Commentary for Kiddushin 137:1

האומר לשפחתו הרי את בת חורין וולדך עבד הולד כמותה דברי ר' יוסי הגלילי וחכ"א דבריו קיימים משום שנאמר (שמות כא, ד) האשה וילדיה תהיה לאדוניה

If he says to his bondmaid, 'Behold, thou art free, but thy child [yet to be born] shall be a slave,' the 'child is as herself: this is the view of R. Jose the Galilean; the Sages maintain: His words are valid,for it is said: 'the wife and her children shall be her master's'. How does this teach it?- Said Raba: This refers to R. Jose the Galilean's [ruling]. MISHNAH. R. TARFON SAID: MAMZERIMCAN BE PURIFIED.HOW? IF A MAMZER MARRIESA BONDMAID, HER SON IS A SLAVE;IF HE IS FREED, IT IS FOUND THAT THE SON IS A FREE MAN.R. ELIEZER SAID: BEHOLD, HE IS A SLAVE, A MAMZER. is already done? - Come and hear: They [the Sages] said to R. Tarfon: You have purified the males, but you have not purified the females. Now, if you say that he means at the very outset, let a mamzereth too be married to a slave? - A slave has no paternity. Come and hear: For R. Simlai's host was a mamzer, and he [R. Simlai] said to him, 'Had I known you earlier, I would have removed the stigma from your sons.' Now, if you say that it [sc. R. Tarfon's device] is at the very outset, it is well: but if you say, only when already done, what is it [that he could advise him]? - He would have advised him by saying to him, 'Go and steal, and then be sold as a Hebrew slave.' Were there then Hebrew slaves in R. Simlai's time? Surely a Master said: [The institution of] a Hebrew slave is practised only when Jubilee is practised? Hence it surely follows that R. Tarfon means at the very outset. This proves it. Rab Judah said in Samuel's name: The halachah is as R. Tarfon. R. ELIEZER SAID: BEHOLD, HE IS A SLAVE, A MAMZER, R. Eleazar said: What is R. Eliezer's reason? Because Scripture saith, [A mamzer . . . even to the tenth generation shall none enter] to him [into the assembly of the Lord]: [this teaches,] follow his ineligibility. And the Rabbis? - That refers to an Israelite who marries a mamzereth. For I might think, it is written, by their families, by their father's house: [therefore] 'to him' comes and excludes it. And R. Eliezer? - Surely, though it is written: 'by their families, by their father's house,' yet 'to him' comes and excludes it; so here too, though it is written , 'the wife and her children shall be her master's,' yet 'to him' comes and excludes it. And the Rabbis? - Every child in the womb of a heathen bondmaid is like the young in an animal's womb. CHAPTER IV MISHNAH. TEN GENEALOGICAL CLASSES WENT UP FROM BABYLON PRIESTS, LEVITES, ISRAELITES, HALALIM, PROSELYTES, FREEDMEN, MAMZERIM, NETHINIM, SHETHUKI AND FOUNDLINGS. PRIESTS, LEVITES AND ISRAELITES MAY INTERMARRY WITH EACH OTHER. LEVITES, ISRAELITES, HALALIM, PROSELYTES, AND FREEDMEN MAY INTERMARRY. PROSELYTES AND FREEDMEN, MAMZERIM AND NETHINIM, SHETHUKI AND FOUNDLINGS, ARE ALL PERMITTED TO INTERMARRY. NOW, THESE ARE THEY: SHETHUKI: HE WHO KNOWS HIS MOTHER BUT NOT HIS FATHER; FOUNDLING: HE WHO WAS GATHERED IN FROM THE STREETS AND KNOWS NEITHER HIS FATHER NOR HIS MOTHER, ABBA SAUL USED TO CALL THE SHETKUKI 'BEDUKI'. GEMARA. TEN GENEALOGICAL CLASSES WENT UP FROM BABYLON. Why is it particularly taught: WENT UP FROM BABYLON; let him state, migrated to Eretz Yisrael? He thereby tells us something en passant. As it was taught: then shalt thou arise and get thee up unto the place which the lord thy God shall choose: this teaches that the Temple is higher than the rest of Eretz Yisrael, and Eretz Yisrael is higher than all [other] countries. As for the Temple being higher than the rest of Eretz Yisrael, it is well: even as it is written,

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