Yerushalmi Ketubot 1:9 ירושלמי כתובות א׳:ט׳

MISHNAH: If she was pregnant and one asked her, what kind of fetus is this? He is from Mr. X, a Cohen; Rabban Gamliel and Rebbi Eliezer say, she is believed. Rebbi Joshua said, we do not live off her mouth but there is a presumption that she is pregnant from a Gibeonite or a bastard unless she provides proof of her statement.

HALAKHAH: “If she was pregnant,” etc. Rebbi Eleazar said, everybody agrees that the child is of unknown paternity²⁴²In Mishnah Qiddušin 4:1, the child of unknown paternity is barred from intermarrying with qualified Jews and is permitted only marriage with proselytes, freedmen, bastards, Gibeonites, those of unknown paternity, and foundlings.. It was stated thus²⁴³Tosephta 1:6; Babli 13b.: “Where was this said²⁴⁴That the woman’s testimony is accepted without corroboration., for the testimony of the woman in her own behalf. But everybody agrees that the child is of unknown paternity.” Rebbi Joḥanan said to him, simply of unknown paternity²⁴⁵Since the father is unknown, the child cannot inherit from him. The expression שְׁתוּקִי “silenced one” can be explained as “one silences him if he claims inheritance”.! We find that a child of unknown paternity can be High Priest. How is this possible? A group of Cohanim was passing by, one of them came²⁴⁶He was not identified by name but certainly was a Cohen. and had sexual relations; it turns out that the child of unknown paternity can be High Priest²⁴⁷The Babli, 13b, agrees that the child is qualified to marry in the congregation but denies that he is a Cohen, based on Num. 25:13: “A covenant of priesthood it shall be for him and his seed after him”, from which it is inferred that only a Cohen’s child which is recognized as his is a Cohen. In the case under discussion, the child “is silenced from claiming priesthood”..

Rebbi Eleazar said to him: Is not the dough widow²⁴⁸As a dough is a mixture of several ingredients, so the dough widow is a mixture; she is a woman qualified for priesthood who was married to a husband with a questionable family background (one whose females are permitted to marry Israels but not Cohanim). The problem is that there is the knowledge that something was wrong in the marriages of that family but the exact nature of the defect is not known. qualified but her daughter is disqualified²⁴⁹She carries the possible disabilities of the father’s family.? He said to him, whoever declares her to be qualified, declares her daughter to be qualified²⁵⁰If the daughter might be disqualified then the mother might be desecrated, i. e., her husband might have been the offspring many generations back of a union forbidden to Cohanim.. Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa said, did he not say “whoever declares her to be qualified”? This implies that there is another who disqualifies! Who declares qualified? Rebbi Meïr. Who disqualifies? The rabbis. As we have stated²⁵¹In the Tosephta (Qiddušin 5:2) and the Babli (14a; Qiddušin 4:4, 66a 1.29), there is no mention of the desecrated, but there is the added category of “king’s slaves”, who were used by the king to run the state and, by their influence and riches, were able to marry Jewish women even if not manumitted. In Jewish tradition (Rashi 14a), Herod was a slave of the Hasmoneans.
In the Babli tradition (cf. Otzar haGeonim 8, Ketubot, הפירושים p. 12), the dough widow was a woman who had married a man possibly descending from a desecrated woman. This definition is reproduced by Rashi, 14a. The difference between the Galilean and Babylonian traditions was already highlighted by Rabbenu Hananel (Otzar ha-Geonim l. c., לקוטי פירוש רבינו חננאל p. 12).: What is qualified dough, anyone about whom there is [no suspicion of descent from] a desecrated, a bastard, or a Gibeonite. Rebbi Meïr says, the daughter of any woman not tainted with one of these is qualified for thepriesthood. But about a family in which a disability had disappeared²⁵²The nature of the disability was no longer known., Rebbi Meïr says he checks up to four mothers²⁵³These are really 8 mothers, spanning 3 to 4 generations, enumerated in Mishnah Qiddušin 4:4. and marries, but the Sages say, he checks forever²⁵⁴Until he finds the source of the trouble..

Rebbi Jeremiah in the name of Rebbi Ze‘ira had a different version: Rebbi Eleazar asked Rebbi Joḥanan, what is the rule about a dough widow²⁴⁸As a dough is a mixture of several ingredients, so the dough widow is a mixture; she is a woman qualified for priesthood who was married to a husband with a questionable family background (one whose females are permitted to marry Israels but not Cohanim). The problem is that there is the knowledge that something was wrong in the marriages of that family but the exact nature of the defect is not known.? He said to him, she is qualified. What about her daughter? He said to him, the one who declares her to be qualified, declares her daughter to be qualified²⁵⁰If the daughter might be disqualified then the mother might be desecrated, i. e., her husband might have been the offspring many generations back of a union forbidden to Cohanim.. They wanted to say, according to Rebbi Eleazar, a child of unknown paternity is disqualified²⁴²In Mishnah Qiddušin 4:1, the child of unknown paternity is barred from intermarrying with qualified Jews and is permitted only marriage with proselytes, freedmen, bastards, Gibeonites, those of unknown paternity, and foundlings.; according to Rebbi Joḥanan, a child of unknown paternity is qualified. Rebbi Joḥanan also holds that in some cases a child of unknown paternity is disqualified; he answered [Rebbi Eleazar] following the latter’s reasoning: Since you reason that the child is simply of unknown paternity, we find that a child of unknown paternity can be High Priest! How is this possible? A group of Cohanim was passing by, one of them came²⁴⁶He was not identified by name but certainly was a Cohen. and had sexual relations; it turns out that the child of unknown paternity can be High Priest²⁴⁷The Babli, 13b, agrees that the child is qualified to marry in the congregation but denies that he is a Cohen, based on Num. 25:13: “A covenant of priesthood it shall be for him and his seed after him”, from which it is inferred that only a Cohen’s child which is recognized as his is a Cohen. In the case under discussion, the child “is silenced from claiming priesthood”..

The word of Rebbi Zera²⁵⁵This is the Babylonian spelling of Ze‘ira. implies that a child of unknown paternity is qualified, for Rebbi Ze‘ira asked before Rebbi Yasa²⁵⁶It is clear that R. Ze‘ira asked before his teacher R. Yasa, not before his student’s student R. Yose.: Is it the same for families²⁵⁷In the Mishnah, Rabban Gamliel and R. Eliezer declare than one believes the woman if she says that her child is a Cohen’s. Mishnah Qiddušin4:1 excludes a child of unknown paternity from marrying most Jews. What is the relation of the two Mishnaiot?? He said to him, so says Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish: There, for families²⁵⁸If somebody looks after the purity of his blood line, he should follow the Mishnah in Qiddušin., but here for sanctified food in the country²⁵⁹“Sanctified food in the country” is heave. The child is empowered to eat heave; this implies that he is qualified for certain aspects of the priesthood (on the model of the local priests in Josiah’s reform, 2K. 23:9).. The word of Rebbi Samuel ben [Rav] Isaac implies that a child of unknown paternity is disqualified, for Rebbi Samuel ben Rav Isaac asked: Does this mean that a child of unknown paternity is does not exist following Rabban Gamliel and Rebbi Eliezer, only following Rebbi Joshua? He turned around and said, a child of unknown paternity is possible following Rabban Gamliel and Rebbi Eliezer, if she remains silent. And even if you say that she talks, if she said that she does not know²⁶⁰If the mother states that she does not know the identity of the child’s father, the child doubtless is of unknown paternity..