Kiddushin, Daf Ayin Daled, Part 4
Introduction
Today s sugya deals with R. Eliezer b. Ya akov s ruling in the Mishnah:
Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob says: if an Israelite marries a female convert, his daughter is fit for the priesthood, and if a male convert marries the daughter of an Israelite, his daughter is fit for the priesthood. But if a male convert marries a female convert, his daughter is unfit for the priesthood. [The same law applies to] a convert as to freed slaves, even for ten generations, [his daughter is unfit] unless his mother is of Israelite stock.
ר’ אליעזר בן יעקב אומר גר
תניא רבי שמעון בן יוחי אומר גיורת פחותה מבת שלש שנים ויום אחד כשרה לכהונה שנאמר (במדבר לא, יח) וכל הטף בנשים החיו לכם והלא פינחס היה עמהם
ורבנן החיו לכם לעבדים ולשפחות
R. Eliezer b. Ya akov said: a convert [etc.]. It was taught: R. Shimon b. Yohai said: A female convert less than three years and a day is eligible to the priesthood, as it is said: But all the women children . . . keep alive for yourselves (Numbers 31:18); now, was not Pinchas among them?
But the Rabbis [say]: keep them alive for yourselves as slaves and slave women.
R. Shimon b. Yohai says that a girl who converted less than three years of age is eligible to marry a priest. He derives this from the story about the war with Midian. Moses tells the soldiers to spare female children. R. Shimon b. Yohai assumes this was to take them as wives. And since Pinchas, a priest, was among the warriors, we can learn the females who convert while still children are allowed to marry priests.
The other rabbis hold that these girls were kept alive to be slaves, not wives.
וכולן מקרא אחד דרשו (יחזקאל מד, כב) אלמנה וגרושה לא יקחו להם לנשים כי אם בתולות מזרע בית ישראל רבי יהודה סבר עד דאית כל זרע מישראל
רבי אליעזר בן יעקב סבר מזרע ואפילו מקצת זרע
רבי יוסי סבר מי שנזרעו בישראל
רבי שמעון בן יוחי סבר מי שנזרעו בתוליה בישראל
Now, all expound from the same verse: A widow or a divorcee they shall not take for wives, but rather they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel (Ezekiel 44:22).
R. Yehudah holds: all the seed must be from Israel.
R. Eliezer b. Ya akov holds: of the seed [implies] even part of the seed.
R. Yose holds: whoever was conceived in Israel.
R. Shimon b. Yohai holds: [It means] one whose virginity matured in Israel.
There are four different positions with regard to whether a daughter of a convert can marry a priest. All four read a verse from Ezekiel differently.
R. Yehudah holds that both the father and mother must be born Jewish for the daughter to marry a priest.
R. Eliezer b. Ya akov holds that one parent must be Jewish.
R. Yose holds that as long as her parents converted before she was conceived, she is allowed to marry a Jew.
R. Shimon b. Yohai holds that a girl who converts before the age of three is allowed to marry a priest. In rabbinic physiology, the girls hymen is formed at three years.
אמר ליה רב נחמן לרבא האי קרא רישא בכהן גדול וסיפא בכהן הדיוט
אמר ליה אין
וכתב קרא הכי
אמר ליה אין דכתיב (שמואל א ג, ג) ונר אלהים טרם יכבה ושמואל שוכב בהיכל ה’ והלא אין ישיבה בעזרה אלא למלכי בית דוד בלבד אלא נר אלהים טרם יכבה בהיכל ה’ ושמואל שוכב במקומו
R. Nahman said to Rava: This verse, the first part refers to a High Priest and the second to an ordinary priest?
He replied: Yes.
And is a verse thus written?
He replied: Yes, for it is written, And the lamp of God was not yet gone out, and Shmuel was laid down [to sleep] in the Temple of the Lord (I Samuel 3:3).
But sitting was [permitted] in the Temple only for the Kings of the House of David?
Rather it means: The lamp of God was not yet gone out in the Temple of the Lord, and Shmuel was laid down in his place.
The verse from Ezekiel is problematic for it contradicts the Torah according to Leviticus the divorcee is prohibited only to the High Priest, not an ordinary priest. To solve the problem, Rava explains that the first half refers to a High Priest and the second half to an ordinary priest. He then legitimizes such a reading by noting that other verses in the Torah must also be read against the grain. Shmuel could not have been lying down to sleep in the Temple, for only Davidic kings can even sit down in the Temple.
(יחזקאל מד, כב) והאלמנה אשר תהיה אלמנה מכהן יקחו מכהן אין מישראל
לא הכי קאמר מכהן יקחו משאר כהנים יקחו
תניא נמי הכי מכהן יקחו משאר כהנים יקחו
And a widow that is the widow of a priest they shall take. Only of a priest, but not of an Israelite? [Rather] this is the meaning of of a priest they shall take: those of the other priests may take.
It was taught likewise: Of a priest they shall take : [i.e.,] those of the other priests may take.
Ezekiel seems to say that a priest can marry only widows of other priests, and not widows of Israel. But this is also against the halakhah a priest can marry any widow.
To resolve the problem the verse is reinterpreted the verse allows other priests, those who are not the High Priest, to marry widows.
רבי יהודה אומר מן המשיאים לכהונה יקחו
רבי יהודה לטעמיה דאמר בת גר זכר כבת חלל זכר כל שאתה נושא בתו אתה נושא אלמנתו וכל שאי אתה נושא בתו אי אתה נושא אלמנתו
R. Yehudah says: Of those who can give [their daughters] in marriage to the priesthood they may take.
R. Yehudah follows his own view, for he said: the daughter of a male convert is as the daughter of a male halal: when you may marry his daughter, you may marry his widow; and when you may not marry his daughter, you may not marry his widow.
R. Yehudah interprets the verse as prohibiting priests from marrying the widows of men whose daughters may not marry into the priesthood. This would include the widow of a convert. Since a priest, according to R. Yehudah, cannot marry the daughter of a convert, he can also not marry the widow.
ר’ יוסי אומר אף גר שנשא גיורת אמר רב המנונא משמיה דעולא הלכה כרבי יוסי
וכן אמר רבה בר בר חנה הלכה כרבי יוסי ומיום שחרב בית המקדש נהגו כהנים סילסול בעצמן כרבי אליעזר בן יעקב
אמר רב נחמן אמר לי הונא בא לימלך מורים לו כרבי אליעזר בן יעקב נשא אין מוציאים אותה ממנו כרבי יוסי
.
R. Yose said: also if a male convert marries a female convert.
R. Hamnuna said in the name of Ulla: The halakhah follows R. Yose.
And Rabbah b. Bar Hanah also said: The halakhah follows R. Yose but since the day that the Temple was destroyed, the priests have insisted on a superior status, in accordance with R. Eliezer b. Ya akov.
R. Nahman said: Huna told me: If he [a priest] comes for advice, we instruct him in accordance with R. Eliezer b. Ya akov; but if he marries, we do not compel him to divorce her in accordance with R. Yose.
The baseline halakhah follows R. Yose the child of converts can marry a priest. However, the priests themselves were stricter and would marry a woman only if at least one of her parents was born Jewish. Furthermore, when coming for ab initio instruction, the rabbis would tell the priests not to marry a girl unless one of her parents was born Jewish. However, if the priest married a girl whose parents were both converts, the marriage may be maintained.