Yevamot 32

קפסיק ותני מבין העובדי כוכבים ואפי' מן תרמוד ואמר רבי יוחנן זאת אומרת מקבלין גרים מתרמוד

that having stated categorically,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'he decides and teaches'. ');">¹</span> '[those that came] from the heathens' [he must also imply,] 'even those from Tarmod'!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' But can that be so in view of the doubtful character of the admixture of Jewish stock of its inhabitants? ');">²</span>

וכי תימא זאת ולא ס"ל והא אמר רבי יוחנן הלכה כסתם משנה אמוראי נינהו ואליבא דר' יוחנן

And R. Johanan replied: This proves that proselytes may be accepted from Tarmod.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Nid. 56b. I.e., they are not regarded as an admixture of Jewish stock and tainted from birth and disqualified. How then could it be said supra that R. Johanan maintains that proselytes may not be accepted from the Tarmodites? ');">³</span> And if it be replied [that R. Johanan only said], 'This',<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' 'This proves etc.' supra. ');">⁴</span>

מתרמוד מאי טעמא לא פליגי בה רבי יוחנן וסביא חד אמר משום עבדי שלמה וחד אמר משום בנות ירושלים

but he himself does not hold this view,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., he disagrees with the Mishnah. ');">⁵</span> surely R. Johanan said, 'The <i>halachah</i> is in accordance with an anonymous Mishnah'!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which, as has been shewn, implies that proselytes may be accepted from Tarmod. ');">⁶</span>

בשלמא למ"ד משום עבדי שלמה קסבר עובד כוכבים ועבד הבא על בת ישראל הולד ממזר אלא למ"ד משום בנות ירושלים מאי היא פליגי בה רב יוסף ורבנן ותרוייהו משמיה דרבה בר בר חנה

— It is a question in dispute between Amoraim as to what was actually the view of R. Johanan. Why are no [proselytes to be accepted] from Tarmod? — R. Johanan and Sabya give different reasons. One says, 'On account of the slaves of Solomon,'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Who married Jewish women. ');">⁷</span>

חד אמר תריסר אלפי גברי ושיתא אלפי קשתויי וחד אמר תריסר אלפי גברי ומנייהו שיתא אלפי קשתויי בשעה שנכנסו עובדי כוכבים להיכל הכל נפנו על כסף וזהב והם נפנו על בנות ירושלים שנאמר (איכה ה, יא) נשים בציון ענו בתולות בערי יהודה

and the other says, 'On account of the daughters of Jerusalem.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This is explained immediately. ');">⁸</span> According to him who Says. 'On account of the slaves of Solomon,' the reason is quite intelligible, because he may hold the opinion that the child of a heathen or a slave who had intercourse with a daughter in Israel is a bastard. According to him, however, who said, 'On account of the daughters of Jerusalem', what is the reason? — R. Joseph and the Rabbis dispute the point, and both of them in the name of Rabbah b. Bar Hana. One maintains that [the number was] twelve thousand [foot]men and six thousand archers, and the other maintains that there were twelve thousand men and, of these, six hundred archers. At the time when the heathens entered the Temple, everyone made for the gold and the silver, but they made for the daughters of Jerusalem; as it is said in the Scriptures. They have ravished the women in Zion, the maidens in the cities of Judah.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lam. V, 11. ');">⁹</span>

אמר רבי שמואל בר נחמני אמר רבי יונתן פסוק זה שר העולם אמרו (תהלים לז, כה) נער הייתי גם זקנתי מאן אמריה אילימא קודשא בריך הוא מי איכא זקנה קמיה ואלא דוד אמריה מי קשיש כולי האי אלא ש"מ שר העולם אמרו

R. Samuel b. Nahmani said in the name of R. Jonathan: The following verse was uttered by the Genius of the Universe:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Or 'Prince of the world'; identified by some writers with Metatron 'whose name is similar to that of his master'; v. Sanh., Sonc. ed. p. 245, nn. 11 and 12 and cf. op. cit. p. 246, n. 6. V. also 'A.Z., Sonc. ed. p. 10, n. 6. ');">¹⁰</span> I have been young and now I am old<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. XXXVII, 25, referred to by R. Dosa supra 16a. ');">¹¹</span>

ואמר רבי שמואל בר נחמני אמר רבי יונתן מאי דכתיב (איכה א, י) ידו פרש צר על כל מחמדיה זה עמון ומואב בשעה שנכנסו עובדי כוכבים להיכל הכל נפנו על כסף וזהב והם נפנו על ס"ת אמרו זה שכתוב בו (דברים כג, ד) לא יבא עמוני ומואבי בקהל ה' ישרף באש

For who else could have said it! If the Holy One, blessed be He, be suggested, is there any old age in his case? Then David must have said it? But was he so old? Consequently it must be concluded that the Genius of the Universe had said it. R. Samuel b. Nahmani further said in the name of R. Jonathan: What is [the meaning of] the Scriptural text,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'what of that which was written?' ');">¹²</span>

(איכה א, יז) צוה ה' ליעקב סביביו צריו אמר רב כגון הומניא לפום נהרא

The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her treasures?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lam. I, 10. ');">¹³</span> — This [refers to] Ammon and Moab. At the time when the heathens entered the Temple all made for gold and silver, but they turned to the Scroll of the Law, saying, 'That in which it is written, An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deut. XXIII, 4. ');">¹⁴</span>

אמר רב יהודה א"ר אסי עובד כוכבים שקידש בזמן הזה חוששין לקדושין שמא מעשרת השבטים הוא והא כל דפריש מרובא פריש

shall be burned with fire.' The Lord hath commanded concerning Jacob that they that are round about him should be his adversaries.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lam. I, 17. ');">¹⁵</span>

בדוכתא דקביעי דאמר רבי אבא בר כהנא (מלכים ב יח, יא) וינחם בחלח ובחבור נהר גוזן וערי מדי חלח זה חלזון וחבור

Rab said: As, for instance, Humania towards Pum Nahara.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Both were localities in Babylon. The former, inhabited by Greeks, was a constant source of annoyance to the latter the inhabitants of which were poor Israelites. Humania was below the city of Ctesifon and near it was Pum Nahara. ');">¹⁶</span> Rab Judah said in the name of R. Assi: If at the present time a heathen betroths [a daughter in Israel], note must be taken of such betrothal since it may be that he is of the ten tribes.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Whom Shalmaneser had carried away into captivity (II Kings XVIII, 11) where they intermarried with the heathens. Children born from such marriages are bastards, and R. Assi holds that a bastard's betrothal is valid. ');">¹⁷</span> But, surely, anything separated [from a heterogeneous group] is re garded as having been separated from the majority!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., if it is not known to which group or class a person or object that comes from a mixed multitude belongs, it is always assumed that the unit came from the majority. Now, since the ten tribes represent only a minority of the heathens, it should be assumed that the betrothal was not made by one of the ten tribes but by a heathen. ');">¹⁸</span> — [R. Assi's statement refers] to places where they have settled;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And formed a majority of the inhabitants (Tosaf. s.v. [H] a.l.). Rashi: A group which is in a settled condition, (kabu'a, v. Keth. 15a and Glos.), though it is a minority, is deemed to represent a half of the whole multitude. ');">¹⁹</span> for R. Abba b. Kahana said: And he put them in Halah and in Habor, on the river of Gozan, and the cities of the Medes;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' II Kings XVIII, 11. ');">²⁰</span> Halah is Halwan,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' So Kid. 72b. Cur. edd., [H]. Halwan is a locality in Assyria. V. Kid., Sonc. ed. p. 367, n. 4. ');">²¹</span> and Habor