Kiddushin, Daf Ayin Heh, Part 3

Introduction

The Talmud continues to discuss the baraita and in which cases the woman is unfit for marrying a priest.

אמר רב חסדא הכל מודים באלמנת עיסה שפסולה לכהונה

מאן מיקל בהני תנאי רבן שמעון בן גמליאל וקאמר כל שאתה נושא בתו אתה נושא אלמנתו וכל שאי אתה נושא בתו אי אתה נושא אלמנתו למעוטי מאי למעוטי אלמנת עיסה שפסולה לכהונה

R. Hisda said: All agree that the widow of a member of a suspected family is unfit for the priesthood. [For] who is the most lenient of these Tannaim? R. Shimon b. Gamaliel. Yet he says: He whose daughter you may marry, you may marry his widow; but he whose daughter you may not marry, you may not marry his widow. What does this come to exclude? It excludes the widow of a suspected family, that she is unfit for the priesthood.

A suspected family is a family into which someone with poor lineage might have gotten mixed in. According to R. Hisda, all the tannaim in that baraita, agree that a woman who married into such a family cannot subsequently marry a priest. R. Shimon b. Gamaliel was the most lenient opinion in the baraita, but even he agrees that if a priest cannot marry the daughter, then a priest cannot marry the widow. Since a priest cannot marry a daughter from such a family, the widow is unfit for the priesthood as well.

לאפוקי מדהני תנאי דתנן העיד רבי יהושע ור’ יהודה בן בתירא על אלמנת עיסה שכשירה לכהונה מאי טעמא הוי ספק ספיקא וספק ספיקא לקולא

This is to exclude the opinions of the following Tannaim: For we taught: R. Joshua and R. Yehudah b. Batera testified concerning the widow of a member of a suspected family, that she is fit for the priesthood.

What is the reason? Because it is a double doubt, and in cases of a double doubt we rule leniently.

The tannaim of the earlier baraita disagree with R. Joshua and R. Yehudah b. Batera who allow priests to marry widows of suspected families. This is a case of a double doubt. For one, we don t know if the person who was suspected of having flawed lineage really was flawed. Second, this is a suspected family meaning there is a suspicion that at some point in time, a person with flawed lineage mixed into the family. But we do not know who it is. So maybe this woman s husband was not a direct descendent of the person with flawed lineage. Since there are two doubts, the law is more lenient. This is a general principle in halakhah.