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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Chans Luntz posted a learned message re.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"...........</FONT>Mishna there (Yevamos 98b) is
discussing a case where five women<BR>give birth to sons together in one place
and the sons all get mixed up,<BR>so nobody knows which son belongs to which
mother (and hence to which<BR>father) but where each of the mothers also have a
vadai son of the same<BR>father as the one that got mixed up. And the five
mixed up sons grow up<BR>and marry and each die childless. So what the
Mishna prescribes if that<BR>for the first woman, four of the vadai sons give
her chalitza, and the<BR>last of the sons marries her - on the basis that, if
she is in fact his<BR>brother's wife, he will be doing yibum, and if not, well
her real yavam<BR>gave her chalitza as one of the four, and she is free to
marry. And<BR>then the same procedure is repeated for the second woman,
with a<BR>different one of the vadai sons taking her in marriage, and so for
all<BR>five..........."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Others have added to the discussion, prompting me
to pull out some notes</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>which I compiled many, many years ago
following my amateurish mathematical examination.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I stand to be corrected if I erred, but my findings
were that if each man performed</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>one Yibum there were 120 possible outcomes as
follows:-</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>5
Yibumim 1
possibility</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>3 Yibumim
10 possiblities</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>2 Yibumim
19 possibilites</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>1
Yibum 46
possibilities</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>0
Yibumim 44
possibilities</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We see that out of the 120 there are 76 cases
(120-44), i.e a 63%+ possibility that will be at least one Yibum and 30 cases (1
+ 10 +19), i.e. a 25% possibilty that there be more than one.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Elozor Reich, Manchester</FONT></DIV>
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