יבמות - Yevamot
Yevamot 2 ~ Levirate Marriage Across Cultures
Forms of Yibbum are not unique to the Torah. They are found in many other cultures, China to the Zulu.
Yevamot 8b ~ Science, Torah, and The Deceased Wife’s Sister Controversy: Part I
Why the Duke of Beaufort needed his own law, and how Chief Rabbi Adler helped save him.
On the (discredited) scientific explanation of a verse in the Torah, allowing a man to marry his dead wife’s sister.
Rabbinic Philosophies and the Scientific Method
Yes, science changes. But it brings us closer and closer to a true description of the universe.
Yevamot 15a ~ The Aylonit & Turner’s Syndrome
We now know the genetic basis for the medical condition of the daughter of Rabban Gamliel.
Yevamot 16a ~ Copernicus is the Firstborn of Satan
On the use of an insult in the Talmud, and later Jewish literature.
On the historical treatment of the Mamzer. and modern efforts to ignore the whole thing.
Yevamot 42a~...an eight month fetus cannot survive
Actually it can. Where did this belief come from?
Yevamot 42b~ The dangers of pregnancy while nursing
The Talmud is correct. You can conceive while breastfeeding.
Yevamot 54a ~ Bizarre Talmudic Scenarios
Hypotheticals in the Talmud, and in arguments before the US Supreme Court.
Yevamot 64b~ Circumcision, death, and Hemophilia A
Talmudic hematology. Way ahead of The New England Journal of Medicine.
Yevamot 64b~ Infertility and the classes that went on too long
Long lectures and urinary tract infections.
Yevamot Interlude~ Henry VIII, Yibum, and the Sotheby's Auction
Why the King with six wives was interested in the details about yibbum.
Yevamot 72a ~ Bloodletting and permissive anemia
Why the Talmud recommended bloodletting. And why it’s not a good idea.
Yevamot 75a ~ Voltaire, Rabbi Yishmael and the man with one testicle
The Cohen with one testicle, and a strange party at Oxford University.
Yevamot 97a ~ Rava on Delayed Puberty in Boys
Rava may have been the first first to report an association of obesity and delayed puberty in boys.
Yevamot 97a~ Plagiarism, citation, and the lips of the dead
Examples of falsification, fabrication and plagiarism in Jewish texts.
Yevamot 98b ~ On Twins, and the Sperm that Splits in Two
Talmudic explanations of how twins form. And some strange facts about twin births.
Yevamot 116b~ Of Snakebites, Palestinian and Israeli
The treatment of snakebites. And a controversially named snake.
Yevamot 118b ~ Does Marriage Make You Happier?
Yes. Just like Resh Lakish suggested.