Kiddushin, Daf Ayin Zayin, Part 4
ת"ר אלמנה אלמנה אלמנה אינו חייב אלא אחת גרושה גרושה גרושה אינו חייב אלא אחת (ויקרא כא, יד) אלמנה וגרושה וחללה זונה בזמן שהם כסדר חייב על כל אחת ואחת זינתה ונתחללה ונתגרשה ונתארמלה אינו חייב אלא אחת
Our Rabbis taught [If a High Priest has intercourse with] a widow, a widow, a widow, he is only liable for only one.
[If a priest has intercourse with] a divorced woman, a divorced woman, a divorced woman, he is liable for only one.
[If he has intercourse with] a widow, a divorced woman a halalah, and a zonah, if they [incurred these disqualifications] in this order, he [the High Priest] is liable [for each intercourse].
But if she [first] committed harlotry, and then was then profaned, and then divorced, and finally widowed, he is liable for only one.
This baraita deals with a subject the rabbis love to talk about how many transgressions is one liable for multiple sins. If a High Priest has sex with a woman who has three times been widowed, this is only one sin. The same is true for a priest with a woman who has been divorced three times.
However, the rule is potentially different for a woman who has three different types of prohibitions. If she was first widowed, and then divorced, and then became a halalah (by having sex with a priest) and then a zonah (through sex with someone prohibited to her but not a priestly prohibition) then the High Priest is liable for each and every category. But if she becomes these prohibited categories in the other order, he is liable only once.
אמר מר אלמנה אלמנה אלמנה אינו חייב אלא אחת
האי אלמנה היכי דמי אילימא שבא על אלמנת ראובן ועל אלמנת שמעון ועל אלמנת לוי אמאי אינו חייב אלא אחת הרי גופין מוחלקים הרי שמות מוחלקים
The Master said: [If a High Priest has intercourse with] a widow, a widow, a widow, he incurs only one penalty. What is the case of this widow? If we say that he has intercourse with Reuben’s widow, and then Shimon s widow, and then Levi’s widow, why is he liable only once? Behold, they are separate persons and separate names!
The Talmud begins to explain the baraita. If the three widows are three different people, then he should be liable for three different transgressions. The fact that they are different people separates them into three sins.
אלא שבא על אלמנה אחת שלש ביאות
היכי דמי אי דלא אתרו ביה פשיטא דאינו חייב אלא אחת
אלא דאתרו ביה אכל חדא וחדא אמאי אינו חייב אלא אחת והתנן נזיר שהיה שותה יין כל היום כולו אינו חייב אלא אחת אמרו לו אל תשתה אל תשתה והוא שותה חייב על כל אחת ואחת
Rather he has intercourse three times with the same widow. What is the specific case? If he was not warned, it is obvious that he is liable only once.
Rather he was warned for each. But why is he liable only once? Did we not learn: If a nazir drinks wine all day, he is liable only once. If he is warned, Do not drink, do not drink, and he drinks, he is liable for each time he drinks!
The Talmud now suggests that the High Priest had sex three times with the same widow. But this too encounters a problem. In order to be liable for an intentional sin, one must be warned that the act is prohibited. If he was not warned, then obviously he would be liable for only one sin (an accidental sin). But if he was warned about each act, then he would be liable for each one.
לא צריכא שבא על אלמנת ראובן שהיתה אלמנת שמעון שהיתה אלמנת לוי מהו דתימא הרי שמות מוחלקים קמ"ל גופים מוחלקים בעינן וליכא
This is necessary only if he has intercourse with Reuben’s widow, who was Shimon s widow who was Levi’s widow. What might I have thought? Behold, they are separate names! Therefore it teaches us [that for there to be separate transgressions] there needs to be separate bodies and there are not.
The solution to the baraita is that he had sex with one woman who was a widow from three different men (killer wife!). We might have thought that since she was widowed from three different men he would be liable three times. Therefore the baraita teaches that this counts as only one transgression because she is only one woman.