Kiddushin, Daf Samekh Daled, Part 1

 

Introduction

The main topic discussed in this mishnah is when a man is believed with regard to statements he makes that impact his children s personal status. The general rule is that a man is believed to say that he has done something which he currently has the legal ability to do. We shall see examples of this in the mishnah.

 

מתני׳ קדשתי את בתי קדשתיה וגרשתיה כשהיא קטנה והרי היא קטנה נאמן

 

[If a man declares] I have given my daughter in betrothal, [or] I gave her in betrothal and divorced her while she was still a minor, and she is [now] a minor, he is believed.

 

As we have learned already, a man has the legal right to betroth his daughter before she reaches majority age. He also has the legal right to accept a get on behalf of his married daughter as long as she has not reached majority age. If the daughter about whom this father is testifying is now a minor, he is believed to say that he betrothed her, or that he betrothed her and then accepted her get, since he currently has the power to perform either activity. The ramification of his being believed to state that he accepted her get, is that she will be disqualified from subsequently marrying a priest.

קדשתיה וגרשתיה כשהיא קטנה והרי היא גדולה אינו נאמן

 

I gave her in betrothal and divorced her while she was still a minor, and she is now of majority age, he is not believed.

 

If she is now an adult (past 12 1/2 years old), he is no longer believed if he makes these statements, since he no longer has the legal right to either accept betrothal or a get on her behalf. We should note that this limits the power of the father over his daughter. Once she is past a relatively young age, he has no legal right to make decisions regarding her kiddushin, nor can he make any statement which would severely impact her status.

נשבית ופדיתיה בין שהיא קטנה בין שהיא גדולה אינו נאמן

 

She was taken captive and I redeemed her, whether she is a minor or of majority age he is not believed.

 

A woman who was taken captive is forbidden from subsequently marrying a priest (see Ketubot 2:5). This is because it is assumed that her non-Jewish captors had sexual relations with her and a woman who has had intercourse with a non-Jew is forbidden from marrying a priest. The father is not believed if he states that his daughter was taken captive, no matter how old she is when he offers such testimony. A father does not have the legal right to give his daughter in marriage to a non-Jew and therefore he doesn t have any special right to testify about this having happened in order to thereby prohibit her to a kohen. Note that when she is a minor the father does have another means by which to prohibit his daughter to the priesthood; he can testify that he betrothed her and then accepted her divorce. Nevertheless, he does not have the right to testify that she was taken captive.

 

גמ׳ מאי שנא רישא ומאי שנא סיפא

רישא בידיה סיפא לאו בידיה

 

Why are the first and the second clauses different?

In the first clause, it is in his hand; in the second, it is not in his hand.

 

The Talmud explains, as I explained above, that the father is believed when he has the power to marry her off, but not when he does not, when she is of majority age. Similarly, he is not believed in the last clause because he does not himself have the power to disqualify her to the priesthood, neither when she is a minor or an adult.

 

ולא והרי בידו להשיאה לחלל דקא פסלה מכהונה

הא לא קשיא כרבי דוסתאי בן יהודה דאמר בנות ישראל מקוה טהרה לחללין

 

Is it not? Surely it is in his power to marry her to a halal, whereby he disqualifies her to the priesthood!

That is no difficulty: it [our Mishnah] agrees with R. Dostai b. Judah, who said: The daughters of Israel are a purifying mikweh for disqualified priests (halalim).

 

The Talmud argues a father does have the power to disqualify his minor daughter by marrying her off to a halal. A halal is the son of a priest who married a woman prohibited to him. According to many rabbis, a woman who has relations with a halal can no longer marry a Kohen. In other words, a father does have the power to disqualify his daughter to the priesthood.

The answer is that our mishnah holds like R. Dostai, an Israelite woman purifies the lineage of a halal. Her child will be fit to marry a priest (although the boys are not priests themselves). She herself is also still eligible to marry a priest, should her current husband die. Thus a father does not have the power to disqualify his daughter to the priesthood.