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Why does the Mishna omit tzaras tzara (the co-wife of a co-wife)? The shiur develops the principle that only an actual ervah creates an issur on her tzara; where the prohibition stems from kedushei rishon (lack of nefila), not an ervah relationship to the yavam, no tzaras tzara issur is generated. Two interpretations of echad l'baal echad l'baal are explored through Tosfos.
This shiur analyzes Gemara (גמרא) Yevamos 3b's discussion of why the Mishna does not list tzaras tzara (the co-wife of a co-wife of an ervah) among the fifteen women who exempt their co-wives from yibum. The transcript opens with the question: the Gemara says "lefi she'eino b'tzaras tzara" — because there is no case of tzaras tzara — but this answer seems to lack substance. Why should a technical absence of cases remove a category from the Mishna's teaching? If the Mishna is listing halachic principles, a technical problem should be irrelevant. Rabbi Zweig rejects the surface reading that the Gemara is referring to a mere technical difficulty in constructing a case (since a tzara of a sotah is automatically also a tzara to all the brothers, making tzaras tzara impossible to isolate). Instead, the shiur establishes a fundamental conceptual distinction: the Mishna deals exclusively with ervahs — relationships where the woman herself becomes an ervah to the yavam. By contrast, tzaras tzara is not rooted in an ervah relationship at all. The prohibition on a tzara of a sotah, or a tzara of an ailonis, arises because there is no nefila (falling into yibum) from the first husband — the defect is in kedushei rishon, not in the yavam's relationship to the woman. Rashi (רש"י) emphasizes this point: where the issur stems from kedushei rishon, the woman is not "my ervah," and therefore her co-wife is not "tzaras ervah." Consequently, a tzara who remarries does not generate tzaras tzara, because the underlying issur was never one of ervah in the first place.
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Yevamos 3b
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