Bechoros 47a

בכורות מ״ז ע״א

Bekhorot 47a

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Topic

A convert's earlier children (inheritance and פריה ורביה), and when the son of a לוייה or כהנת is exempt from פדיון הבן.

Overview

This amud opens with the last line of an earlier discussion: the father's power of 'יכיר' is separate from ordinary face recognition. Then רבי יוחנן and ריש לקיש argue about a man who had sons as a גוי and then converted. רבי יוחנן says those earlier sons still count, so he has no new בכור for inheritance and he has already fulfilled פריה ורביה. ריש לקיש says 'גר שנתגייר כקטן שנולד', so the earlier sons do not count. The גמרא defends רבי יוחנן against a משנה and a ברייתא, assigning the ברייתא to רבי יוסי הגלילי. Next, רב אדא בר אהבה rules that a לוייה's firstborn son is exempt from פדיון הבן. רב פפא explains that the father was a גוי, while רבא explains that the father was a ישראל but פדיון depends on the mother's womb. A משנה about a כהנת seems to challenge רב פפא, and the גמרא answers that the 'כהנת' there is a בת ישראל whose son is a כהן.

Opening lines

The steps (32)

1. ConclusionClosing line of the previous discussion: two different kinds of recognition
2. StatementNew dispute: does a convert who already had children have a firstborn for inheritance?
3. StatementThe reasons: 'first of his strength' versus 'a convert is like a newborn'
4. StatementThey are consistent: the parallel dispute about פריה ורביה
5. StatementReasons in the פריה ורביה dispute: 'made to be inhabited' versus 'like a newborn'
6. ResolutionWhy both disputes had to be recorded: the first half of the explanation
7. ResolutionThe other side of why both disputes were needed
8. ChallengeQuoting the משנה about a mother who gave birth after converting
9. QuestionWho is the father? Not an ordinary Jew
10. ChallengeThe father must be a convert who had sons, a challenge to רבי יוחנן
11. ResolutionThe father is a Jew with no sons; the mother's status matters only for the כהן
12. ResolutionThe משנה is excluding the view of רבי יוסי הגלילי
13. ChallengeA ברייתא: a convert with sons from before conversion has a בכור for inheritance
14. ResolutionThe ברייתא follows רבי יוסי הגלילי
15. Statementרב אדא בר אהבה: the son of a לוייה is exempt from five סלעים
16. QuestionWho is the father? If he is a כהן or a לוי, why mention a לוייה at all?
17. ChallengeIf the father is a regular Jew, lineage should follow him
18. ResolutionThe father was a non-Jew, so the child counts as a לוי
19. ResolutionThe father was a ישראל, but פדיון הבן depends on the womb
20. ChallengeA משנה is quoted to challenge רב פפא
21. ChallengeThe rest of the משנה being used to challenge רב פפא
22. QuestionInference from the משנה and the question of who the father was
23. ChallengeThe father cannot be a כהן or לוי
24. ChallengeIf the father was a גוי, is a כהנת's son really exempt?
25. Responseרב פפא compares the כהנת to רב אדא בר אהבה's ruling
26. Rejectionרבה rejects the comparison: a לוייה keeps her holiness
27. Proofברייתא: a captured or violated לוייה still eats מעשר
28. RejectionA כהנת loses her status after relations with a גוי
29. ChallengeFine for מר בריה דרב יוסף, but how does רב פפא explain the משנה?
30. ResolutionThe mother is a בת ישראל who became pregnant from a כהן
31. QuestionWhy does the משנה call her a כהנת?
32. ResponseShe is called כהנת because her son is a כהן