Kiddushin 71b

קידושין ע״א ע״ב

Learn Kiddushin 71b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Kiddushin 71b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Checking family lineage (יוחסין) before marriage: the clean status of בבל, signs of good lineage, and the borders of בבל

Overview

The amud opens by settling a contradiction between two clauses of an earlier source. Before a marriage we check a family's lineage, but we do not force apart a couple who are already married without proof of a problem. רב יוסף rules that anyone who speaks like a Babylonian may marry without a check, though nowadays swindlers fake the accent, so we stay careful. Two stories follow. In the first, זעירי avoids marrying רבי יוחנן's daughter, and the גמרא explains that עזרא left בבל pure 'like fine flour.' In the second, עולא tells רב יהודה that nobody can be sure of his own lineage, using פסוקים from איכה and עמוס. עולא then gives a practical test: the one who goes quiet first in a quarrel comes from the better family. רב agrees that silence is the sign of lineage in בבל, and that ongoing feuds hint at a hidden flaw. The amud ends by ranking the lineage of different lands and mapping the borders of בבל along the Tigris and the Euphrates.

Opening lines

The steps (40)

1. ResolutionTwo clauses, two situations: marrying versus separating
2. Statementרב יוסף: a Babylonian speaker may marry without a check
3. StatementNowadays, because of swindlers, we are careful
4. Statementזעירי avoids רבי יוחנן and carries him across the water
5. Challengeרבי יוחנן: our Torah is fit but our daughters are not?
6. Rejectionרבי יוחנן rejects the 'ten lineages' reason
7. Rejectionרבי יוחנן missed רבי אלעזר's teaching about Ezra
8. Statementעולא visits and sees רב יהודה's son is unmarried
9. Questionעולא asks why the son is not married
10. Responseרב יהודה is unsure where to find clean lineage
11. Challengeעולא argues that none of us knows our own lineage
12. ChallengeEven if such a child is כשר, we might come from immoral people
13. Rejectionרבי אבהו mocks the mild reading of the פסוק
14. Statementרבי אבהו explains the sin as wife-swapping
15. QuestionSo what are we supposed to do?
16. ResponseWatch who goes quiet first in a fight
17. StatementIn בבל too, silence shows good lineage
18. ChallengeBut רב checked a family's lineage directly
19. ResolutionHe was checking their silence
20. StatementTwo people who keep feuding
21. StatementTwo families that keep feuding
22. Statementרב's health chart of the lands
23. QuestionWhat's the difference between sick and dying?
24. ResponseMost sick people live, most dying people die
25. QuestionHow far does בבל reach?
26. Responseרב and שמואל name two rivers
27. QuestionHow far north along the Tigris?
28. Responseרב says בגדא and אוונא; שמואל says מושכני
29. ChallengeIsn't Mushekanei part of Babylonia?
30. ResolutionUntil and including מושכני
31. QuestionHow far south along the Tigris?
32. ResponseUntil Lower אפמייא
33. StatementTwo towns named אפמייא
34. StatementHow to remember which one is flawed
35. QuestionHow far north along the Euphrates?
36. ResponseThree opinions on the Euphrates border
37. Statementאביי cursed those who followed רב
38. ChallengeWhy curse over רב but not שמואל?
39. ResolutionAll the more so over שמואל
40. ResolutionThe bridge was actually farther south