Yevamos 77a

יבמות ע״ז ע״א

Yevamot 77a

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Topic

How the rule that Ammonite and Moabite women are permitted was confirmed and grounded, how it shaped דוד's royal line, and whether the daughter of an Ammonite convert may marry a כהן.

Overview

דואג raises hard questions that nearly get דוד, a descendant of רות the Moabite, declared unfit to marry into the Jewish people. רבא explains that עמשא's father יתר drew his sword and declared a tradition from שמואל's court: an Ammonite or Moabite man is banned, but not a woman. The גמרא asks how יתר could be believed when the ruling touched his own family, and answers that שמואל's court was still alive to confirm it. It then explains why women were not expected to go out and greet the Jews, using two פסוקים, and links the source of the rule to a dispute between רבי יהודה and רבי שמעון. רבא gives three דרשות showing how this rule saved דוד's royal line, through רות and נעמה. Then עולא quotes רבי יוחנן that the daughter of an Ammonite convert may marry a כהן, and רבא בר עולא challenges this by trying to derive the opposite from a כהן גדול who married a widow and from a חלל. The ruling turns out to be about an Ammonite who married a Jewish-born woman. רבין reports that רבי יוחנן says the daughter is fit and ריש לקיש says she is disqualified, and רבי יוחנן's reason comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (24)

1. Challengeדואג's objections silence everyone
2. Resolutionעמשא's father יתר declares the tradition from שמואל's court
3. ChallengeCan יתר be believed about his own family?
4. Resolutionשמואל's court was still alive
5. ChallengeDoeg's question still needs an answer
6. ResolutionBabylonian answer: a princess's honor is inside
7. ResolutionAnswer from ארץ ישראל: שרה was in the tent
8. StatementA dispute between תנאים about the source
9. Statementדוד thanks ה׳ for loosening his two bands
10. Statement"Upon us" includes רחבעם on דוד's lap
11. Statementדוד's coming was already written in the story of לוט's daughters
12. StatementThe daughter of an Ammonite convert may marry a כהן
13. ChallengeWhose opinion does this follow?
14. ChallengeMaybe רבי יוסי only meant converts who may enter the קהל, but where would he get that?
15. ResponseHe could learn it from a כהן גדול who married a widow
16. ChallengeBut the כהן גדול committed a sin when he married her
17. ResolutionA חלל proves that a sinful union is not needed
18. ChallengeBut a חלל himself was born from a sin
19. ResolutionThe כהן גדול proves it again, and the proof goes in a circle
20. ProofCombining the two sources: the common denominator
21. ChallengeBoth sources share an element of sin
22. Resolutionרבי יוחנן was speaking about an עמוני who married a born-Jewish woman
23. Proofרבין's report of the מחלוקת
24. StatementThe reasons behind each side