יום ב Date: 12 Tishrei, 5774 (10/6/14) – Yevamos#2 {Tani}

DEARLY DEFINED

[2b bottom] Gemarah: There are many cases of forbidden relationships that affects Yebum (a brother carrying on his deceased brother’s name by marrying his widow) [nowadays Chalitzah (a ceremony of refusal to do Yebum) is done instead]. The Tanna (author) of the Mishnah lists the forbidden relationship of a father to his daughter first because it is most interesting and “dear to him” as it is a law learned out through special analytical scriptural exegesis instead of from an explicit verse.

T’s Lesson: We too should feel the Torah that we work extra hard on to be “dear” to us as well. As we embark and delve iy”H (G-d willing) on one of the hardest, if not the hardest Masechtos (Tractates) in Shas/Talmud (Gemarah), we should hold the Torah that we learn and toil at, to be truly near and dear to us always.