Resources for Yevamos daf 22
מראה מקומות
1. The גמרא seems to give two conflicting reasons as to why a גר has איסורי קורבא when מן התורה we say that a convert is not halachically related to his biological relatives (גר שנתגייר כקטן שנולד דמי). One reason the גמרא gives is שמא יאמרו באנו מקדושה קלה לקדושה חמורה and the other reason given is אתי לאחלופי בישראל. Which one is it? תוספות in ד"ה ערוה says that both are necessary and true. In regards to relatives from the father’s side, a בן נח is forbidden to marry אשת אביו so in that case you have the issue of שמא יאמרו. However, you would not have the issue of אתי לאחלופי בישראל because everyone knows that most relations coming from the father’s side of a נכרי don’t count as עריות since a נכרי is not מתייחס אחר אביו. Conversely, there are cases such as אשת אחיו מאמו where when the גר was still a נכרי the could have married her so there is no issue of שמא יאמרו but we don’t allow it now because people will think those הלכות apply to a Jew as well (אתי לאחלופי). The רמב"ם in הלכות איסורי ביאה פּרק י"ד הל׳ י"ב וי"ג paskens that there is no case of a גר being אסור to his relatives from his father's side even in a case where he had been אסור to them while he was a נכרי. The כסף משנה there explains that theרמב"ם understands that in order to satisfy the issue of שמא יאמרו, all you have to do is אסור a few of the people they were אסור to when they were נכרים so they see they haven’t come to a lower קדושה. The reason חז"ל picked the relatives from the mother’s side is because of אתי לאחלופי בישראל and that fear is only relevant to relatives form the mother’s side since everyone knows a נכרי is not מתייחס אחר אביו.
2. Regarding the גזרה of שמא יאמרו באנו מקדושה קלה לקדושה חמורה, there is a fascinating discussion as to how we define something that was “אסור when they were נכרים”. Is the definition limited to what was an ערוה to them from the תורה ‘s perspective before they became Jewish or do we mean that it was אסור according to their religion and/or secular court system? The ריטב"א in ד"ה שניות says it includes what was אסור to them according to their previous religion. Interestingly, the ריטב"א himself on דף צ"ז ע"ב in ד"ה ואפילו says that what their old religion is not relevant and that he had a קבלה from his Rebbe like that. In the notes on the ריטב"א , רב יפה"ן points out that the רמב"ם has a similar idea to the ריטב"א on our דף in that he says in הלכות ממרים פּרק ה׳ הל׳ י"א that a גר cannot be מקלל his biological father because of שמא יאמרו. The reason for that is explained by רבי עקיבא איגר in his notes on יו"ד סימן רמ"א סעיף ט where he quotes the פּמ"ג who explained that even though a נכרי is not commanded in כיבוד אב, since it was considered inappropriate to curse one’s father in his previous culture once cannot do so as a Yid because of שמא יאמרו. We see that the רמב"ם also considered one’s previous culture to be the barometer for determining what falls under שמא יאמרו.
3. The גמרא in explaining the משנה says that a ממזר is considered בנו לכל דבר. The רמב"ן brings the ירושלמי that says this comes to include that one is יוצא the מצוה of פּרו רבו with a child that is a ממזר. This is also how the רמ"א paskens in אה"ע סימן א׳ סעיף ו. However, the רדב"ז in חלק ז׳ סימן ב disagrees and says that one is not יוצא פּרו ורבו with a child that is a ממזר since it is a מצוה הבאה בעבירה. The קובץ הערות in סימן י"א אות א explains the ירושלמי by saying that מצוה הבאה בעבירה can only negate a קיום המצוה and not the מעשה המצוה. Therefore, if the purpose of the מצוה is the מעשה המצוה itself like by תפילין or לולב then מצוה הבאה בעברה says there was no קיום המצוה since the מעשה המצוה was an עברה. However, where the purpose of the מצוה is the result of the מצוה such as by מילה, even if the act of the מצוה is an עברה it won’t negate the מילה since the מעשה המצוה was really just like a הכשר מצוה. Therefore, by a ממזר, since the purpose of the מצוה isn’t the מעשה ביאה but rather having the child, הבאה בעבירה מצוה won’t negate the מצוה since the קיום המצוה only comes later and the קיום המצוה wasn’t an עברה. However, he still questions ממזר since the act of having a child who is a ממזר is also really an עברה.
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