Kiddushin, Daf Ayin Aleph, Part 1
Introduction
The Talmud continues to discuss lineage. We ll be talking about this for a long time, just so you know.
אמר רבי חמא בר חנינא כשהקדוש ברוך הוא מטהר שבטים שבטו של לוי מטהר תחילה שנא’ (מלאכי ג, ג) וישב מצרף ומטהר כסף וטיהר את בני לוי וזיקק אותם כזהב וככסף והיו לי"י מגישי מנחה בצדקה
Rami Hama b. Hanina said: When the Holy One, blessed be He, purifies the tribes, he will first purify the tribe of Levi, for it is said: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver; and there shall be they that shall offer to the Lord offerings in righteousness (Malachi 3:3).
God is portrayed here as sorting out the proper lineage of Israel who married women fit for them and who did not. When God does this, the first tribe to be sorted out will be the Levites.
אמר רבי יהושע בן לוי כסף מטהר ממזרים שנאמר וישב מצרף ומטהר כסף
R. Yehoshua b. Levi said: Money purifies mamzerim, for it is said, And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.
R. Yehoshua b. Levi uses the same verse to prove what seems to be an eternal truth money buys prestige. Mamzerim can buy their way into families of proper lineage and in the future, God will not sort them out as mamzerim. Rashi explains that R. Yehoshua reads the verb purifier differently than did Rami b. Hama. R. Yehoshua reads this as God allowing those mamzerim who had intermarried with Israel to remain there. This is a good representation on the two views of mamzerim we will see throughout these sugyot. Is it desirable that improper marriages, poor lineages, etc. should be weeded out? Or does God (and we in return) celebrate the fact mamzerim (and others of flawed lineage) have managed to hide their identity and in a sense purify their lines.
מאי מגישי מנחה בצדקה
א"ר יצחק צדקה עשה הקב"ה עם ישראל שמשפחה שנטמעה נטמעה
What is meant by, and there shall be they that shall offer to the Lord offerings in righteousness?
R. Yitzhak said: The Holy One, blessed be He, performed charity with Israel, in that a family once mixed up remains so.
This interpretation maintains the second line I explained before. God does not reveal a family the flawed lineage that has become mixed up in a family.
גופא אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל כל ארצות עיסה לארץ ישראל וארץ ישראל עיסה לבבל בימי רבי בקשו לעשות בבל עיסה לארץ ישראל אמר להן קוצים אתם משימים לי בין עיני רצונכם
יטפל עמכם ר’ חנינא בר חמא נטפל עמהם ר’ חנינא בר חמא
אמר להם כך מקובלני מר’ ישמעאל בר’ יוסי שאמר משום אביו כל ארצות עיסה לארץ ישראל וארץ ישראל עיסה לבבל
The [above] text [states]: Rav Yehudah said in the name of Shmuel: All countries are as dough relative to Eretz Yisrael, and Eretz Yisrael is as dough relative to Babylonia.
In the days of Rabbi they wanted to render Babylonia as dough relative to Eretz Yisrael.
He said to them: You are putting thorns between my eyes! If you want, R. Hanina b. Hama will join [issue] with you.
R. Hanina b. Hama joined [issue] with them and said to them, I have this tradition from R. Yishmael son of R. Yose who said on his father’s authority: All countries are as dough in comparison with Eretz Yisrael, and Eretz Yisrael is as dough relative to Babylonia.
According to this source, the lineage of Eretz Yisrael is dough, meaning mixed up, in comparison to Babylonia. Babylonia has preserved their lineage better than Eretz Yisrael. The practical ramification of this is that a family from a place of better lineage would have to investigate the lineage of someone they want to marry from a place of poorer lineage.
There was an attempt, according to this source, to change this around. But it failed. Even those in Eretz Yisrael realize that the lineage of those in Babylonia is superior.
We should realize that this is a source in the Bavli portraying those in Eretz Yisrael as admitting that those in Babylonia have superior lineage. From a source like this, it is not possible to know what those in Eretz Yisrael thought about their lineage.