timna asked:
What is the story behind Yo'av asking how a woman without hands does Chalitza? Did he have a particular woman in mind? Had Avner seen such a woman? What had happened to her hands?
timna, richmond, CA
The Kollel replies:
Yo'av's question to Avner was nothing more than a trick to catch Avner off-guard and undefended, in order to kill him. Yo'av wanted Avner to bend down in order to be in a vulnerable position so that we would not be able to defend himself against Yo'av. There was no actual handless woman.
For more details about the incident, see Daf Insights to Sanhedrin 49:3.
Y. Shaw