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Yevamos 77b

יבמות ע״ז ע״ב

Yevamot 77b

Learn Yevamos 77b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Which children of עמוני and מצרי converts may marry into כהונה or the קהל, and the dispute of רבי שמעון and the חכמים over מצרי and אדומי women

Overview

רבי זכאי teaches that the פסוק about the כהן גדול's wife includes a גיורת מכנה, a girl born after her parents converted, as fit for כהונה. רבי יוחנן says the words עמיו and מעמיו include more: a girl 'from two peoples,' meaning the daughter of an עמוני and a בת ישראל. In a second version, the גמרא asks how we know the daughter of a second-generation מצרי is fit. It proves this from what the עמוני case and the מצרי-and-מצרית case have in common. רב יוסף then understands a teaching of רב יהודה in this light. Next comes a ברייתא that calls the daughter of an עמוני and a בת ישראל unfit for כהונה, and רבי יוחנן rejects it. The גמרא then turns to the משנה's dispute about מצרי and אדומי women. It tries to explain the חכמים' refutation of רבי שמעון from עריות and ממזר, rejects that, and lands on חלל, following רבי אליעזר בן יעקב. רבי שמעון answers that he does not follow that view and is stating a received הלכה, supported by the word 'sons.' רבי יהודה reads the same פסוק as depending on birth, and רבי יוחנן begins to explain why רבי יהודה needed that reading, an explanation that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

דְּתָנֵי רַבִּי זַכַּאי

As Rabbi Zakkai taught

קַמֵּיהּ דְּרַבִּי יוֹחָנָן:

before Rabbi Yochanan:

״כִּי אִם בְּתוּלָה מֵעַמָּיו יִקַּח אִשָּׁה״,

"But a virgin of his own people shall he take as a wife"

לְהָבִיא גִּיּוֹרֶת מִכַּנָּהּ —

this comes to include a girl who was a convert from her very beginning,

The steps (35)

  1. Statementרבי זכאי's teaching: a girl born to converts may marry a כהן
  2. Challengeרבי יוחנן: the verse includes even more
  3. QuestionWhat does 'two peoples' mean?
  4. RejectionNot an Ammonite man married to an Ammonite woman
  5. ResponseIt means an Ammonite man married to a Jewish woman
  6. StatementA second version of רבי יוחנן's words
  7. ChallengeThen where do we learn about the Egyptian's daughter?
  8. RejectionWe cannot learn the Egyptian case from the Ammonite case
  9. ProofThe Egyptian-married-Egyptian case as a counterexample
  10. RejectionThat marriage was not a sin
  11. ProofBack to the Ammonite case: a sinful marriage, yet the daughter is permitted
  12. ConclusionThe argument goes in a circle, so learn from what both cases share
  13. Statementרב יוסף finally understands רב יהודה's teaching
  14. StatementA ברייתא about an Ammonite woman, her son and her daughter
  15. Rejectionרבי יוחנן rejects the ברייתא and calls the first lines obvious
  16. QuestionFit for what? Not for marrying into the nation
  17. ResponseFit to marry a כהן
  18. QuestionWhich daughter does the last line call unfit?
  19. ConclusionThe ברייתא disqualifies the daughter of an Ammonite and a בת ישראל, so it is rejected
  20. QuestionWhat was the refutation of רבי שמעון?
  21. ResponseForbidden relations prove otherwise
  22. RejectionForbidden relations are stricter because of כרת
  23. ProofLet ממזר prove it instead
  24. Rejectionממזר is stricter because it lasts forever
  25. ProofBack to forbidden relations, and the argument goes in a circle
  26. ProofCombining the two cases to prove the women are forbidden
  27. RejectionThe shared proof fails because both cases involve כרת
  28. ResponseThe רבנן learn their point from חלל
  29. QuestionWhat did רבי שמעון mean by 'Not so'?
  30. Responseרבי שמעון's two-level answer
  31. Proofרבי שמעון adds a verse to his received tradition
  32. StatementA ברייתא records רבי שמעון's reading
  33. Rejectionרבי יהודה: the verse depends on birth, so daughters are included
  34. Statementרבי יוחנן: רבי יהודה had to say this
  35. ResponseBeginning the explanation: converts count as a קהל