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1 ‎[1] **her heirs,** i.e., **the heirs of her marriage contract, are obligated in her burial.** This indicates that her husband’s heirs, who inherit her marriage contract, must attend to her burial. **Abaye said: We too learn** in a mishna (95b): **A widow is sustained from the property of the orphans, and her earnings are theirs, and** they **are not obligated in her burial.** Instead, **her heirs, the heirs of her marriage contract, are obligated in her burial. And who is the widow who has two** sets of **heirs,** necessitating the ruling that only the heirs of her marriage contract are obligated in her burial? **You must say** that **this** is **a widow waiting for her *yavam*,** as the *yavam* inherits her marriage contract.
‎[2] **Rava said: But let** the *yavam* **say: I inherit** my **brother,** and I am therefore entitled to this marriage contract as my brother’s heir, while **his wife I** am **not** obligated to **bury,** as I have no connection to her. **Abaye said to him:** This claim is not valid **because they come upon him from two sides,** by force of two complementary claims: **If he inherits his brother** he should inherit his duties as well as his rights, and **he should bury his wife. If he does not bury his wife,** as he does not wish to take his brother’s place, **he should give her marriage contract** to her.
‎[3] Rava **said to him: I say as follows:** The *yavam* claims that **I inherit** my **brother,** and **his wife I** will **not bury,** as this is not my responsibility. **And if** the brother should be responsible **due to** her **marriage contract, a marriage contract cannot be collected during** the husband’s **lifetime** but only after his death. The *yavam* is the first husband’s replacement, as he is prepared to perform levirate marriage with the woman, and therefore she is not entitled to her marriage contract, which means he is also not obligated to bury her. This assumption that a marriage contract may not be claimed during the husband’s lifetime is derived from a close reading of the wording of the marriage contract, which states: When you may marry another you may claim this marriage contract, which indicates that if the woman is unable to marry another man because her husband is still alive she is not entitled to her marriage contract.
‎[4] The Gemara asks: **Who did you hear who is of** the opinion that **one expounds the marriage contract** and infers *halakhot* from its exact language, like expositions from the Torah? It is the opinion of **Beit Shammai, and** yet **we have heard that Beit Shammai say a document that is ready to be collected is considered collected.** Here too, it should be considered as though she had already claimed her marriage contract, and he cannot claim to be acting as his brother’s heir.
‎[5] The proof of this is **as we learned** in a mishna (*Sota* 24a): **If the husbands** of women suspected of being unfaithful **died before** their wives **drank** from the bitter waters in accordance with the *halakha* of a *sota*, and it was never established whether they had engaged in relations with another man, **Beit Shammai say: They take the marriage contract and do not drink, and Beit Hillel say: Either they drink or they do not take the marriage contract.**
‎[6] The Gemara digresses to express puzzlement at the wording of this mishna: **Either they drink?** How can they drink the bitter waters? **The Merciful One states: “Then shall the man bring his wife to the priest”** (Numbers 5:15), **and there is no** way to fulfill that verse after the husband has died. **Rather,** Beit Hillel’s ruling should be understood as follows: **Since they do not drink,** as they have no husband who can compel them to drink the waters, **they do not take the marriage contract,** in case they were in fact unfaithful.
‎[7] That mishna stated that **Beit Shammai say: They take the marriage contract and do not drink. But why** do they collect the marriage contract? **It is a** case of **uncertainty: Perhaps she committed adultery; perhaps she did not commit adultery.** If she was unfaithful she is not entitled to the marriage contract, **and** yet, although her position cannot be verified, Beit Shammai maintain that her **uncertain** claim **comes and supersedes** the **certain** claim of the heirs, as they are certainly the rightful heirs of their father.
‎[8] It must therefore be concluded that **Beit Shammai maintain: A document that is ready to be collected is considered collected.** Consequently, the sum of the marriage contract is already considered in the woman’s possession, which means that when the heirs do not wish to pay the sum of the marriage contract they are actually trying to claim money due to an uncertainty.
‎[9] The Gemara questions the earlier statement that the marriage contract may not be collected during the husband’s lifetime due to the exposition of the language of the document: **But** even if the language of a marriage contract is not expounded, the simple meaning of its words indicates that she may not claim it during the lifetime of the *yavam*, as **we require** the fulfillment of the clause: **When you** may **marry another you** may **take that which is written to you, and this is not** the case here, as the *yevama* may not marry anyone else before she takes part in *ḥalitza*. How, then, can the two claims come upon him, as Abaye suggested?
‎[10] **Rav Ashi said:** The ***yavam* is also considered like another** man, and it is as though she were about to marry another. Therefore, she is entitled to the marriage contract.
‎[11] The above discussion took place when Abaye and Rava were learning this *halakha* together. Sometime later, **Rava sent Abaye** the following related difficulty **by way of Rav Shemaya bar Zeira: And can** the **marriage contract** of a *yevama* **be collected during** his **lifetime?**
‎[12] **But isn’t it taught** in a *baraita*: **Rabbi Abba says: I asked Sumakhos:** With regard to a *yavam* **who wants to sell his brother’s property** but is unable to do so because all his brother’s possessions are mortgaged to the *yevama*, **how can he proceed?** He replied: **If he is a priest,** who is prohibited from remarrying his divorced wife, **he should prepare a feast** for his wife after *yibbum* has been performed, **and** during the feast he should **persuade** her to allow him to sell the late brother’s property. **If he is a** regular **Israelite,** who may remarry his divorced wife, he can **divorce** her **with a bill of divorce,** at which point he is obligated to pay her only the sum of her marriage contract, and the rest of the property is then no longer mortgaged for it. While they are divorced he may sell the property **and** subsequently **remarry** her.
Mishneh Torah, Woman Suspected of Infidelity
Version: William Davidson Edition - English
Source: https://korenpub.com/collections/the-noe-edition-koren-talmud-bavli-1
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