Kiddushin, Daf Ayin Zayin, Part 2

 

 

גמ׳ מאי לעולם מהו דתימא מידי דהוה אמצרי ואדומי מה להלן לאחר שלשה דורות אף כאן נמי לאחר שלשה דורות קא משמע לן

 

GEMARA. Why [state], for all time ? What might you have said? It is like the case of Egyptian and an Edomite: just as there, after three generations [the prohibition is lifted], so here too after three generations [the daughter is fit for the priesthood]. Therefore it teaches us otherwise.

 

The Mishnah needed to emphasize that the daughter of a halal is disqualified from the priesthood for all time to teach us that this is different from the case of the Egyptian and Edomite. There too the male is disqualified as is his daughter, but the disqualification lasts only three generations. The disqualification of a halal lasts for all time.

 

ישראל שנשא חללה

מנא הני מילי אמר ר’ יוחנן משום ר’ שמעון נאמר כאן (ויקרא כא, טו) ולא יחלל זרעו בעמיו ונאמר להלן (ויקרא כא, ד) לא יטמא בעל בעמיו מה להלן זכרים ולא נקבות אף כאן זכרים ולא נקבות

 

If an Israelite marries a halalah [his daughter is fit for the priesthood]. How do we know it? R. Yohanan said in the name of R. Ishmael: Here it is stated, And he shall not profane his seed among his people (Leviticus 21:15); and there it is stated, He shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people (Leviticus 21:4): just as there, males but not females, so here too, males but not females.

 

The rules of Leviticus 21:15 are applied to males and not females. The child of a halalah is fit to marry a priest. This is derived through a comparison with verse 4 which is also interpreted in reference to males but not females.

 

אלא מעתה בתו של כ"ג תישתרי מי כתיב בנו זרעו כתיב לא יחלל זרעו בעמיו

 

If so, let the daughter of a High Priest [from a widow] be permitted [to marry a priest]?

Is it written: [And he shall not profane] his son ? His seed is written, he shall not profane his seed among his people.

 

If the regulations refer to males and not females, then the daughter of a widow and a high priest should also be able to marry a priest. But the Torah does not say that only sons become halalim. It says offspring thus the daughter of a high priest and widow does become a halalah herself, prohibited to the priesthood.

 

בת בנו תישתרי כתיב לא יחלל זרעו מקיש זרעו לו מה הוא בתו פסולה אף בנו בתו פסולה

בת בתו תיתסר אם כן גזירה שוה מאי אהני ליה

 

Then let the daughter of his son be permitted? It is written, he shall not profane his seed : the verse compares his seed to him: just as his own daughter is unfit, so is his son’s daughter unfit.

Then let his daughter’s daughter [too] be prohibited?

If so, what is effected by the gezerah shavah?

 

If the Torah only refers to the offspring of the forbidden relationship (high priest to widow), then why is his son s daughter also prohibited? In other words, if there is a son who is a halal, he passes it down to his daughter. The answer is that the priest s offspring is compared with the son s offering just as the priest s daughter is a halal, so his son s daughter. But the gezarah shavah (word comparison) with verse 4 is sufficient such that the daughter s daughter is not considered a halalah. Thus a halalah s daughter can marry a priest.

 

חלל שנשא בת ישראל בתו פסולה הא תנא ליה רישא בת חלל זכר פסולה מן הכהונה

לעולם איידי דתנא רישא ישראל שנשא חללה תנא נמי סיפא חלל שנשא בת ישראל

 

If a halal marries the daughter of an Israelite, his daughter is unfit.

But that is stated in the first clause: the daughter of a male halal is unfit for the priesthood for all time!

In the end since it teaches: If an Israelite marries a halalah, the latter clause also teaches: if a halal marries the daughter of an Israelite.

 

The next clause of the mishnah ( If a halal marries the daughter of an Israelite, his daughter is unfit ) was already taught in the first clause. It is only there to maintain a parallel and complete structure with the rest of the mishnah.

מתניתין דלא כרבי דוסתאי בן יהודה דתניא רבי דוסתאי בן יהודה אומר כשם שבני ישראל מקוה טהרה לחללות כך בנות ישראל מקוה טהרה לחללים

מאי טעמיה דר’ דוסתאי בר’ יהודה אמר קרא לא יחלל זרעו בעמיו בעם אחד הוא דמיחל בשני עממים אינו מיחל

 

Our Mishnah does not agree with R. Dostai b. Judah. For it was taught: R. Dostai b. Judah said: Just as the sons of Israel are a mikveh of purification for [female] halalot, so are the daughters of Israel a mikveh of purification for [male] halalim.

What is the reason of R. Dostai b. R. Judah? The verse says, He shall not profane his seed among his people : he profanes [his seed] among one people, but not among two peoples.

 

R. Dostai b. Judah holds that by intermarrying with a pure Israelite, halalim of both genders purify their bloodlines. When a male Israelite marries a halalah, their child is not a halal. So too when a halal marries a female Israelite, their child is not a halal.

The verse refers to a case where a male halal marries a female halalah. Their child is from one people and therefore the child is a halal. But when a male marries someone from another people, i.e. a woman who is not a halal, their child is not a halal.