__notoc__ Nashim ( "Women" or "Wives") is the third order of the Mishnah (also of the Tosefta and Talmud) containing family law. Of the six orders of the Mishnah, it is the shortest. Nashim consists of seven tractates: #'' Yevamot'' ( "Brothers-in-Law") deals with the Jewish law of

yibbum ''Yibbum'' (, ) is the form of levirate marriage found in Judaism. As specified by , the brother of a man who died without children is permitted and encouraged to marry the widow. However, if either of the parties refuses to go through with the ...

(

levirate marriage Levirate marriage is a type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his brother's widow. Levirate marriage has been practiced by societies with a strong clan structure in which exogamous marriage (i.e. marriage o ...

) () and other topics such as the status of minors. It consists of 16 chapters. #'' Ketubot'' (, "Prenuptial agreements") deals with the

ketubah A ketubah (; ) is a Jewish marriage contract. It is considered an integral part of a Jewish views on marriage, traditional Jewish marriage, and outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom, in relation to the bride. In modern practice, ...

(Judaism's prenuptial agreement), as well as topics such as

virginity Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereo ...

, and the obligations of a couple towards each other. It consists of 13 chapters. #'' Nedarim'' (, "Vows") deals with various types of vows often known as ''nedarim'' and their legal consequences. It consists of 11 chapters. #'' ''Nazir'''' ( "One who abstains") deals with the details of the

Nazirite In the Hebrew Bible, a nazirite or a nazarite ( ''Nāzīr'') is an Israelite (i.e. Jewish) man or woman who voluntarily took a vow which is described in . This vow required the nazirite to: * Abstain from wine and strong drink as well as all oth ...

vow and being a Nazirite (). It consists of 9 chapters. #'' Sotah'' ( "Wayward wife") deals with the ritual of the sotah, the woman suspected of adultery () as well as other rituals involving a spoken formula (such as breaking the heifer's neck, the King's Septennial public Torah reading, the Blessings and Curses of

Mount Gerizim Mount Gerizim ( ; ; ; , or ) is one of two mountains in the immediate vicinity of the State of Palestine, Palestinian city of Nablus and the biblical city of Shechem. It forms the southern side of the valley in which Nablus is situated, the nor ...

and

Mount Ebal Mount Ebal (; ) is one of the two mountains near the city of Nablus in the West Bank (Bible, biblical ''Shechem''), and forms the northern side of the valley in which Nablus is situated, the southern side being formed by Mount Gerizim. The mount ...

, etc...). It consists of nine chapters. #''

Gittin Gittin (Hebrew: ) is a tractate of the Mishnah and the Talmud, and is part of the order of Nashim. The content of the tractate primarily deals with the legal provisions related to halakhic divorce, in particular, the laws relating to the ''Get ...

'': ( "Documents") deals with the concepts of divorces and other documents. It consists of 9 chapters. #'' Kiddushin'': ( "Betrothal") deals with the initial stage of marriage –

betrothal An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

, as well as the laws of Jewish lineages. It consists of 4 chapters.

Order of tractates

The traditional reasoning for the order of tractates according to

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

is as follows: *''Yevamot'' is first because unlike the others, it is largely concerned with a compulsory commandment (levirate marriage) as opposed to a voluntary one. *''Ketubot'' follows as it signifies the beginning of married life. *''Nedarim'' follows because once a man is married to a woman, he has the legal right (under certain conditions) to annul her vows. *''Nazir'', dealing with a special type of vow is a continuation on the subject of vows. *The penultimate sections deal with the end of a marriage with ''Sotah'' which is concerned with infidelity and ''Gittin'' which is about actual divorce (Rambam's order swaps these two). *''Kiddushin'' is at the end because it follows the Scriptural order that once a woman is divorced, she can get betrothed to any man, this subsequent betrothal symbolised by the placement of ''Kiddushin''. Both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds have a

Gemara The Gemara (also transliterated Gemarah, or in Yiddish Gemore) is an essential component of the Talmud, comprising a collection of rabbinical analyses and commentaries on the Mishnah and presented in 63 books. The term is derived from the Aram ...

on each of the tractates in the order.

Order of tractates

References

External links