Nothing the Words Can Do

About This Talk

Yibbum v'Chalitzah 4 sets out the entire rite of chalitzah and then spends most of the chapter saying how much of it may go wrong. The yevamah comes to the yavam's city, from "the elders of his city shall call him," his city and not hers; the judges first give counsel suited to these two people, advising yibbum where they appear fitting and chalitzah where she is young and he much older or she older and he young; they establish the place beforehand to publicize the matter, though a chance encounter with the judges is acceptable. Both are taught to read until fluent and she is trained to say lo avah in one breath and then yabmi, so her words cannot be heard as avah yabmi, though fluency excuses the single breath. Chalitzah is a judgment, so it is held by day, before three men who need not be ordained but must a priori be able to read and must be of native born parentage on both sides, with five present as a mitzvah so the matter becomes known. The rite is a leather shoe with a heel, not sewn with linen, on his right foot with the straps tied; both stand; she recites that her yavam refuses, he recites that he does not desire to take her; he presses his heel to the ground, she loosens the straps, removes the shoe and throws it down, then stands and spits on the earth before his face where the judges can see it and recites the closing verse, all in Hebrew, after which everyone answers "the one whose shoe was removed" three times, and the instant the majority of the heel clears his foot she is free to marry. Then the dismantling: the order is not binding, removal alone with no recitation and no spitting is acceptable, as are removal with recitation and no spitting or removal with spitting and no recitation, and she does not spit again out of order lest people conclude spitting is of no consequence. Acceptable after the fact are a rite performed seated or lying on their sides, straps tied below the knee, three common people unable to read, a blind yavam, judges who never saw the spittle, a wooden sandal covered in leather, a left shoe on his right foot, a shoe that is not his, one oversized if he can walk in it or small or torn or open soled if it still covers most of his foot, a yevamah with no hands removing it with her teeth since the verse never specified hands, and spittle carried off by the wind once it has passed his face. What fails is the deed and the intent: a perfect recitation with no removal and no spitting accomplishes nothing at all, since "this is what shall be done" means a deed has effect while the recitation is not an absolute requirement and has no effect on its own, while spitting alone is an unacceptable chalitzah. Unacceptable also are a rite at night, before one or two judges or three including a relative or a disqualified man, with the shoe tied above the knee, with a girl below majority removing an adult's shoe, with a cloth shoe accomplishing nothing while a heelless, linen sewn, goats' hair, bark, cork or wooden shoe is unacceptable, with the shoe torn or burned off rather than removed, with a yavam whose right leg is amputated or who cannot press his heel down, where one party intended the release and the other did not, or where he was told on a false premise that this is how he acquires her as a wife or that he loses nothing and may still perform yibbum later; a man's protest invalidates it, so judges nullify protests first, and compulsion by a Jewish court acting lawfully leaves the chalitzah acceptable while compulsion by commoners or by an erring court does not. The chapter's closing definitions carry its weight: "of no substance" means nothing happened and yibbum remains open, while "unacceptable" forbids him to her relatives, forbids her to the priesthood, closes yibbum with every brother, and still leaves her unable to marry until an acceptable chalitzah is performed, so that a rite half done is worse than one never attempted. A woman who transgressed and married is not sent away but an acceptable chalitzah is performed; a yevamah seen removing one brother's shoe is disqualified from yibbum; the chalitzah document effects nothing and exists only as her proof, for which a woman, a servant or a perceptive minor may testify since the matter will become known anyway; and she may marry on the very day she performs chalitzah, since chalitzah is not performed until ninety days have passed since her husband's death.