For the source text click/tap here: Yevamot 121
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The penultimate Mishna in our masechta teaches us that if one falls into a body of water and he is not found, his wife is prohibited from marrying. Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yosei share cases where a person (or a part of a person) emerges from water after three days.
The Mishna suggests that we need to distinguish between different types of bodies of water. When dealing with “מַיִם שֶׁיֵּשׁ לָהֶם סוֹף” mayim she-en lahem sof – literally “water with no end,” i.e., a large body of water whose end cannot be seen – we must be concerned that he survived, while regarding mayim she-yesh lahem sof – when we can see the entire body of water – we can assume that he died.
Rabbi Meir does not distinguish between the two, arguing that even in “מַיִם שֶׁיֵּשׁ לָהֶם סוֹף” mayim she-yesh lahem sof we must operate with the assumption that the person could survive.
The Gemara focuses on whether or not a body of water has an end or not. If we can see all possible exits from the water, a man missing in the water is considered dead after three days and his wife can remarry. However, if there is any escape from the water that cannot be seen - a distant shore, for example, the man is presumed missing, and his wife cannot remarry.
As we approach the end of our masechta we explore the cases of agunot during war as well as the controversial London Rabbi who freed agunot…using the gedolim of Europe fraudulently.