For the source text click/tap here: Yevamot 28
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The Mishna on our daf teaches that although the Tanna Kamma requires that both widows receive halitza, there is an opinion – Rabbi Shimon – that rules that these two sisters are permitted to marry whoever they want without a need for halitza (the brother certainly cannot marry both sisters, a relationship that is forbidden by the Torah).
The Gemara suggests that Rabbi Shimon does not require halitza for these sisters because of his reading of the passage in Vayikra (18:18) that forbids marrying two sisters. He understands that the pasuk teaches that when sisters somehow gain the status of tzarot (rival wives), as they do in our case, neither of them will be permitted.
We explore the biblical origin of polygamy and the way chazal explain Yaakov Avinu’s marrying two sisters. from a halachic standpoint.We then examine a modern society (Mormons) who used the biblical narrative of Jacob to rationalize their practice.