The fetus and the yavam and betrothal and the deaf-mute and a boy of nine years and one day disqualify (from eating terumah) and do not cause (to eat terumah). [("The fetus":) This fetus, if she (the mother) is the daughter of a Cohein wed to an Israelite, he disqualifies (her), it being written (22:13): "Then she shall return to her father's house as in her maidenhood" — to exclude one who is pregnant. If she is the daughter of an Israelite wed to a Cohein, he does not cause (her) to eat, for "one who is not yet born does not cause to eat" (see 7:3). ("and the yavam":) If she is the daughter of a Cohein to an Israelite, he disqualifies her, it being written: "Then she shall return to her father's house" — to exclude one awaiting yibum, who cannot return, being bound to her yavam. And if she is the daughter of a Cohein to an Israelite, he does not cause her to eat, it being written (Ibid. 22:11): "the acquisition of his money," and this one is the acquisition of his brother. ("and betrothal":) If she is the daughter of a Cohein to an Israelite, he disqualifies her, for he acquires her with "being" (i.e., betrothal), and from the time of "being" she is disqualified, viz. (Ibid. 12): "And the daughter of a Cohein, if she be to a stranger" (i.e., a non-priest). If she is the daughter of an Israelite to a Cohein, he does not cause her to eat — a decree lest they pour her a cup of terumah wine in her father's house and she offer it to her brothers and sisters. ("and the deaf-mute":) If she is the daughter of a Cohein to an Israelite, he disqualifies her, for he acquires her by rabbinic ordinance. And if she is the daughter of an Israelite to a Cohein, he does not cause her to eat, it being written (Ibid. 11): "the acquisition of his money," and a deaf-mute does not acquire by Torah law. ("and a boy of nine years and one day":) If one of those unfit for the priesthood, who was nine years and one day old lived with the daughter of a Cohein, or of a Levite, or of an Israelite, he disqualifies her from eating terumah; for the cohabitation of one that old is considered cohabitation, and she is rendered a chalalah thereby. And if the daughter of an Israelite married a Cohein who was nine years and one day old, he does not cause her to eat terumah, because his acquisition is not a bona fide acquisition.] If it were doubtful whether or not he were nine years and one day [he is considered to be so, and he disqualifies]. If it were doubtful whether or not he brought two (pubic) hairs [If a minor betrothed a woman and it were doubtful whether or not he had brought two hairs, so that his betrothal is in doubt, his wife receives chalitzah and is not taken in yibum.] If the house fell upon him and upon his brother's daughter [who was his wife, and we do not know whether he died first, so that both women fell to yibum before his brother and the tzarah is exempt by reason of "the tzarah of one's daughter" — or whether she died first, so that when the other fell for yibum she was not the tzarah of his daughter, (as we learned (1:1): "And all of them — if they died, or refused … their tzaroth are permitted")], her tzarah receives chalitzah and is not taken in yibum. [Since stringent rulings in instances of doubt are mentioned here, this instance is mentioned too.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
והניחה מעוברת – even though she has children from him and she consumes Terumah, the slaves of her mort-main do not eat Terumah because they belong to the heirs, and the fetus has a portion in them and the fetus does not have the ability to provide them with Terumah either because he holds that a fetus in a foreign womb (of a non-Kohen), he is a foreigner or because he holds that someone born can feed; someone who is not born cannot feed, as it is written (Leviticus 22:11): “and those that are born into his household may eat [of his food],” and we call him they who will feed.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
Introduction
When a man dies and leaves children, his wife’s status with regard to terumah goes according to the child’s status. If the father was a priest and his child eats terumah, the wife continues to do so as well. If the father was an Israelite, even if his wife was the daughter of a priest, if the father had a child with her, she does not go back to eating the terumah from her father’s house. In other words a child fixes a wife into the status of her husband.
Our mishnah discusses a situation where a priest died while his wife was pregnant. The issue at hand is do the tzon barzel slaves, who are now in a sense owned by the fetus, eat terumah.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
שהעובר פוסל – if the daughter of a Kohen is married to an Israelite [male], and she was left pregnant (because her husband died), and she has no other son, it disqualifies her from returning to her father’s home.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
If the daughter of an Israelite was married to a priest who died and left her pregnant, her slaves may not eat terumah because of the share of the fetus, since a fetus prevents [its mother] from eating [terumah] but does not cause her to be able to eat [terumah], the words of Rabbi Yose. If a priest dies and leaves his wife pregnant, her tzon barzel slaves do not eat terumah, even if she has other children and she, her children and her melog slaves can eat terumah. This is because the fetus, as an inheritor of its father, has ownership over the tzon barzel slaves, and a fetus disqualifies its mother from eating terumah and does not qualify her to eat terumah. A fetus disqualifies its mother from eating terumah in that if she is the daughter of a priest who married an Israelite and he dies with no kids and she is pregnant, she does not return to her father’s home to eat terumah. In the opposite case, if she was the daughter of an Israelite married to a priest and her husband dies with no children and she is pregnant, the fetus does not allow her to eat terumah. Rabbi Yose reasons that just as a fetus does not allow a wife to eat terumah, so too it does not allow tzon barzel slaves to eat terumah.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
ואינו מאכיל – if she was the daughter of an Israelite married to a Kohen and she was left pregnant (because her husband died), the fetus does not have the strength to sustain her and the same law applies to his slaves.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
They said to him: since you have testified to us concerning the daughter of an Israelite who was married to a priest, even concerning the daughter of a priest who was married to a priest, and he died and left her pregnant her slaves may not eat terumah because of the share of the fetus! The rabbis respond to Rabbi Yose, that if his testimony about the daughter of an Israelite married to a priest is correct, then even concerning the daughter of a priest married to a priest, if her husband died leaving her pregnant, her tzon barzel slaves do not eat terumah. After all, in either case we could explain that a fetus disqualifies tzon barzel slaves from eating terumah. The difficulty with this section is whether or not the rabbis disagree with Rabbi Yose. According to a literal reading of the mishnah they only point out a consequence of Rabbi Yose’s halakhah, without expressing their opinion on the matter. However, it would seem that they only point this out if they disagree with Rabbi Yose. According to the Talmud, the rabbis do disagree with Rabbi Yose. The rabbis hold that the fetus does not actually own the slaves and therefore cannot prevent them from eating terumah.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
אף בת כהן לכהן כו' – since you said that he is not born, he does not sustain, even the daughter of a Kohen who is married to a Kohen, the slaves don’t consume Terumah because of the fetus’ portion because they are his slaves and they don’t consume, other than for him, and he lacks the strength to sustain them, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yosi.
