Resources for Yevamos daf 47
1. The גמרא brings a מחלוקת between ר׳ יהודה and the חכמים whether a גר is believed that he converted properly without עדים in חו"ל or if there is a requirement to have עדים in both ארץ ישראל and חו"ל. תוספות in ד"ה במוחזק says that our גמרא must be talking about where we knew he was an עכו"ם until now because if we didn’t then we would say he is believed because of הפּה שאסר הוא הפּה שהתיר. His proof is a גמרא in the beginning of פּסחים that says the חכמים believed a random person in ירושלים to eat the קרבן פּסח even though it turned out he was an עכו"ם. They must not have asked for proof. The ריטב"א adds that it’s also a מילתא דעבידי לגלויי. Theרמב"ם in הלכות איסורי ביאה פּרק י"ג הל׳ י says that someone who was not previously known to be an עכו"ם and says he was an עכו"ם but was subsequently was מגייר properly is believed because of a פּה שאסר, yet he is only believed in Israel but not in חו"ל. The ראב"ד is משיג that this is explicitly against our גמרא that says even רבי יהודה only says you don’t need a עדים in חו"ל but no one says you don’t need a עדים in ארץ ישראל! The מגיד משנה suggests that theרמב"ם is learning exactly like our תוספות and that our גמרא is only talking about a case of someone who was known to be an עכו"ם. However, if he was unknown then a פּה שאסר works but only in ארץ ישראל where most people are Yidden like the גמרא in פּסחים which occurred in ירושלים. However, the גר"א disagrees with this last point and says the רמב"ם is coming from the ירושלמי at the end of מסכת גרים (from the רבנן סבוראי) that says that you don’t need proof in ארץ ישראל as it says “חביבה ארץ ישראל שמכשרת גרים”.
2. The גמרא discusses a case of someone who presumably had a חזקת יהודי and said that he was really a גר who did not convert properly. The גמרא says his is believed to פּסול himself but not his children. תוספות in ד"ה נאמן and the רא"ש in סימן ל"ה explain that he really can’t even פּסול himself since אדם קרוב אצל עצמו and אין אדם משים עצמו רשע. However, he is believed in the sense of שוייה נפשיה חתיכה דאיסורא, which would mean he isn’t allowed to marry a בת ישראל but if he did he wouldn’t פּסול her. The קרן אורה asks what איסור is there for him to marry a בת ישראל? Even if he is an עכו"ם, there is no איסור for an עכו"ם to marry a בת ישראל—if anything, the איסור is for a בת ישראל to marry him! Since in this case we don’t believe him, even she can marry him, so what’s the issue? He answers that since he himself holds he is אסור to her, we don’t allow him to marry her and feed her what is for her איסור. The חמדת שלמה here in his חידושים on יבמות quotes the בית מאיר who gives a different answer. He says that תוספות means that a person has a נאמנות or בעלות about themselves insofar as making themselves אסור on others. Therefore, even though he won’t פּסול the woman since we don’t believe he is an עכו"ם, however, he does make himself אסור on her such that she is not allowed to marry him. He says that this is why תוספות is מדייק to say שויא נפשיה and not שויא אנפשיה since he is primarily making himself a חפצא של איסור to others. The חמדת שלמה himself answers that the assumption of the question that there is no איסור for him to marry her may be wrong. On the צד that he is a נכרי, there is a מחלוקת ראשונים whether there is a דין of קנאים פּוגעין בו. If a Jewish man is בועל ארמית בפרהסיא , then everyone agrees we say קנאים פּוגעין בו on both of them as that is the biblical story of זמרי וכזבי. However, it is not as clear by a case of a נכרי שבעל יהודיה. According to the simple reading of תוספות on דף ט"ז ע"ב ד"ה קסבר, there is still a דין of קנאים פּוגעין בו, in which case תוספות would be לשיטתו here in saying שויא נפשיה חתיכה דאיסורא. However, the רמב"ם in הלכות איסורי ביאה פּרק י"ב הל׳ ט there is no דין of קנאים פּוגעין בו.
3. The גמרא says that you teach the גר: מקצת מצוות קלות ומקצת מצוות חמורות. The מאירי asks why do we need to teach him the קלות? He answers that when he sees how many detailed מצוות there are which other religions don’t have and how the תורה governs every aspect of our lives perhaps he will decide he doesn’t want to be a Yid.
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