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Mishnayos Yevamos Perek 15 Mishnah 8

יבמות פרק ט"ו משנה ח׳

8

In the case of a woman who went, she and her husband, overseas, and her son was with them, and later she came back and said: My husband died and afterward my son died, she is deemed credible. It is permitted for her to remarry, and she is exempt from levirate marriage. The reason is that she had children when she left, and therefore she retains her presumptive status of one who is exempt from levirate marriage. However, if she said: My son died and afterward my husband died, she is not deemed credible, i.e., she may not enter into levirate marriage. And yet we are concerned and give some credence to her statement, in case she was actually widowed by a childless husband, and therefore she performs ḥalitza to exempt her from the levirate bond with her yavam, and she does not enter into levirate marriage.

הָאִשָּׁה שֶׁהָלְכָה הִיא וּבַעְלָהּ לִמְדִינַת הַיָּם וּבְנָהּ עִמָּהֶם, וּבָאָה וְאָמְרָה מֵת בַּעְלִי וְאַחַר כָּךְ מֵת בְּנִי, נֶאֱמֶנֶת. מֵת בְּנִי וְאַחַר כָּךְ מֵת בַּעְלִי, אֵינָהּ נֶאֱמֶנֶת, וְחוֹשְׁשִׁים לִדְבָרֶיהָ, וְחוֹלֶצֶת וְלֹא מִתְיַבֶּמֶת:

ח׳
Bartenura

מת בעלי ואח"כ מת בני נאמנת – since she had a son, and was not in the legal status/presumption of being chained to the levir when she departed, now also when she said: “my husband died,” and afterwards [said]: “my son died,” when she has no interdependence of a childless widow and her late husband’s brothers (i.e., to the levirate relation), she is believed. But if she said, “my son died” and afterwards [said]: “my husband died,” and she wants to be married by the levir, she is not believed. But if she came to be married to anyone in the world, we suspect her words for she compares herself as a piece (of meat) that is forbidden forever, and she removes the shoe of her brother-in-law who refuses to marry her and does not marry her levir.

מת בעלי ואח״כ מת בני נאמנת. הואיל והיה לה בן ולא היתה בחזקת זקוקה ליבם כשיצאה, השתא נמי כי אמרה מת בעלי ואח״כ מת בני שאין בה זיקת יבם, מהימנא. אבל כי אמרה מת בני ואח"כ מת בעלי ורוצה להתיבם, לא מהימנה. ואם באת להינשא לשוק חוששים לדבריה, דשויתה לנפשה חתיכה דאיסורא לעלמא, וחולצת ולא מתיבמת: