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Sanhedrin 58a

סנהדרין נ״ח ע״א

Learn Sanhedrin 58a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Sanhedrin 58a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Family ties of a גר, and which relatives the פסוק ״עַל כֵּן יַעֲזׇב אִישׁ״ forbids to a בן נח

Overview

The amud opens with a ברייתא about a גר who was conceived before his mother converted but born after she converted. Relatives on his mother's side still count for him, and relatives on his father's side do not. רבי מאיר and חכמים disagree about his mother's sister who shares only a father with his mother. The ברייתא also permits him his brother's wife, his uncle's wife, and even his father's wife. It then deals with a man who married a woman and her daughter. Because this teaching of רבי מאיר forbids sisters and aunts to a בן נח, it seems to clash with his earlier view. רב יהודה answers that one version follows רבי אליעזר and the other follows רבי עקיבא. Their argument is over the פסוק ״עַל כֵּן יַעֲזׇב אִישׁ אֶת אָבִיו וְאֶת אִמּוֹ״. רבי אליעזר reads it as the two aunts. רבי עקיבא reads it as the father's wife and the real mother. The גמרא tests each reading against the rest of the פסוק, then asks what principle they disagree about, an answer that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

שֶׁהָיְתָה הוֹרָתוֹ שֶׁלֹּא בִּקְדוּשָּׁה,

whose conception was not in holiness,

וְלֵידָתוֹ בִּקְדוּשָּׁה –

but whose birth was in holiness

יֵשׁ לוֹ שְׁאֵר הָאֵם,

he has maternal kinship,

וְאֵין לוֹ שְׁאֵר הָאָב.

but he does not have paternal kinship.

The steps (26)

  1. StatementA convert conceived before conversion but born after it
  2. StatementExamples: his sister and his father's sister
  3. StatementHis mother's sister and a disagreement
  4. Statementרבי מאיר's general principle
  5. StatementWives of relatives and other forbidden relatives are permitted
  6. StatementThe extra phrase includes his father's wife
  7. StatementA woman and her daughter, and the mother-in-law
  8. ResolutionTwo versions of רבי מאיר, following two different teachers
  9. ProofThe argument over ״עַל כֵּן יַעֲזׇב אִישׁ אֶת אָבִיו וְאֶת אִמּוֹ״
  10. StatementThe rest of the פסוק: a male, another man's wife, and animals
  11. StatementQuoting רבי אליעזר: his father means his father's sister
  12. ChallengeWhy not the father himself?
  13. ChallengeWhy not the father's wife?
  14. ChallengeWhy not the father's wife after his death?
  15. Statementרבי אליעזר: his mother means his mother's sister
  16. ChallengeWhy not the mother herself?
  17. ChallengeWhy not the mother after the father's death?
  18. Statementרבי עקיבא: his father means his father's wife
  19. ChallengeFor רבי עקיבא: why not the father himself?
  20. ChallengeBut the father's wife is already covered too
  21. ResolutionIt teaches the father's wife after the father's death
  22. StatementFor רבי עקיבא, ״אִמּוֹ״ means his real mother
  23. ChallengeHis mother is already covered by ״בְּאִשְׁתּוֹ״
  24. ResolutionA mother the father forced and never married
  25. QuestionWhat is the real point of the argument?
  26. ResponseThe answer begins with רבי אליעזר's view