"Shimon ben Azzai said: I found a scroll of genealogy, and it was written, 'So-and-so is a mamzer, [having been born] from [a…
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Yevamot 47: Judaism 101
"A convert who comes to convert bizman hazeh, nowadays...we inform him of the importance of leket, shichichah, peah and ma…
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Yevamot 44: The Practice of Law
Halacha, Jewish law, has a multiplicity of voices, each reflecting the word of the living G-d. Of course, in practice, we must choose…
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Yevamot 40: The Economics of Chalitzah
"Ishto k'gufo, ba'al k'ishto", one's wife is like one's own self; a husband is as one with his wife. Jewish thought…
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Yevamot 39: What Comes First?
"And if the man does not want to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate unto the elders, and say:…
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Yevamot 35: Whose Baby Is It?
Even those far removed from Jewish learning know that it is the mother who determines the Jewish status of a baby. Why this is so is not clearly…
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No Time to Waste: Yevamot 29
"Whoever starts in a mitzvah, we tell him to finish"; "a mitzvah that comes to your hand, do not let it wait". These and other…
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Yevamot 25: Conflict of Interest
Innocent until proven guilty is a fundamental norm of Western jurisprudence. This concept goes back until at least Talmudic times, when our Sages…
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Yevamot 25: Pleading the Fifth
By dint of the fifth amendment to the Constitution, US citizens are protected from being forced to give self-incriminating testimony; pleading…
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Yevamot 24: A Great P'shat
All great pieces of literature can be understood on multiple levels, over multiple time periods, and by a variety of cultures. There is no greater…
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Yevamot 22: Brotherly Love
Life is not always fair. So much that befalls us--both positive and negative--is beyond our control. And there is little that is less fair than being…
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Yevamot 21: The Limits of Teshuva
On Yom Kippur afternoon, the Torah reading focuses on the Jewish sexual ethic. The Torah has a relatively long list of relatives with whom intimacy…
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Yevamot 17: Living Together
It is the Jewish woman who is privileged with bestowing Jewishness to her offspring. Yet while the mother determines the Jewish status--or lack…
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Yevamot 17: Are You Jewish?
The assimilation and subsequent loss of Jews has been a problem since the beginning of Jewish history. Many of us were taught--in kindergarten, no…
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Yevamot 13: Learning to Differ
Our rabbis greatly extolled the virtues of arguments for the sake of heaven. In these disputes, the disputants not only do not take their opponents…
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Yevamot 4: Conflicting Mitzvot
Life is full of conflicts, contradictions, and challenges ,and it is our task to mediate them as best possible. Torah, our guide to life, is…
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Yevamot 2: Yours to Discover
Masechet Yevamot opens by listing the fifteen women who "exempt their co-wives and the co-wives of their co-wives from chalitzah and…
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Some Concluding Thoughts on Seder Moed
The Jewish people had sinned, and their future stood in the balance. G-d's initial plans to destroy the people were…