Resources for Yevamos daf 98
1. The גמרא discusses the concept of גר שנתגייר שקטן שנולד דמי and יחוסו של עכו"ם. There are several fundamental points to discuss. The most fundamental question is where did חז"ל learn the concept that when someone becomes a גר they lose all familial connections with their previous life? The חתם סופר in ע"ז דף ס"ג ע"ב says he was bothered by this his whole life. The משך חכמה in פּרשת ואתחנן, פּרק ה פּסוק כ"ז says that the source is as follows: at the time immediately prior to מתן תורה there were surely some people in כלל ישראל that were married to people who would eventually be considered עריות to them (such as עמרם and יוכבד where יוכבד was עמרם’s aunt). If so, how could the הקב"ה say after the תורה was given, “שובו לכם לאוהליכם” (return home to your spouses)? Some of the people could not stay married to their current spouses! It must be that since מעמד הר סיני was considered a גירות everyone was allowed to stay married to their spouses since גר שנתגייר שקטן שנולד דמי and no one was related to anyone anymore. This is against a famous גור אריה in פּרשת ויגש who asks why it says that כלל ישראל was בוכה למשפּחותיו which חזּ"ל tell us means that they cried after receiving the תורה because some of them couldn’t stay married to their spouses. Why wouldn’t they have the היתר of גר שנתגייר שקטן שנולד דמי? He answers that the גירות at הר סיני wasn’t a full גירות since they were forced into it in a sense (כפה עליהם הר כגיגית). Therefore, they didn’t have a status of קטן שנולד. How the משך חכמה would answer the חז"ל about בוכה למשפּחותיו is unclear. Another possibility is brought by the לבוש in יו"ד סימן רס"ט סעיף א which says that חז"ל knew גר שנתגייר שקטן שנולד דמי purely from סברא. He says that if someone decides they want to join the Jewish people, it must be that they received a new רוח ונשמה and they cannot be considered related to their previous selves. Another seemingly clear proof would is from the קרית ספר in פּרק י"ד דאיסורי ביאה who says that the פּסוק says ובא האיש אשר אין לו גואל, and חז"ל say there is no Jew who is not related even very distantly to anyone. Therefore, it must refer to a גר who is not considered related to anyone because. Lastly, the רמב"ם says simply in פּירוש המשנוית לדמאי פּרק ו משנה י, " הדת הבדיל ביניהם".
2. Another major topic is how far we says a נכרי is not related to his father. We have already discussed the concept of גר שנתגייר שקטן שנולד דמי. However, our גמרא seems to indicate that even before they convert, an עכו"ם is not related to his father as זרמת סוסים סרמתם. This would seem to be a סתירה to the גמרא earlier on דף ס"ב which says an עכו"ם does have יחוס as it says בלאדן בן בלאדן. Furthermore, we know that an עכו"ם has דיני ירושה. The רמב"ן asks this and says that דיני ירושה by an עכו"ם is a special גזרת הכתוב. The קובץ הערות in סימן נ"א אות ג points out that this does not answer the question of בלאדן בן בלאדן. In other words, an עכו"ם is still considered related to his children in the sense that if he is מגייר he is still יוצא the מצוה of פּרו ורבו with the children he had as a גוי. רב אלחנן himself suggests that the גמרא on דף ס"ב is talking about a נכרי married to a נכרית whereas our סוגיא is talking about a נכרי married to a גיורת. In other words, the תורה was only מפקיר the יחוס of the children to the father regarding a גיורת to a נכרי but when both parents are גוים then their יחוס is considered to be intact. He points out that the רמב"ן clearly disagrees with this as he says it applies even by a נכרי married to a נכרית.
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