, 42a; Giṭṭin18a..

“Except the widow because of her mourning.” How much does mourning last? Thirty days¹⁸⁶The same in Babli, 43b.. That is, for women. But for men¹⁸⁷All this, including the story (attributed to Joseph the Cohen), in Babli Mo‘ed. Qaṭan 23a. (Except when he has nobody to serve him; current practice follows the Yerushalmi.), three holidays. If he has children; but if he does not have children immediately. If he has somebody to serve him; but if he has nobody to serve him, immediately. If he does not have small children; but if he has small children, immediately, as in the following: It happened that Rebbi Ṭarphon’s wife died. While he still was in the cemetery, he said to her sister: Come into my house and raise your sister’s children. Even though he married her, he did not know her until 30 days had passed.