Kiddushin, Daf Ayin Zayin, Part 3
Introduction
The Talmud discusses the definition of a halalah.
תנו רבנן לא יחלל זרעו. אין לי אלא זרעו היא עצמה מנין אמרת קל וחומר מה זרעו שלא עבר עבירה מתחלל היא שעברה עבירה אינו דין שמתחללת
Our Rabbis taught, He shall not profane his seed: I know this only [of] his seed; how do I know it of herself? Say, a kal vehomer: if his seed, that did not transgress, is profaned, she, who transgressed, how much the more so that she should be profaned!
The Torah implies that the offspring of a priest and a woman should be profaned (become a halal). But the Torah does not say that this has any implications for her. How do I know that she becomes a halalah? The answer is through a kal vehomer she committed a sin by having relations with the priest, therefore she too should become a halalah.
הוא עצמו יוכיח שעבר עבירה ואין מתחלל
מה להוא שכן אין מתחלל בכל מקום תאמר בהיא שמתחללת בכ"מ
Let he himself refute it, for he transgresses, yet he is not profaned!
As for himself, that is because he is not profaned in all other cases; will you say [the same] of her, for she is profaned in all other cases?
The priest himself would seem to refute the kal vehomer. After all, he transgressed and yet he does not become a halal. The Talmud refutes this by noting that the priest is never profaned by having forbidden sex, whereas a woman who has sex with someone prohibited to her (for instance a mamzer, becomes a zonah (which in this case does not mean prostitute). Therefore, the kal vehomer is not disrupted.
ואם נפשך לומר אמר קרא לא יחלל זרעו לא יחולל זה שהיה כשר ונתחלל
And if you want to say [that this proof is not sufficient], the verse says, He shall not profane his seed, –this one shall not become profaned, who was [originally] fit and is [now] profaned.
The baraita ends with another proof. The verse describes someone being profaned. That someone should be someone who was originally fit and now is not. The offspring has not yet been born, so it cannot refer to the offspring. Therefore, it must refer to the woman.
מאי אם נפשך לומר וכי תימא איכא למיפרך מה לזרעו שכן יצירתו בעבירה אמר קרא לא יחלל לא יחולל זה שהיה כשר ונתחלל
What is meant by, And if you want to say [that this proof is not sufficient] ? And should you say, this can be refuted: as for his seed, that is because it is conceived in sin; [therefore] the verse says, He shall not profane his seed, –this one shall not become profaned, who was [originally] fit and is [now] profaned.
The Talmud adds in another difficulty which would explain why we need the last proof. We might have said that the seed is profaned because it is conceived in sin. The response is the midrash from above.
תנו רבנן איזו היא חללה כל שנולדה מן הפסולים
מאי פסולים אילימא פסולים לו הרי מחזיר גרושתו דפסולה לו ובניה כשרים דכתי’ (דברים כד, ד) תועבה היא היא תועבה ואין בניה תועבים
Our Rabbis taught: What is a halalah? One who was born of unfit people.
What is meant by unfit people? If we say, unfit for him, behold there is the one who takes back his divorced wife, though she is unfit for him, yet her children are fit, as it is written, She is an abomination (Deuteronomy 24:4): she is an abomination but her children are no abomination!
The baraita defines a halalah as the offspring of unfit people. But we have to define what unfit people means. If it simply means anyone whom a man can t marry, there is the case of a man who remarries his divorced wife after she marries someone else. Such a marriage is an abomination (according to the Torah), but her children are not halalim.
אמר רב יהודה הכי קאמר איזו היא חללה כל שנולדה מן פסול כהונה
Rav Judah said: This is what it means: Who is a halalah? One who was born of a priestly disqualification.
R. Judah limits the definition of a halalah to the offspring of a priestly disqualification, such as a divorcee to a priest, or a widow to a high priest. Regular Israelites cannot have children who are halalim.
נולדה אין לא נולדה לא הרי אלמנה וגרושה זונה דלא נולדה וקא הויא חללה
אמר רבה ה"ק איזו חללה מוזכרת שלא היה לה שעת הכושר כלל כל שנולדה מן פסול כהונה
One was born [of such a forbidden union] is a halalah, but one who was not born [of such a union] is not? Behold there is the widow, divorced woman or a zonah, who were not born [of such a union], and yet [each] is a halalah.
Rabbah said: This is its meaning: Who is the halalah mentioned, that never had a period of eligibility? Anyone who was born of a priestly disqualification.
The problem with R. Judah s interpretation of the baraita is that there are halalot who were not born from priestly disqualifications. This would be the case of a widow, divorcee or zonah who had relations with a priest prohibited to them. They too are now halalot.
Rabbah emends the definition the baraita refers only to women who were never eligible to marry a priest those who were born as halalot.
מאי מוזכרת אמר רב יצחק בר אבין ה"ק איזו היא חללה שעיקרה מדברי תורה ואין צריכין לפרש מדברי סופרים כל שנולדה מן פסולי כהונה
What does mentioned mean?
R. Isaac b. Avin: This is what it means: Who is the halalah who primarily [disqualified] by the Torah, and who needs no rabbinical definition? One who was born of a priestly disqualification.
Rabbah said that these women were mentioned. But what does that mean? The Torah did not mention any particular women.
R. Yitzchak b. Avin gives one final definition the baraita refers to the main addressee of the verse the offspring. The fact that the woman herself became a halalah was only the result of a rabbinic definition.