For the source text click/tap here: Yevamot 100
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We have already learned the concept of havchanah – the requirement that a woman whose marriage ends must wait at least three months before marrying another man. The purpose of this rule is to ensure that, if the woman becomes pregnant during this period, we know who the father of the child is.
What if the woman does not wait the required period, and is pregnant with a child whose father is one of two people? The Mishnah on our daf relates to this question in a number of different settings, e.g. with regards to questions of yibum (levirate marriage), if one was a kohen and the other an ordinary Jew, and if they were both kohanim.
We explore Anat Feldman’s study of Jewish women who emigrated from Islamic countries to the State of Israel during the 1950s.
When they arrived in the country, they encountered a secular establishment that had originated in Europe (Ashkenazic) and possessed an entirely different culture than that of these women, who were religious and had come from Africa and Asia (Mizrahim). Alongside the secular establishment, they also encountered a small ultra-Orthodox community, which had its origins in Europe.
The religious customs of this group differed greatly from those of the émigrés from Africa and Asia.
We also review the life and work of Moses of Oxford one of the first English Tosafists, Born in Oxford, he resided in the Oxford Jewry, before moving to London, until he passed away in 1268.