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Kesubos 25b

כתובות כ״ה ע״ב

Ketubot 25b

Learn Kesubos 25b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

How a person's status as a כהן or לוי is established: by public signs like נשיאות כפים, reading first in shul, or receiving תרומה, and by the word of a relative such as a father or brother.

Overview

The amud opens with the last words of an answer about חלה: not all of the Jews went up to ארץ ישראל in the days of עזרא. Next, the גמרא tries to prove from a ברייתא that נשיאות כפים makes someone a כהן even for יוחסין, because the ברייתא lists it next to עדות. The proof is pushed back: the ברייתא means a witness who reports a חזקה he saw, and that testimony is only as strong as the חזקה. Stories show this kind of testimony. רבי אמי accepts a man as a כהן because a witness saw him read first with a לוי after him, and רבי יהושע בן לוי accepts a man as a לוי because he read right after a כהן. Before ריש לקיש, a witness says a man read first, but ריש לקיש wants to know whether he received תרומה at the threshing floor. רבי אלעזר, and later רבי יוחנן himself, answer that כהונה does not stop where there is no threshing floor. Then the גמרא works out that רבי trusted a father about his son's כהונה, at least for eating תרומה, and רבי חייא trusted a brother about his brother being a לוי. The amud ends by asking רבי חייא why a brother is believed when a father is not, since both are relatives.

Opening lines

לָאו כּוּלְּהוּ סְלוּק.

Not all of them went up.

תָּא שְׁמַע: חֲזָקָה לִכְהוּנָּה —

Come and hear: A presumption of being a priest comes from:

נְשִׂיאוּת כַּפַּיִם וְחִילּוּק גֳּרָנוֹת

Lifting of the hands, and the sharing out at the threshing floors,

וְעֵדוּת.

And testimony.

The steps (25)

  1. ResolutionNot everyone went up in the days of עזרא
  2. ProofA ברייתא listing three ways to establish כהונה
  3. ChallengeIs testimony just a presumption?
  4. ProofReading it as: נשיאות כפים is like עדות
  5. RejectionNo: testimony based on a presumption
  6. Proofרבי אמי's case: he read first
  7. QuestionWas he called as a כהן or as a great man?
  8. ResponseA לוי read after him, so רבי אמי accepts him
  9. Proofרבי יהושע בן לוי's case: he read second
  10. QuestionWas he called as a לוי or as a great man?
  11. ResponseA כהן read before him, so he is accepted as a לוי
  12. ProofA man testifies before ריש לקיש that someone is a כהן
  13. Questionריש לקיש asks what the witness saw
  14. ResponseThe witness saw him read first in shul
  15. Challengeריש לקיש demands proof from the threshing floor
  16. Rejectionרבי אלעזר: no threshing floor does not end the כהונה
  17. ProofThe same case comes before רבי יוחנן
  18. Rejectionרבי יוחנן gives the same answer as רבי אלעזר
  19. Conclusionריש לקיש is upset that רבי אלעזר did not quote רבי יוחנן
  20. Statementרבי and רבי חייא: trusting a father or a brother
  21. ProofA ברייתא shows רבי trusted the father
  22. Challengeרבי חייא: believe him for both or for neither
  23. Resolutionרבי explains why the father is trusted for תרומה but not for marriage
  24. ConclusionProven: רבי trusted the father, so רבי חייא trusted the brother
  25. ChallengeChallenge to רבי חייא: a brother is also a relative