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Week 54 - Wednesday - 6 December 2000

YEVAMOT: CHAPTER 7: MISHNAH 6

There are times when a High Priest disqualifies. How so? If the daughter of a priest to an Israelite, and she bore a daughter by him, and the daughter went and married a priest, and she bore by him a son -- he is fit to be a High Priest to stand and serve at the Altar, he bestows on his mother the right to eat but he disqualifies his mother's mother; and this one says, "Not like my son, the High Priest, who disqualifies me from terumah."

Kehati

The preceding mishnah taught that if the daughter of an Israelite, widowed from a priest and has by him living offspring, even offspring unfit for the priesthood, she eats terumah because of him, and the daughter of a priest, widowed from an Israelite, is disqualified from eating terumah of her father's house by any offspring which she has by her husband. This mishnah teaches that in some cases even a High Priest disqualifies his mother's mother from eating the terumah of her father's house.

There are times when a High Priest disqualifes -- his mother's mother from eating terumah. How? so If the daughter of a priest -- who was married to an Israelite, and she bore a daughter by him, and the daughter went and married a priest, and she bore by him a son -- he is fit to be a High Priest to stand and serve at the Altar, he -- this same son,

Bestows on his mother the right to eat -- terumah after his father's death, and he disqualifies his mother's mother -- even when his mother died, from returning to eat of the terumah of her father's house, for if it were not for the grandson, his mother's mother would return, after her daughter's death, to eat the terumah of her father's house, but as long as the grandson is alive, she does not return to eat the terumah of her father's house; and therefore

This one -- his mother's motehr complains and says, "Not -- may there not be many in Israel, like my daughter's son the High Priest -- (grandchildren are called children), who disqualifies me from terumah" -- the Gemara quotes a baraita, that she says, "Let me be an atonement for my daughter's son, the jug (a small vessel, i.e., a mamzer), who bestows on me the right to eat terumah, and let me not be an atonement for my daughter's son, the pitcher (an important vessel, i.e., a High Priest), who disqualifies me from eating terumah."

YEVAMOT: CHAPTER 8: MISHNAH 1

The uncircumcised and all the unclean may not eat terumah. Their wives and their slaves may eat terumah. A petzu'a daka or a kerut shofkhah: they and their slaves may eat, but their wives may not eat. And if he did not know her [yeda'ah] after he became a petzu'a daka and a kerut shofkhah -- then they may eat.

Kehati

This mishnah continues to teach the laws of who may eat terumah.

The uncicumcised -- a priest who was not circumcised because his brothers died as a result of circumcision (Rashi), and all the unclean -- a priest who becomes unclean, may not eat terumah -- a baraita in the Gemara explains the reason for the law regarding the uncircumcised priest: we learn this by a gezerah shavah from the Passover offering: regarding the Passover offering it is written, "A sojourner [toshav] and a hired servant (ve-sakhir) shall not eat thereof" (Ex. 12:45), and regarding terumah, "A tenant [toshav] of a priest, or a hired servant [ve-sakhir], shall not eat of the holy thing" (Lev. 22:10); just as the Passover offering, regarding which the toshav and the sakhir were mentioned, is prohibited to the uncircumcised, as it is written, "but no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof" (Ex. 12:48), so too is terumah, regarding which the toshav and the sakhir were mentioned, prohibited to the uncircumcised. The reason regarding the unclean is as follows: it is written, "What man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or has an issue, he shall not eat of the holy things, until he be clean. And whoso touches any one that is unclean by the dead; or from whomsoever the flow of seed goes out; or whosoever touches any swarming thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he may take uncleanness.... and he shall not eat of the holy things, unless he bathes his flesh in water. And when the sun is down, he shall be clean; and afterwards he may eat of the holy things, because it is his bread" (Lve. 22:4-7).

Their wives and their slaves -- of the uncircumcised and of all the unclean priests, may eat terumah -- because their husbands are priests, and they do not lose their priesthood because they are uncircumcised or because they are unclean, they merely lack the corrective measure -- the uncircumcised needs to be circumcised, and the unclean needs to immerse himself in a mikveh. Therefore, their wives and their slaves, who do not lack any corrective measure, may eat terumah. A priest who is a petzu'a daka and -- or -- a kerut shofkhah these terms will be explained in mishnah 2, below: they and their slaves may eat -- terumah, but their wives may not eat -- because these women had intercourse with someone who is forbidden to them, as it is written, "He that is crushed [petzu'a daka] and maimed [kerut shafkhah] in his private parts shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord" (Deut. 23:2); therefore they are disqualified from eating terumah.

And if he did not know [yeda'ah] -- have intercourse with (in the sense of "And the man knew [yada] Eve his wife" -- Gen. 4:1; see also Gen. 24:16) -- her -- his wife, after he became a petzu'a daka or a kerut shofkhah -- i.e., she was married to him before he became a petzu'a daka or a kerut shofkhah, and she had already eaten terumah, and after he became a petzu'a daka or a kerut shafkhah, he did not have intercourse with her, then they may eat -- since they have already eaten terumah, they may continue to eat. If, however, he was a petzu'a daka at the time that he betrothed her, even though he did not have intercourse with her, she is prohibited from eating terumah, since she awaits unlawful intercourse, according to the opinion of the First Tanna in 6:3, above.

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