Yevamot

Embark on a journey of Jewish learning and discovery, exploring the depth of our Yevamot resources, where tagged items including audio, programs, and podcast episodes await your exploration.

Yevamot 22: Brotherly Love

Rabbi Jay Kelman

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 born a mamzer, an illegitimate child. Through no fault of one's own, one is stigmatized…
Article
Oct 30, 2014

Yevamot 21: The Limits of Teshuva

Rabbi Jay Kelman

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 would be considered incest. If one were to "marry" one of these people--say, one's aunt…
Article
Oct 28, 2014

Yevamot 17: Living Together

Rabbi Jay Kelman

It is the Jewish woman who is privileged with bestowing Jewishness to her offspring. Yet while the mother determines the Jewish status--or lack thereof--of her offspring, it is the father who determines particular family status. Thus, whether one is…
Article
Oct 26, 2014

Yevamot 17: Are You Jewish?

Rabbi Jay Kelman

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 less--how Abraham and Sarah converted many to Judaism. This is the midrashic explanation of the verse…
Article
Oct 22, 2014

Yevamot 13: Learning to Differ

Rabbi Jay Kelman

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' critiques personally, they welcome them; and through them, they sharpen and refine their views.…
Article
Oct 20, 2014

Yevamot 4: Conflicting Mitzvot

Rabbi Jay Kelman

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 similarly full of conflicts, contradictions[1], and challenges. We will discuss just one such general…
Article
Oct 13, 2014

Yevamot 2: Yours to Discover

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Masechet Yevamot opens by listing the fifteen women who "exempt their co-wives and the co-wives of their co-wives from chalitzah and yibum, ad infinitum" (Yevamot 2a). Under normal circumstances, when a man's…
Article
Oct 8, 2014

Some Opening Thoughts on Masechet Yevamot

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Masechet Yevamot gets a bad rap. Many consider it amongst the most difficult masechtot to learn. Yet its seems to me it is difficult in the same sense that financial planning or preparing a tax return is difficult for many--something about…
Article
Oct 6, 2014