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Contents
Versions
Chapter 1; Chamesh Esreh Nashim
Chapter 4; HaCholetz
Chapter 6; HaBa Al Yevimto
Chapter 8; HaArel
About This Text
Composed: Talmudic Babylon, c.450 – c.550 CE
Yevamot (the plural of the word used to refer to one’s childless brother’s widow) is the first tractate in Seder Nashim (“Order of Women,” which addresses family law). Its sixteen chapters discuss yibum, the Torah-mandated marriage of a widow to the brother of her childless husband as well as chalitzah, the alternative rite discharging that obligation, in which the widow takes off the shoe of her husband’s brother and spits on the floor. Included in the tractate are also sections on the laws of marriage, prohibitted sexual relations, and conversion.