תלמוד על קידושין 3:1

“The Gibeonite.” Rebbi Yose said, they were worried about them only because of the detriment to the families¹⁶Gibeonites are descendants of genuine proselytes; they are only excluded from intermarrying with Jews because they are considered undesirable. The extended discussion of the problem of Gibeonites is in Qiddušin 4:1.. Could you not say, because of the disability of slaves¹⁷Would the fact that the Gibeonites were “wood cutters and water drawers for the congregation” (Jos. 9:21) imply that they had servile status? Since nowhere in the Bible we hear that they were freed, their descendants then would still be slaves and unable to contract marriages.? If that were true, one who cohabits with a Gibeonite would not be subject to a fine¹⁸Mishnah 3:2.; but we have stated: One who cohabits with a Gibeonite is subject to a fine¹⁹Therefore, even in the time of Joshua the Gibeonites were subordinate but not servile..

Only if it be with his and her agreement⁸⁸While preliminary marriage essentially is a unilateral act by the groom where the woman only has a right of refusal but no active role, a symphōn is a contract between parties of equal standing.. If it was symphōn in his opinion and preliminary marriage in her opinion⁸⁹As A. Gulak (loc.cit. Note 69) points out, since the disagreement is about the nature of the contract, not its contents, it is clear that even for the woman the preliminary marriage is conditional and will be void if any of the conditions were not satisfied. The difference in the status of the contract is that in case of preliminary marriage, the woman would have to return the arra and would have no right unilaterally to cancel the marriage., Rebbi Ḥanina⁹⁰As shown subsequently in the paragraph, he really is the later R. Ḥananiah, not the earlier R. Ḥanina. said, it is symphōn, Rebbi Ḥaggai in the name of Rebbi Ze‘ira said, it is preliminary marriage. Rebbi Ḥanina was taking up arms against Rebbi Ḥaggai, when Rebbi Hila said to him, accept Ḥaggai, for Ḥaggai is a thinking man; this is what Rebbi Ze‘ira said. In the first Adar⁹¹In an intercalary year, when the 12th month is reduplicated as “second Adar” to make sure that Passover fall after the spring equinox., Rebbi Hila died. In the second Adar, a case came before Rebbi Ḥananiah, the colleague of the rabbis, and he wanted to rule following Rebbi Ḥaggai. Rebbi Samuel bar Immi told him, Rebbi Hila was wrong when he told you, accept Ḥaggai, for Ḥaggai is a thinking man⁹²Since R. Ḥaggai reported R. Ze‘ira’s opinion, rather than his own.. Rebbi Ḥaggai said, a Mishnah⁹³Mishnah 3:11. R. Ḥaggai on his own shows that the Mishnah supports R. Ze‘ira since it shows that one party can accept the consequences of preliminary marriage without imposing the same consequences on the other party. Since (Note 89) the preliminary marriage even in the woman’s opinion was conditional, the ability of the groom to unilaterally terminate the relationship is not impaired if one rules following R. Ze‘ira. supports him: “ ‘You married me preliminarily’, and he says, ‘I did not marry you preliminarily.’ He is permitted her relatives but she is forbidden his relatives.” Rebbi Borqai asked before Rebbi Mana: Is it the same with symphōn⁹⁴Do the rules of Mishnah 3:11 also apply to symphōn?? He answered, a symphōn is not doubtful but the rules are identical for symphōn and⁹⁵Reading או as (ה)אוּ, not אוֹ (A. Gulak; cf. also S. Lieberman, ו=או=הוא, Tarbiz 4, 1933, pp. 377–378.) preliminary marriage.

In the opinion of Rebbi Jehudah, may a male bastard not marry a female bastard¹³⁹In Mishnah Qiddushin 4:3 (Note 135), R. Jehudah makes a sweeping statement that no two people disqualified from marrying into the congregation may marry one another. The rabbis also will agree that a Moabite or Ammonite cannot marry a Moabite or Ammonite woman, cf. Mishnah 3. R. Jehudah may hold that converts form a congregation of their own and therefore bastards are prohibited from marrying them but are permitted to marry bastards, or he may hold, as is asserted later in the Halakhah, that bastards should not marry any Jew and are prohibited from marrying other bastards.? Let us hear from the following, as Rebbi Immi said, Rebbi Jacob from Gebal stated before Rebbi Joḥanan, Rebbi Isaac bar Tevele in the name of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish: Rebbi Jehudah stated that a male bastard should not marry a female bastard so that bastards should disappear from the world¹⁴⁰In Mishnah Qiddushin 3:13, R. Tarphon counsels the male bastard to live with a slave girl whose children will be slaves not legally connected with him. If he converts (and therefore frees) his biological children at birth they will be converts, free from the taint of bastardy. The female bastard may marry a convert; since this marriage is legal and untainted, the child will be a convert, not a bastard (Mishnah Qiddushin 3:12).. Similarly, is an Ammonite man forbidden to marry an Ammonite woman? Was that needed for the rabbis? For if Rebbi Jehudah would think that disqualified converts form one of the Eternal’s congregations, then [the Ammonite] could not marry an Ammonite woman since for her he would be of the Eternal’s congregation¹⁴¹The text given is the corrector’s. The uncorrected text is inconsistent: שהוא קהל ײ֨ אצלו which probably should be שהיא קהל ײ֨ אצלו “for she belongs to the Eternal’s congregation [forbidden] to him,” cf. Mishnah 3.. He could not marry an Egyptian woman since for her he would be of the Eternal’s congregation¹⁴²For R. Jehudah only.. Rebbi Mattania said, one frees a slave girl for him. Similarly, could an Egyptian man not marry an Egyptian woman? Let us hear from the following, as Rebbi Abbahu stated before Rebbi Joḥanan: “Rebbi Jehudah said, Benjamin, an Egyptian convert, was a student of Rebbi Aqiba. He said, I am an Egyptian convert married to an Egyptian convert. My son is an Egyptian convert; I shall marry him to an Egyptian convert so that my grandson will be qualified to marry into the congregation¹⁴³In the Babli, 78a, Rabba bar bar Ḥana justifies Benjamin against R. Aqiba since Mishnah Qiddushin 3:12 states that in all marriages that are perfectly lawful the status of the child is determined by that of the father alone.. Rebbi Aqiba said to him, my son, it is not so. But you marry him to the daughter of an Egyptian woman convert so that there should be three generations on every side.¹⁴⁴The text (without R. Aqiba’s remark) is in the Babli, Yebamot 76b, 78a; Soṭah 9a. A full text is in Tosephta Qiddushin 5:4. There, the text is up-to-date, following Mishnah Yadaim 4:5: “Rebbi Aqiba told him: Benjamin, you erred in the practice. Since Sanherib came and mixed all peoples {by mass deportations}, neither Ammonites and Moabites {permanently barred} nor Egyptians and Edomites {barred for two generations} are in their places … but everybody may marry one of any family on earth.” But in Tosephta Yadaim 4:18 it is stated that from all peoples only the restrictions on Egyptians are valid since Ezechiel (29:13) certified that the Egyptians returned to their land. In any case, it is clear that R. Aqiba asserts that an Egyptian woman may marry an Egyptian man.”