Kiddushin, Daf Ayin Vav, Part 4

 

כל מי שהוחזקו אבותיו משוטרי הרבים

למימרא דלא מוקמינן מפסולים

ורמינהו הכל כשרים לדון דיני ממונות ואין הכל כשרים לדון דיני נפשות והוינן בה הכל לאיתויי מאי ואמר רב יהודה לאיתויי ממזר

אמר אביי בירושלים וכן תני רב שמעון בר זירא בקידושי דבי לוי בירושלים

 

All those whose fathers were established to have been among the public officers.

Are we to say that public officers were not appointed from [genealogically] unfit people?

But the following contradicts it: All are fit to adjudicate in civil matters, but not all are fit to judge capital cases.

And we asked about this: What does fit include? And Rav Judah said: It includes mamzerim.

Abaye said: [The mishnah refers to courts] in Jerusalem.

And so did R. Shimon b. Zera teach in Kiddushin of the School of Levi: In Jerusalem.

 

According to our mishnah, it would seem that only genealogically fit judges were appointed. But according to a different source, even a mamzer could be appointed to judge in civil matters.

Abaye says that the higher standard refers to Jerusalem. There, only fit judges were appointed. Elsewhere, there was no genealogical standard for becoming a judge.

This is also taught in a baraita in Kiddushin of the School of Levi. This seems to be a version of Tractate Kiddushin taught in the school of Levi, an early amora, and it hints at the possibility that different amoraim had access to different collections of tannaitic material.

 

וגבאי צדקה משיאים מאי טעמא כיון דמנצו בהדי אינשי דאמר מר ממשכנים על הצדקה ואפילו בערב שבת ואם איתא דאיכא אית ליה קלא

 

Or charity overseers may marry [their daughter into the priesthood]. What is the reason? Since they quarrel with people, for a Master said: Pledges are taken for charity, even on erev Shabbat, if there were [a genealogical flaw in his family], it would be known.

 

Charity collectors are not popular they come to your house and take a pledge for the Tzedakah one owes. In the time of the Talmud, charity was collected by force, making it more like taxes. If there was a flaw in one of their lineages, it would be known when people curse them out. Therefore, there is no need to examine the lineage of women from such families.