Если кто-то говорит: «Этот мой сын мамзер», ему не верят. [Потому что он родственник ему, и поэтому не верит, чтобы свидетельствовать.] И даже если они оба [муж и жена] говорят о зародыше в ее утробе матери, что это мамзер, им не верят. [Не только когда один отец свидетельствует, что он мамзер, ему не верят, не будучи уверенным, но даже когда его мать, которая уверена, свидетельствует, ей не верят, даже если это не касается плода в ее утробе, который был никогда не в состоянии кашрута.] Р. Иегуда говорит: им верят. [Обоснование Р. Иегуды: написано (Второзаконие 21:17): «Но первенец… узнает ли он (отец)»—он должен заставить его быть признанным другими, откуда выясняется, что отец, как полагают, делает его сына пасул (непригодным), а мать, как полагают, не делает этого. И только в отношении его сына ему верят, но не в отношении сына его сына. Если у его сына были сыновья, ему не разрешается делать их пасул. Галаха соответствует Р. Иегуде.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Kiddushin
האומר בני זה ממזר הוא אינו נאמן – for he is a relative in relation to him, and a relative is not fit to testify.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Kiddushin
Introduction
In this mishnah we learn that parents are not believed if they say that their child is a mamzer.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Kiddushin
ואפילו שמיהם – the husband and his wife, and it is not necessary that the father alone testifies that he is an illegitimate child, for he is not believed, who is not certain [of the child’s paternity], but even the mother who is certain [of the child’s paternity], she is [also] not believed (see Kiddushin 78b).
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Kiddushin
If a man declares, “this son of mine is a mamzer,” he is not believed. There are two explanations given for why a father is not believed to say that his child is a mamzer. The first is that the father is related to the child and relatives may not testify. The second is that by saying that the child is a mamzer, the father is testifying against himself and halakhah does not allow self-incrimination.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Kiddushin
אפילו על עובר שבמעיה – who does not enjoy the presumption of fitness.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Kiddushin
And even if both [the husband and wife] say about the fetus inside her, “it’s a mamzer” they are not believed. Even if both parents say that their child is a mamzer, which means that they are saying that the child is not from the husband but from an adulterous affair, they are not believed.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Kiddushin
ר' יהודה אומר נאמנים – The reason of Rabbi Yehuda is that it is written (Deuteronomy 21:17): “[Instead, he must accept [the first-born, the son of the unloved one, and allot to him a double portion of all that he possesses….” – he will be accepted/recognized to others. From here [we learn that] the father is believed to disqualify his son, but the mother is not believed to disqualify her son. And especially regarding his son he believed, but not on the son of his son, for if this son had children, he would not not believed to disqualify them. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehuda.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Kiddushin
Rabbi Judah says: they are believed. Rabbi Judah disagrees with both of the previous clauses. In the Talmud Rabbi Judah’s ruling is based on a midrash. That is to say his halakhah is not necessarily logical; rather it is based on his interpretation of Scripture.
