Kiddushin - Daf 78
- Machlokes if the prohibited marriage itself of a Kohen incurs malkos
Abaye says: קידש לוקה – If [a Kohen] married a woman prohibited to Kohanim, he incurs malkos, even without relations. בעל לוקה – If he had relations, he incurs malkos, even without marrying her. The former is for violating "לא יקח" – he shall not take, meaning marriage, and the latter is for violating "לא יחלל" – he shall not profane (her). Rava says he only incurs malkos for relations after marriage, because the Torah juxtaposed the prohibitions to teach: מה טעם לא יקח – what is the reason “he shall not take”? משום לא יחלל – Because the Torah commands, “He shall not profane.” Abaye agrees that regarding the prohibition to remarry his divorced wife (who married someone else in the interim), malkos are only for relations after marriage, because the Torah says: לקחתה להיות לו לאשה – to take her [in marriage] to be a wife for him, the second phrase indicating relations. Although Rava holds that marriage alone does not incur malkos, he agrees that a Kohen Gadol receives malkos for prohibited relations alone (as well as any Kohen). They both agree that relations with one’s divorced wife do not incur malkos without marriage, because דרך ליקוחין אסרה תורה – the Torah only forbade such relations through marriage.
- A Kohen marrying a convert’s daughter (or a convert)
In the Mishnah on Daf 77a, Rebbe Yehudah taught: בת גר זכר כבת חלל - a convert’s daughter is prohibited to a Kohen like a chalal’s daughter. He eventually derives it from a צד השוה – common characteristic between a chalal (whose parents were fit Jews, but originates from a transgression) and a first-generation Egyptian convert (whose parents were non-Jews, but was not born through a transgression), the צד השוה being: שאינן ברוב קהל ובתו פסולה – they are unlike most of the congregation, and their daughter is forbidden. Although both also disqualify a woman to Kehunah through relations, Rebbe Yehudah derives that a convert also would, from the same צד השוה. Rebbe Shimon ben Yochai holds that a convert herself is permitted to a Kohen, if she was converted before the age of three. He supports this from Moshe’s telling the soldiers who fought against Midian that they could spare the girls below the age of three for themselves, and Pinchas (a Kohen) was among those soldiers. The other Tannaim respond that they could keep them as slaves. The Gemara explains that all Tannaim (including the other two quoted in the Mishnah) find support in a passuk which states that Kohanim must marry women מזרע בית ישראל – from the seed of the House of Yisroel.
- יכיר: believing a father that his child is a mamzer, or only for a bechor
The next Mishnah states that one who says: בני זה ממזר – “This son of mine is a mamzer,” he is not believed, even if the mother agrees, and even if the child has not yet been born. Rebbe Yehudah holds the father is believed. A Baraisa darshens the word "יכיר" – he shall recognize (his firstborn son) to teach: יכירנו לאחרים – he can identify him to others. From here Rebbe Yehudah derived that a father is believed to identify his firstborn, and even to say he is a chalal or mamzer. The Chachomim say he is not believed to disqualify his son, and Rava explains that they derive from "יכיר" that a father can identify his firstborn son where it is unknown. Although it seems obvious that a father is believed (to entitle him to a double portion of inheritance), since he could simply give him any of his possessions as a gift, a passuk is needed for possessions he obtains after his identification (and he could not give as a gift). According to Rebbe Meir, who holds one may transfer possessions he later acquires, the is needed for possessions he acquires as a גוסס – dying man, when he is incapable of transferring them.
