Kiddushin, Daf Ayin Daled, Part 5

 

 

גמ׳ מאי כל האסורין לבא בקהל אילימא ממזירי ונתיני שתוקי ואסופי הא תנא ליה רישא ממזירי ונתיני שתוקי ואסופי מותרים לבא זה בזה

 

GEMARA. What does it mean All who are forbidden to enter into the congregation [are allowed to intermarry with one another] ? If we say: mamzerim and netinim, shetuki and asufi? We already learned in the first clause: Mamzerim and netinim, shetuki and asufi, are permitted to intermarry!

 

The Talmud tries to interpret what new and yet still correct information we learn from this mishnah. We have already learned that those who cannot enter the congregation are allowed to marry each other.

 

ותו ר’ יהודה אוסר אהייא אילימא אודאן בספיקן הא מדקתני סיפא ר"א אומר ודאן בודאן מותר ודאן בספיקן וספיקן בספיקן אסור מכלל דר’ יהודה לא סבירא ליה

 

Furthermore, [when it states] R. Yehudah forbids it, to what is he referring? If we say, to cases of certain disqualification with those of doubtful disqualifications, but since the last clause states: R. Elazar states: those who are certain [may marry] those who are certain, but those who are certain with those who are doubtful and those who are doubtful with those who are certain and those who are doubtful with others who are doubtful this is prohibited, we can deduce that R. Yehudah does not hold this.

 

The second question about the mishnah is what exactly does R. Yehudah prohibit. If what he is prohibiting is people who have certain disqualifications (like one who is certainly a mamzer) marrying those whose disqualifications are doubtful (like a shetuki or beduki), then that is R. Elazar s position and it seems like R. Yehudah disagrees with him.

 

וכי תימא ר"י אוסר אגר בממזרת מידי גר בממזרת קתני כל האסורין לבא בקהל קתני

 

And if you should say that when it says that R. Yehudah prohibits it refers to [the marriage of] a convert and a mamzeret, is it then taught, a convert with a mamzeret: all are forbidden to enter into the congregation is taught!

 

It does not seem to be that R. Yehudah refers only to the prohibition of convert and a mamzeret, for if that was what he prohibited, it should have said so.

 

אמר רב יהודה הכי קאמר כל האסורים לבא בקהל כהונה מאי נינהו גיורת פחותה מבת שלש שנים ויום אחד ודלא כר’ שמעון בן יוחי מותרין לבוא זה בזה

 

R. Yehudah said: This is what it means: All who are forbidden to enter into the congregation of priesthood, and who are they? A female convert less than three years and one day, thus disagreeing with R. Simeon b. Yohai, may intermarry with each other.

 

Trigger warning this is gonna get a bit ugly. R. Yehudah explains that the mishnah refers to female converts who are prohibited from marrying priests, even those who convert before they are three. Our mishnah allows them to marry men who are disqualified, such as mamzerim. This disagrees with R. Shimon who holds that only girls who convert after three are prohibited from marrying into the priesthood. The difference between before and after three is that a girl who has been raped before three is assume to have her virginity restored (it grows back), whereas after three it does not.

 

ונוקמה בבת שלש שנים ויום אחד ואפי’ לר’ שמעון בן יוחי

Then let us relate it to a girl aged three years and a day, and then it would agree even with R. Shimon b. Yohai?

 

Why must we say the mishnah refers even to a girl younger than three and then admit that it does not agree with R. Shimon. Why not say it agrees with R. Shimon and refers only to a girl over three? A girl over three cannot marry a priest but could marry a mamzer

א"כ מצידה תברה אלא טעמא דבת שלש שנים ויום אחד הא פחותה מבת שלש שנים ויום אחד דמותרת לבא בקהל כהונה אסורה לבוא זה בזה

הרי פחותה מבת שלש שנים ויום אחד לר"ש בן יוחי דמותרת לבא בקהל כהונה ומותרות לבא זה בזה

 

If so, its refutation is at its side. [For we would then argue thus:] It is only because she is three years and a day; but if less than three years and one day, since she may enter into the congregation of priests, she should be forbidden [to intermarry] with the others?

But behold a girl who converts less than three years and a day, who according to R. Shimon b. Yohai may enter into the congregation of priests, may yet intermarry with the others!

 

If we understood the mishnah as referring even to a girl older than three years and a day, then the mishnah would be problematic. It would infer that a girl who converted less than three could marry priests and could not marry mamzerim and netinim. The problem is that this contradicts R. Shimon s opinion. He holds that such a girl may marry a priest but he still holds that she may marry other disqualified men.