3,281. A Kohein Gadol Who Blocks His Grandmother's Ability to Eat Terumah

Terumos 6:14

If grandmother in the previous halacha is the daughter of a Yisroel who married a kohein, the grandchild enables her to eat terumah. If she is the daughter of a kohein who married a Yisroel, the grandchild prevents her from eating terumah. We see that the daughter of a Yisroel may eat terumah even if her descendant is of “blemished” lineage with a status lower than a Yisroel. It goes without saying that if a kohein’s wife has a daughter with him, even if the daughter marries a Yisroel, and even if she becomes unfit to marry a kohein, the wife may eat terumah because of this daughter.

Terumos 6:15

Similarly, the daughter of a kohein may not eat terumah so long as she has a descendant from her husband, a Yisroel. This is so even if that descendant is a kohein. For example, let’s say that a kohein’s daughter married an Yisroel and gave birth to a daughter with him. That daughter married a kohein and gives birth to a son with him. This son is a perfectly valid kohein – he could grow up to be the Kohein Gadol (High Priest)! He enables his mother to eat terumah (since he’s her descendant through a kohein) and disqualifies his grandmother from eating terumah (since he’s her descendant from a Yisroel). This is the case even if the kohein’s mother (the grandmother’s daughter) dies. Such a grandmother can complain about her grandson, the Kohein Gadol, who disqualifies her from eating terumah.