Talmud - Kiddushin 78a קידושין ע״ח א׳

renders her a zona, as he was forbidden to her, but he does not render her a ḥalala, since her status as a zona does not result from a prohibition specific to the priesthood, but due to the prohibition of a forbidden relative. If her brother, or any other priest, again engaged in intercourse with her, he thereby makes her a ḥalala, in accordance with the halakha pertaining to a priest who engages in intercourse with a zona.

§ Rav Yehuda says: A High Priest who engages in sexual intercourse with a widow is flogged two sets of lashes, one set due to transgressing the prohibition of: “A widow, or one divorced, or a ḥalala, or a zona, these shall he not take” (Leviticus 21:14), and one set due to transgressing the prohibition of: “And he shall not profane” (Leviticus 21:15), since he profanes the woman with whom he engages in intercourse. The Gemara asks: And let him also be flogged with a third set of lashes due to the complete phrase: “He shall not profane his offspring,” because the offspring resulting from that act of intercourse is a ḥalal. The Gemara answers: It is referring to a situation where he did not complete his act of sexual intercourse. Since this act does not lead to pregnancy, he is not flogged for profaning his offspring.

Rava raises an objection against Rav Yehuda’s statement from a mishna (Makkot 13a): A High Priest who engages in sexual intercourse with a widow who was previously a divorcée is flogged due to two labels of prohibitions. What, is it not stating that he is flogged due to two labels and no more? This indicates that he receives only one flogging for each prohibition, and not two as Rav Yehuda taught.

The Gemara rejects this: No; it means due to two labels for this, i.e., he is flogged two sets of lashes for engaging in intercourse with a widow, one for transgressing: “Shall he not take,” and one for transgressing: “He shall not profane,” and two labels for that, i.e., engaging in intercourse with a divorcée.

The Gemara asks: If so, say the latter clause of that same mishna: If a priest engages in sexual intercourse with a divorcée who was also a yevama who performed ḥalitza [ḥalutza], he is liable to receive lashes due to only one transgression, since a ḥalutza is not forbidden to a priest by Torah law. This is contrary to the opinion of Rav Yehuda, that he should receive two sets of lashes for engaging in intercourse with a divorcée. The Gemara answers: This is what the mishna is saying: He is liable to receive lashes due to only one act, that of engaging in intercourse with a divorcée, but actually he is liable to receive two sets of lashes for his act of intercourse with a divorcée, since she is forbidden due to two labels. He does not receive an additional set of lashes on account of her being a ḥalutza, as this prohibition is by rabbinic law.

The Gemara asks: And is a ḥalutza forbidden to a priest only by rabbinic law? But isn’t it taught in a baraita: It states in the Torah that a priest may not marry a divorcée. I have derived only a divorcée; from where do I derive that a ḥalutza is also forbidden? The verse states: “And a woman divorced” (Leviticus 21:7), with the additional conjunction of “and” serving to include a ḥalutza, that she is also considered to be a type of divorced woman. The Gemara rejects this: Even so, this prohibition is only by rabbinic law, and the verse is a mere support, but it is not the true source of the halakha.

Abaye says: A priest who betrothed a woman forbidden to him is flogged; if he engaged in sexual intercourse with her he is flogged additional lashes. The Gemara clarifies this: If he betrothed, he is flogged due to transgressing the prohibition of: “Shall he not take.” If he also engaged in intercourse, he is flogged due to transgressing the prohibition of: “He shall not profane.” Rava says: If he engaged in intercourse he is flogged; if he did not engage in intercourse, he is not flogged at all, because it is written: “Shall he not take…and he shall not profane,” which Rava understands to mean: For what reason is he commanded not to take? It is so that he not profane. Rava holds that he is not liable for taking, i.e., betrothing, the woman, but only for engaging in intercourse with her, as this leads to profanation.

The Gemara notes: And although Abaye holds that the act of betrothal itself is forbidden, he concedes in the case of an Israelite who remarries his divorcée after she had been married to someone else in the interim, that if he betrothed her without engaging in intercourse, he is not flogged. Why not? It is as the Merciful One states in the Torah with regard to this prohibition: “Take her again to be his wife” (Deuteronomy 24:4), which indicates that the act of betrothal is forbidden only if it leads to the intimacy of marriage, and there is no such intimacy here since he has not engaged in intercourse with her.

And conversely, Rava concedes in the case of a High Priest with a widow, that if he engaged in sexual intercourse without betrothing her, he is flogged for the act of intercourse, as the Merciful One states in the Torah: “And he shall not profane his offspring among his people” (Leviticus 21:15), and he has profaned her with his act of intercourse. And they both concede in the case of the prohibition with regard to one who remarries his divorcée that if he engaged in intercourse with her without betrothing her he is not flogged, because the Torah forbade them to reestablish their union only through the manner of taking, i.e., betrothal, but it did not prohibit the act of intercourse on its own.

§ The mishna teaches that Rabbi Yehuda says: The daughter of a male convert is like the daughter of a male ḥalal, and is prohibited from marrying into the priesthood. It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yehuda says: The daughter of a male convert is like the daughter of a male ḥalal, and is prohibited from marrying into the priesthood. And logic dictates that this is so: Just as in the case of a ḥalal, who comes from a fit drop of semen, as both his parents are Jewish, his daughter is nevertheless unfit to marry into the priesthood, in the case of a convert, who comes from an unfit drop, as he was born a gentile, is it not logical that his daughter should be unfit to marry into the priesthood?

The Gemara counters this derivation: What is notable about a ḥalal? He is notable in that he is formed through a transgression, whereas the gentile parents of a convert were permitted to engage in sexual intercourse with each other. Therefore, the halakha of the daughter of a ḥalal might be more stringent than the halakha of the daughter of a convert. The Gemara responds: The case of a High Priest who engages in intercourse with a widow shall prove that this aspect is not germane to the fitness of the offspring, since the formation of the High Priest was not through a transgression, and yet his daughter is unfit to marry into the priesthood, indicating that being formed through a transgression does not play a role in this matter.

The Gemara counters again: What is notable about a High Priest who engages in intercourse with a widow? He is notable in that his act of intercourse is a transgression. This aspect is what leads to the stringent halakha that his daughter is unfit to marry into the priesthood. The Gemara responds: The case of a ḥalal will prove that this aspect is not germane to the fitness of the offspring, as his daughter is unfit despite the fact that his act of intercourse does not involve a transgression.

And the derivation has reverted to its starting point. The aspect of this person, a ḥalal, is not like the aspect of that person, a High Priest, as with regard to each of them there is a unique reason for the halakha to be stringent. Despite this, their common denominator is that they are unlike most of the congregation, in that they both differ from Jews of unflawed lineage, either because their formation or their act of sexual intercourse involved a transgression, and their daughters are therefore unfit to marry into the priesthood. I will also bring the case of the convert, who is unlike most of the congregation, and therefore his daughter is also unfit to marry into the priesthood.

This is rejected: What is notable about their common denominator is that the reason they are not like most of the congregation includes an aspect of a transgression, either with regard to their formation or to their act of intercourse. Therefore, the halakha of the daughter of a convert cannot be derived from them.

The Gemara modifies the proof: Do not say that a High Priest who engages in sexual intercourse with a widow will prove it; rather, say that a first-generation male Egyptian convert who married a first-generation female Egyptian convert will prove it. Although their intercourse does not involve a transgression, their offspring are nevertheless unfit to marry into the priesthood, as Egyptians may enter into the congregation only after three generations.

This proof is also rejected: What is notable about a first-generation Egyptian? He is notable in that he is not fit to enter into the congregation at all, and that is why his offspring may not marry into the priesthood. The Gemara responds that a ḥalal will prove that this aspect is not germane to the fitness of the offspring, since his daughter is unfit to marry into the priesthood although his offspring may enter into the congregation.

And the derivation has reverted to its starting point, as the halakha of the daughter of a convert cannot be derived from the case of the Egyptian alone or from the case of the ḥalal alone. The aspect of this person, an Egyptian convert, is not like the aspect of that person, a ḥalal, as with regard to each of them there is a unique reason for the halakha to be stringent. Despite this, their common denominator is that they are unlike most of the congregation, in that they both differ from Jews of unflawed lineage and their daughters are consequently unfit to marry into the priesthood. I will also bring the case of the convert, who is unlike most of the congregation, and therefore his daughter is also unfit to marry into the priesthood.

The Gemara rejects this: What is notable about their common denominator is that they disqualify the daughter of a priest from marrying a priest through their act of intercourse, which is not the case with a convert. The Gemara explains: And Rabbi Yehuda holds that a convert also disqualifies the daughter of a priest from marrying a priest through his act of intercourse, and he derives the halakha that the daughter of a convert is unfit to marry into the priesthood by means of an analogy derived from the common factor of two sources, i.e., from this halakha of a ḥalal and of an Egyptian.

§ The mishna states that Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya’akov says that the daughter of a convert and a Jewish woman is fit to marry into the priesthood. It is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai says: A female who converts at less than three years and one day old is fit to marry into the priesthood, as it is stated after the war with Midian: “But all the female children who have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves” (Numbers 31:18), i.e., you may marry them. But wasn’t Pinehas the priest with them, and yet the Torah permitted these women to all of them, which indicates that girls who are not of age when they convert are permitted even to priests. And how do the Rabbis, who hold that even a girl who converts at less than three years and one day old is unfit to marry into the priesthood, interpret this verse? In their opinion, “keep alive for yourselves” means as slaves and as maidservants, but not for marriage.

The Gemara comments: And all of the tanna’im who have a dispute with regard to the fitness of the daughter of a convert for marrying into the priesthood expounded a single verse. It states with regard to priests: “Neither shall they take as their wives a widow, nor her that divorced; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel” (Ezekiel 44:22). Rabbi Yehuda holds: A priest may marry a woman only if the entire seed is from those born to the Jewish people, but not if one of the parents is a convert. Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya’akov holds: “Of the seed of the house of Israel” indicates that not all of the seed must come from the house of Israel, and even if part of the seed is from the house of Israel, that is sufficient to allow her to marry a priest.

Rabbi Yosei, who holds that even the daughter of two converts is permitted to marry into the priesthood, holds that “of the seed of the house of Israel” means one who was seeded, i.e., conceived, in Israel, and the children of converts were conceived by Jewish parents. And Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai, who permits a female who converted at less than three years and one day old to marry into the priesthood, holds that the phrase “virgins of the seed of the house of Israel” is referring to one whose hymen was formed as a Jew, i.e., a woman who was already Jewish when her hymen completed its formation, which occurs at the age of three.

Rav Naḥman said to Rava:

Traduction : The William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noé Talmud, with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

Kidushin 78a examines a High Priest's forbidden relations with a widow or divorcée, detailing the resulting lashes and status of zona and ḥalala.