Commentaire de citation sur Le Lévitique 15:21

מדרס – a direct cause of Levitical uncleanness to defile a person and utensils like treading-contact uncleanness of one suffering from a flux/discharge which defiles a person and utensils as it is written (Leviticus 15:21): “Anyone who touches her bedding shall wash his clothes, [bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening].”

For the Toras Kohanim says that when the Torah states [Lev. 15:21], “A man who takes his brother’s wife, she is [like] a niddah,”²The source that such a woman is exempt from kares comes from the Toras Kohanim’s statement pertaining to Lev. 20:22, “If a man wishes to marry his brother’s wife, she is considered niddah as far as he is concerned. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They shall die aririm [childless].” The Toras Kohanim asks: “Is the verse speaking of the wife of a brother from the same father, or of the wife of a brother from the same mother? Since Scripture forbids a man to marry the sister of his father or mother or his brother’s wife, one could argue thus: Just as a man may not marry the sister of his father or mother, regardless of whether his father or mother are only related to the sister through a common father or mother, so should the wife of his brother be forbidden regardless of whether he is only related to his brother through his father or mother. Scripture therefore states ‘She is [considered] niddah’ in order to teach us that the sister of a brother is forbidden in a manner similar to the way a niddah is forbidden. Just as relations with a woman who is a niddah are forbidden [for a period of time], and there is [a period of time] when she is permitted, so does Scripture forbid one from marrying a wife of a brother who has [a situation] in which she is forbidden, and [a situation] in which she is permitted. What category of a wife of a brother has different situations in which she can be permitted or forbidden? This is the wife of a brother from the same father, for if she has children, she is always forbidden [to her husband’s brother], and if she does not have children, [she is permitted to her husband’s brother after her husband’s death].” [the words, “she is [like] a niddah”] exclude the wife of a man’s maternal half-brother from the prohibition of marrying the wife of one’s brother [thus, he, the maternal half-brother, must perform yibbum or halitzah], as cited by Tosafos in the beginning of Yevamos.³See Tosafos, Yevamos 2a, s.v. Eshes ahiv me-immo. This [Toras Kohanim] is also cited in Tractate Shabbos in the Jerusalem Talmud, in the chapter entitled Kelal Gadol.⁴Chapter 7, halachah 2. However, the Babylonian Talmud, in Tractate Yevamos 54b,⁵Actually it is 55a. derives an opposite [conclusion] from this verse. For it infers from the words, “she is [like] a niddah,” that there is even the liability [of kares] with the wife of the husband’s paternal half-brother, therefore exempting her from yibbum. It explicitly assumes it to be obvious that the wife of a maternal half-brother is forbidden, [thereby exempting the maternal half-brother from yibbum and halitzah].⁶Tractate Yevamos 55a deduces that the wife of a maternal brother is forbidden from two verses: Lev. 18:16, “The ervah [nakedness] of your brother’s wife you shall not uncover; she is the ervah of your brother,” and Lev. 20:21, “If a man takes his brother’s wife, she is a niddah; he has uncovered his brother’s ervah.” The words, “the ervah of your brother’s wife,” teach that his brother’s wife is forbidden during her husband’s lifetime (after he divorces her) when he does not have children. The word niddah conveys that she is forbidden during her husband’s lifetime (after divorce) when he does not have children. The phrase “he has uncovered his brother’s ervah” prohibits her if her husband has died and was survived by children. Since all three possible cases are covered by other derivations, the phrase, “the ervah of your brother” is available to teach that the wife of a maternal brother is forbidden.

ואם על המשכב הוא AND IF ONE BE ON HER PLACE OF REPOSE [OR ON ANY THING WHEREON SHE SITTETH] — This means, one who sleeps or sits on the place where she has slept or has sat even though he does not directly touch it (e. g. if there are covers upon the couch or the seat; for if he touches it vv. 21 and 22 apply); he also comes under the law of uncleanness that is stated in the above verse — that he requires washing of garments.