Talmud for Horayot 3:8

כֹּהֵן קוֹדֵם לְלֵוִי, לֵוִי לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, יִשְׂרָאֵל לְמַמְזֵר, וּמַמְזֵר לְנָתִין, וְנָתִין לְגֵר, וְגֵר לְעֶבֶד מְשֻׁחְרָר. אֵימָתַי, בִּזְמַן שֶׁכֻּלָּן שָׁוִין. אֲבָל אִם הָיָה מַמְזֵר תַּלְמִיד חָכָם וְכֹהֵן גָּדוֹל עַם הָאָרֶץ, מַמְזֵר תַּלְמִיד חָכָם קוֹדֵם לְכֹהֵן גָּדוֹל עַם הָאָרֶץ:

A Cohein takes precedence to a Levite; a Levite, to an Israelite, [viz. (Deuteronomy 10:8): "At that time the L rd set apart the tribe of Levi, etc."]; an Israelite to a mamzer, [the first being "pedigreed," the second not]; a mamzer to a Nathin, [the first coming from an untainted drop; the second, from a tainted one]; a Nathin to a proselyte, [the first having been raised with us in holiness; the second not]; a proselyte to a freed slave, [the first not having been subsumed in "accursed," the second having been subsumed thus]. When is this so? When they are all equal (in eminence); but, as between a mamzer who is a Torah scholar and a high-priest who is an ignoramus, a mamzer who is a Torah scholar takes precedence to a high-priest who is an ignoramus, [as it is written (Proverbs 3:15): "It [Torah] is more precious than peninim (precious gems") — even (more precious) than the (the high-priest), who enters lifnai velifnim, (acronymic of "peninim"), "the innermost sanctum."]

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