Resources for Yevamos daf 78
1. The גמרא says that if a מצרית who is pregnant is מגייר, the גירות of the mother works for the son and her son is considered a מצרי שני. The אבני מילואים in סימן ד׳ אות ב asks that the גמרא says that if you hold עובר לאו ירך אמו, then the way the גירות works for the baby is that we view the baby as having his own independent גירות since the mother is not חוצץ between him and the water because of היינו רביתיה. If so, why is the child not considered a מצרי ראשון? He is a גר himself! He answers that even though the child had his own גירות, he was still born from a Jewish mother who was a מצרית ראשונה, so he is considered a שני.
2. The גמרא says that a ממזר that people don’t know is a ממזר won’t live. It seems from the simple reading of our גמרא as well as many other sources that this was meant to be taken literally. The מדרש רבה in ויקרא פּרשה ל"ב as well as the ירושלמי say he wont live more than 30 days. The ספר חסידים quoted by the בית שמואל in אה"ע סימן א׳ ס"ק י"א says they will live less than a year like a טריפה. If this is true, it gives a rise to a strong question that is asked by several אחרונים in different ways. The ערוך לנר asks it as follows: why is a known ממזר allowed to marry a שתוקית (another word for a ספק ממזר)? If a ממזר can’t live, the fact that the שתוקית is alive should be a proof that they aren’t a ממזר in which case the שתוקית shouldn’t be able to marry ממזר! The שער המלך in הלכות טומאת מת פּרק ט׳ הל׳ י"ב asks it this way: the גמרא in חולין proves that we follow רוב because we kill a person who hits their father, and we only know who anyone’s father is based on רוב. The שער המלך asks that it isn’t a proof since if it wasn’t his father he would be a ממזר and he wouldn’t have lived! So if he is alive he must be a non- ממזר and we have no proof that you follow רוב. The ערוך לנר answers both questions by saying that the “unknown ממזר” that will not live refers to a case where there was עדות that the person is a ממזר but no one knows about it. However, someone who is a ספק ממזר in the sense that there were no עדים and as such can never be halachically established as aממזר is not going to die. Therefore, a שתוקית can marry a ממזר since he might be a ממזר.
The קובץ הערות in סימן נ"ח discusses the שער המלך as well and says a fascinating idea: ספק ערלה in חוץ לארץ is מותר based on a הלכה למשה מסיני. ספק ממזר is מותר based on a דרשה from a פּסוק. Both of those הלכות should be a question on theרמב"ם who says that all ספיקות are מותר מן התורה. If so, why do we need דרשות or הלכה למשה מסיני to allow them? All ספקות are allowed! The רשב"א brings from the תשובות הרמב"ם that the רמב"ם would say that these דינים actually prove the rule that all ספקות are מותר. However, other מפרשים say that these two ספקות are different in that they are מותר בתורת וואדי. That is to say, if I see you eating what I know to be ערלה but to you it is a ספק I don’t even need to stop you since ספק ערלה is 100% kosher. So is a ממזר ספק. If so, why should an unknown ממזר need to die? They are 100% מותר! He answers from ר׳ שמעון שקאפּ that when we have a mix of three pieces of meat and two are kosher, we say the non-kosher is בטל ברוב but only once you are aware of the ספק and not before. Here too, the ספק ממזר is not מותר unless you are aware that he is a ספק. Only once there is a "לידת הספק" do we say a ספק ממזר is allowed. This would answer the שער המלך’s question. The גמרא was saying that if you didn’t go after רוב then everyone in the world is a ספק ממזר. Since that ספק would be known to all, everyone in the world would be a ספק ממזר which is מותר and wouldn’t have to die. רב אלחנן זצ"ל ends up with a question on this יסוד from a ר"ן and suggests that perhaps even if there is no איסור with a ספק ממזר, the שכינה still isn’t שורה on that family.
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