Nashim
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Nashim is the third order of the Mishnah, containing family law. Of the six orders of the Mishnah, it is the shortest.
Nashim consists of seven tractates:
- Yevamot deals with the Jewish law of yibbum and other topics such as the status of minors. It consists of 16 chapters.
- Ketubot deals with the ketubah, as well as topics such as virginity, and the obligations of a couple towards each other. It consists of 13 chapters.
- Nedarim deals with various types of vows often known as nedarim and their legal consequences. It consists of 11 chapters.
- Nazir deals with the details of the Nazirite vow and being a Nazirite. It consists of 9 chapters.
- Sotah deals with the ritual of the sotah, the woman suspected of adultery as well as other rituals involving a spoken formula. It consists of nine chapters.
- Gittin: deals with the concepts of divorces and other documents. It consists of 9 chapters.
- Kiddushin: deals with the initial stage of marriage – betrothal, 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 is as follows:- Yevamot is first because unlike the others, it is largely concerned with a compulsory commandment 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 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.
- 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.