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How does chalitzah release a yevamah—is it simply canceling the mitzvah (מצוה) of yibum, or is it a full matir of the issur? The shiur analyzes a kal vachomer in the Gemara (גמרא) comparing chalitzah to get, unpacking whether chalitzah functions as a matir issur or a kinyan. Rashi (רש"י) and Tosafos (תוספות) diverge sharply on whether get itself works as a kinyan or purely as a dissolution of marriage, leading to different readings of the entire sugya.
The shiur opens with the famous Gemara (גמרא) on Yevamos 3a concerning a yevamah who cannot be released with a get but can be released with chalitzah. The Gemara initially suggests a kal vachomer: if chalitzah works to permit a yevamah (and matir the issur of the zika to the yavam), then kal vachomer chalitzah should also work to permit a regular married woman (issur eishet ish). The Gemara rejects this with the principle of "sefer koresu v'ein davar acher koresu"—the Torah (תורה) prescribed a specific document (get) for divorce, and no other method may be used. Rabbi Zweig explores the mechanics underlying this kal vachomer. The central question is: what is chalitzah actually doing? Is it merely removing the obligation of the mitzvah (מצוה) of yibum (a hafka'ah of the mitzvah), or is it actively permitting the yevamah by dissolving the zika (a matir issur)? If chalitzah is only a way to escape a mitzvah, the kal vachomer fails entirely—there is no logical connection between "how to avoid a mitzvah" and "how to dissolve a marriage." The fact that the Gemara makes the kal vachomer at all teaches that chalitzah must be a matir—it actively permits the woman by removing the issur of zika. The shiur emphasizes that zika itself is an issur; chalitzah is matir that issur, not just a procedural exit from yibum.
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Yevamos 3a
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