Yevamot 99b — the Talmud in English

And

both

may not become impure through the dead—

for each one is a doubtful kohen.

And

both

may not marry women, whether

women

fit

that is, Israelite women,

or unfit

such as maidservants [permitted to a slave], for the fit women are forbidden to each one, lest he is a slave, and the unfit women are forbidden to each one, lest he is not a slave but a completely ordinary Israelite, and an Israelite is forbidden to a maidservant.

And if

the mixed ones grew up

where one is a slave and the other a kohen, and the master of the slave

freed each of them—

and one was found to be a kohen and one an Israelite:

These

may marry only women fit for the priesthood,

for each one is a doubtful kohen.

And they may not become impure through the dead,

for each one is a doubtful kohen.

And

however,

if they became impure, they do not receive

the

forty lashes,

for each one is only a doubtful kohen.

And they may not eat teruma,

for each one is a doubtful Israelite.

An ordinary Israelite who eats teruma inadvertently separates ordinary produce that is properly prepared, equal to the principal that he ate, with an additional fifth, and they become teruma.

If he ate teruma belonging to a kohen, the principal is given to that kohen from whom he ate, and the fifth to any kohen he wishes.

And if he ate his own teruma [such as an Israelite who inherited it from his maternal grandfather, a kohen], he pays the principal to himself as atonement, and sells it to a kohen, while he gives the fifth to a kohen, [according to Tosafot in Ketubot 30b].

And

however,

if they ate

teruma,

they do not pay the principal and the fifth

that an ordinary Israelite who ate teruma pays; rather, they separate ordinary produce that is properly prepared, and it becomes teruma, and they take it for themselves, and they do not need to give it to a kohen, as does another ordinary Israelite who eats teruma, because with regard to money, the one who seeks to extract from his fellow bears the proof.

And they do not receive a share at the threshing floor,

they are not given teruma at the threshing floor, for one of them is not a kohen but a freed slave.

And they sell the teruma, and its money is theirs.

The teruma that the doubtful ones separated from their threshing floor need not be given to a kohen because of the doubt, for the one who seeks to extract from his fellow bears the proof. And since they cannot eat the teruma, they sell the teruma to a kohen, and its money is theirs.

And they do not receive a share of the sacred things of the Temple,

such as the hides of the sacred offerings that are given to the kohanim.

And they are not given sacred offerings.

They are not given firstborn animals or devoted property that are given to kohanim, for they are doubtful Israelites.

And

however,

they do not take out

the firstborn and the devoted property

that are theirs from their possession,

for they can claim that they are kohanim, and the law of devoted property that kohanim devoted is that it belongs to them; and in the continuation the Mishna explains what they should do with their firstborn.

And they are exempt from the foreleg, the cheeks, and the maw—

for every Israelite is obligated to give these from his animals to a kohen—because the one who seeks to extract from his fellow bears the proof.

And his firstborn,

of each one of them—if he were certainly an Israelite, he would have to give it to a kohen—

shall graze until it becomes blemished [

a blemish develops in it], and then he keeps it because of the doubt and does not give it to the kohanim, for it involves not the prohibition of an ordinary Israelite’s use but the prohibition of robbery, and the one who seeks to extract from his fellow bears the proof.

But if he does not wait until a blemish develops in it, but offers it upon the altar, he will no longer be able to eat its flesh, which belongs to him because of the doubt, since it may be eaten only by kohanim, and an ordinary Israelite is forbidden to eat it; and this one, who is a doubtful Israelite, is forbidden to eat it.

And they impose upon him [

upon each one individually]

the stringencies of kohanim and the stringencies of Israelites,

the Gemara explains what this clause comes to include.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna:

“The fit ones died”:

The Gemara wonders about the wording of the Mishna, which calls the certain sons “fit”:

Rather, these—

these doubtful mixed ones—“and because they became mixed up,

did they become unfit” [

and are the mixed ones unfit]!? Why, then, do you call the certain ones, who are not doubtful, “fit”!?”

He said

he answered:

Say instead: “The certain ones died.”

We learned in the Mishna: [the mixed ones]

for the daughters-in-law—

one performs halitza and one performs yibum:

And the Gemara explains:

specifically, performing halitza and then performing yibum [

first one performs halitza, and afterward the other may perform yibum].

But performing yibum first—

no [

he may not perform yibum before the other performs halitza], because

it is possible that

he

encounters a woman forbidden to the public,

if the one performing yibum is not the son of the daughter-in-law.

We learned in the Mishna:

“A woman of priestly status whose

offspring became mixed with the offspring of her maidservant: these eat teruma and receive one share at the threshing floor.” The Gemara understood in its initial assumption that this means that both of them receive one share at the threshing floor, and the Gemara wondered about this:

One share!?

But

it is obvious

that they do not give them two shares, for the slave does not receive teruma for himself but for his master, and one of them is the slave of his master!?

And we answer:

Say instead: “A share as one,”

that they do not give either one of them teruma at the threshing floor without his fellow, since each one is a doubtful slave, and they do not distribute teruma to a slave without his master, as it proceeds to explain.

And if so,

we learned

in our Mishna

in accordance with the one who says: They do not distribute teruma to a slave unless his master is with him,

for through this everyone knows that they distributed it to him because of his master.

For it was taught:

A woman of priestly status [the wife of a kohen who died and left her pregnant] whose offspring became mixed with the offspring of her maidservant: both of them [the slave and his master, whose identity as master of the other is unknown] go out to the threshing floor and take one share, for

they do not distribute teruma to a slave unless his master is with him, the words of Rabbi Judah.

The reason is that if they distribute to one without the other, perhaps they will thereby establish him as a kohen, although it is possible that he is a slave.

Rabbi Yose says: He can—

each one who comes to receive a share—

say: “If I am a kohen, give it to me

for myself.

And if I am a slave

of a

kohen, give it to me for my master.”

And the reason for their dispute is:

For

in Rabbi Judah’s place, they would raise a person from

the distribution of

teruma

at the threshing floor

to genealogical status.

Anyone whom they saw receiving a share of teruma at the threshing floor, they established as a kohen; therefore Rabbi Judah said not to distribute to a slave without his master.

But

in Rabbi Yose’s place, they did not raise a person from

the distribution of

teruma

at the threshing floor

to genealogical status,

and therefore there is no concern if they distribute also to slaves.

It was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Elazar bar Tzadok said:

In all my days I testified only one testimony,

and it was this: they distributed teruma at the threshing floor to so-and-so,

and raised a slave

to priestly status on the basis of

it, for that so-and-so was a slave, and he received a share at the threshing floor on behalf of his master.

The Gemara wonders: Is it conceivable that

“they raised” is what entered your mind, that an error could result through him, so that they would raise a slave to priestly status on his account!?

And behold,

even

now, even

to

the animals of the righteous—

such as the donkey of Rabbi Pinhas ben Yair —

the Holy One, blessed be He, does not bring about a mishap through them—

The righteous themselves, all the more so,

that the Holy One, blessed be He, should not bring about a mishap through them!?

Rather, say

correct the beraita, that it said as follows:

“They sought to raise a slave to priestly status on his account!”

But in the end the matter became clear, and they did not raise him.

And the incident that occurred was as follows:

he saw,

Rabbi Eleazar bar Tzadok saw a slave to whom they were distributing teruma at the threshing floor

in the place of Rabbi Yose [

in Rabbi Yose’s place], and they had distributed teruma to him at the threshing floor,

and he went and testified

about this

in the place of Rabbi Judah [

he went to testify about this incident in Rabbi Judah’s place], where they did not distribute teruma to the slaves of kohanim.

The Sages taught: Ten

kohanim

are not given a share of teruma in the houses of the threshing floors, and these are they:

1, 2, 3:

A deaf-mute, an imbecile, and a minor,

and the Gemara explains the reason for all of them below.

4, 5:

A tumtum and an androgynos.

6.

And the slave

who comes to receive a share on behalf of his master.

7.

And the woman

who comes to receive a share on behalf of her kohen husband.

8, 9:

And the uncircumcised,

even if his brothers died because of circumcision and therefore he was not circumcised,

and the impure.

10.

And

a kohen

who marries a woman who is unfit for him,

who is unfit for the priesthood.

And all of them are sent portions to their homes

so that they may eat. And even the uncircumcised, who does not eat himself, may feed it to his wives and slaves.

Except for an impure person,

and

a kohen

who marries a woman who is unfit for him.

And the Gemara raises an objection:

Granted, a deaf-mute, an imbecile, and a minor,

the reason that they are not given teruma is understandable, because

they are not people of understanding,

and there is degradation of teruma in distributing it to them at the threshing floor in full view of everyone.