Kiddushin, Daf Ayin Gimmel, Part 3

 

Introduction

Today s mishnah discusses the shetuki one who knows who his mother is but does not know who his father is.

 

אלו הן שתוקי כל שמכיר

אמר רבא דבר תורה שתוקי כשר מאי טעמא רוב כשרים אצלה ומיעוט פסולין אצלה

ואי אזלי אינהו לגבה כל דפריש מרובא פריש

 

These are they: A shethuki: He who knows [etc.]: Rava said: According to the Torah a shethuki is considered fit. What is the reason? The majority are fit for her [the mother], while only a minority are unfit for her.

Now, if they went to her, then he who separates himself [from a mass] separates himself from out of the majority.

 

Rava says that we can assume that the father was fit and therefore, according to Torah law, the child is fit. This is because a majority of Jewish men have fit lineage.

The Talmud now gets into their understanding of how we determine whether one follows the majority or not. Warning some of this is counterintuitive.

One who separates from a mass is considered as coming from the majority. So if this unidentified man separated somehow from a mass of other men and came to her, he is assumed to be fit.

 

מאי אמרת דילמא אזלה איהי לגבייהו הוה ליה קבוע וכל קבוע כמחצה על מחצה דמי והתורה אמרה (דברים כג, ג) לא יבא ממזר ממזר ודאי הוא דלא יבא הא ממזר ספק יבא בקהל ודאי הוא דלא יבא הא בקהל ספק יבא

 

What might you say: maybe she went to them? Then it is a fixed mass, and every case of a fixed mass is treated as half and half.

But the Torah said: A mamzer shall not enter (Deuteronomy 23:3): only a certain mamzer may not enter, but a doubtful mamzer may enter; only into a certain congregation he may not enter, but he may enter into a doubtful congregation.

 

If the woman goes to him, then it is a case of a fixed majority, one that no one separates from. In such cases we treat it the group as half kosher and half mixed, even though the majority is actually kosher. Therefore, his lineage is considered doubtful. Nevertheless, as we stated earlier, the Torah prohibits only a certain mamzer from entering Israel. Thus at worst, a shetuki is a doubtful mamzer.

 

ומה טעם אמרו שתוקי פסול גזירה שמא ישא אחותו מאביו

 

Then what is the reason that they ruled that a shetuki is unfit?

It is a decree lest he marry his paternal sister.

 

A shetuki is not allowed to marry an Israelite lest this Israelite woman turns out to be his paternal sister.

 

אלא מעתה שתוקי שתוקית לא ישא שמא ישא אחותו מאביו

כל כי הני מזנו ואזלי

 

If so, a shetuki should not marry a shetukit, lest he marry his paternal sister?

Do we assume he fornicated so much?

 

Logically speaking, the shetuki should not be allowed to marry even another shetukit lest she be his paternal sister. But we are not concerned that this man had so many children out of wedlock (they might have thought differently if they knew some professional sports players).

 

בת שתוקית לא ישא שמא ישא אחותו מאביו

אלא לא שכיחא ה"נ לא שכיחא אלא מעלה עשו ביוחסין

 

Then let him not marry the daughter of a shetukit, lest he marry his paternal sister?

Rather [you must answer that] it is not common.

Then here too, it is not common!

Rather [the reason is:] a higher standard was set up in respect to lineage.

 

Again, logically he should not be allowed to marry the daughter of a shetukit. But he is, because this is not common. But again, the Talmud protests, it would not be common for him to come from a disqualified father.

Rather, the ultimate answer is that the rabbis were simply strict when it comes to lineage. This is certainly an accurate assessment, as we have seen throughout this chapter. Rabbis view lineage as one of the most important factors determining a person s qualities.