For the source text click/tap here: Yevamot 103
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It was taught in the mishna that if one’s leg was amputated from the knee down and his yevama performed ḥalitza with him, the ḥalitza is valid. The Gemara raises a contradiction from a baraita that comments on the pilgrimage one makes to Jerusalem during a Festival requires both intact legs.
Because chalitza requires that the yavam 'stands', amputeeism is at issue. Certainly one need to be able to stand to perform chalitza. If he is missing a leg, does the wooden prosthesis stand in for his foot? What if the prosthesis extends past his knee? And what about those who cannot stand on their feet due to a condition like club foot? Their feet, including their heels, should be flat on the floor, the rabbis have determined. Do those who cannot put their feet on the ground forego the ritual of chalitza?
We explore the etymology of the knee joint as well as the history of knee pathology (and arthritis) from antiquity... and the stunning discovery In August 1995, Professor C. Wilfred Griggs from Brigham Young University, Utah, and a team of experts, carried out x-rays on six mummies housed in the Rosicrucian San Jose Museum, including the mummy of Usermontu. They were stunned when the x-rays revealed that one of the mummies had a 9-inch metal pin in its left knee.