Jerusalem Talmud Kiddushin 4:4

משנה: הַנּוֹשֵׂא אִשָּׁה כוֹהֶנֶת צָרִיךְ לִבְדוֹק אַחֲרֶיהָ אַרְבַּע אִימָּהוֹת שֶׁהֵן שְׁמוֹנֶה אִמָּהּ וְאֵם אִמָּהּ וְאֵם אֲבִי אִמָּהּ וְאִמָּהּ וּלְוִייָה וְיִשְׂרְאֵלִית מוֹסִיפִין עוֹד אַחַת. MISHNAH: One who comes to marry a woman from a priestly family¹²⁶Since only in priestly families the women may become disqualified, the Cohen who wants to be sure that his descendants will be qualified to serve in the Temple is asked to verify that in generations back no divorcee or otherwise disqualified woman married into his fiancée’s family. has to check four mothers who are eight: Her mother, and her maternal grandmother, her mother’s paternal grandmother and great-grandmother¹²⁷The list is obviously incomplete; the Mishnah in the Babli and the independent Mishnah mss. add the paternal grandmother and the latter’s mother and mother-in-law. The list is quite uneven; looking at the bride’s family tree we denote by f a female to be checked, by m a male:
f     f
׀     ׀
f  f  f
׀  ׀  ׀
f  m  f  m
׀  /  ׀  /
f     m
׀   /
bride
The positions mentioned in the Yerushalmi Mishnah are underlined.. But for a levitic or Israel woman one adds another generation¹²⁸Even though priestly disqualifications do not apply to these women..

הלכה: הַנּוֹשֵׂא אִשָּׁה כֹהֶנֶת כול׳. אָמַר רִבִּי יוֹחָנָן. דְּרִבִּי מֵאִיר הִיא. דְּתַנֵּי. אֵי זוֹ הִיא עִיסָּה כְשֵׁירָה. כָּל־שֶׁאֵין בָּהּ לֹא חָלָל וְלֹא מַמְזֵר וְלֹא נָתִין. רִבִּי מֵאִיר אוֹמֵר. כָּל־שֶׁאֵין בָּהּ אַחַת מִכָּל־אֵילּוּ בִּתָּהּ כְּשֵׁירָה לִכְהוּנָּה. אֲבָל מִשְׁפָּחָה שֶׁנִּשְׁתַּקַּע בָּהּ פְּסוּל. רִבִּי מֵאִיר אוֹמֵר. בּוֹדֵק עַד אַרְבַּע אִימָּהוֹת וּמַשִּׂיא. וַחֲכָמִים אוֹמְרִים. בּוֹדֵק לְעוֹלָם. רַב אָמַר. זוֹ דִבְרֵי רִבִּי מֵאִיר. אֲבָל חֲכָמִים אוֹמְרִים. בּוֹדֵק מֵאֵי זוֹ מִשְׁפָּחָה מַשִּׂיאִין לִכְהוּנָּה וּמַשִּׂיא. בְּיַד מִי הוּא בוֹדֵק. רִבִּי חַגַּיי בְשֵׁם רִבִּי יֹאשִׁיָּה. בּוֹדֵק בְּיַד קְרוֹבוֹתָיו. רִבִּי חָמָא אֲתַא סַבָּא אֲמַר לֵיהּ. מִשִּׁיאִין לִכְהוּנָּה מִן הָדָא זַרְעִיתָא. אֲמַר לֵיהּ. אִין. וְאַסִּיב עַל פּוּמֵיהּ. רַב אֲמַר לְחִייָה בְּרֵיהּ. נֲחוֹת דְּרָג וְסַב אִיתָא. אָמַר רִבִּי אִידִי שְׁכִיחָא הָא מִילְּתָא בְּפוּמְהוֹן דְּרַבָּנִן. וְאִם לֹא נִטְמְאָה הָאִשָּׁה וּטְהוֹרָה הִיא. מִכֵּיוָן שֶׁלֹּא נִטְמְאָה טְהוֹרָה. וְלֹא כִיהוּדָה בֶּן פַּפּוֹס שֶׁנּוֹעֵל דֶּלֶת בִּפְנֵי אִשְׁתּוֹ. אָֽמְרוּ לֵיהּ. נְהוֹגִין הֲווֹן אַבְהָתָךְ עָֽבְדִין כֵן. חַד כֹּהֵן אֲתַא לְגַבֵּי רִבִּי יוֹחָנָן, אֲמַר לֵיהּ. עַבְדִּית מַתְנִיתָא. נָשָׂאתִי אִשָּׁה כֹּהֶנֶת וּבָדַקְתִּי אַחֲרֶיהָ אַרְבָּעָה אִימָּהוֹת שֶׁהֵן שְׁמוֹנָה. אֲמַר לֵיהּ. אִין הוּא עִיקְּרָא לָקִי מִן רֵאשָׁה מָאן מוֹדַע לָךְ. HALAKHAH: “One who comes to marry a woman from a priestly family,” etc. Rebbi Joḥanan said, this is Rebbi Meïr’s, as we have stated¹²⁹Ketubot 1:9:4" href="/Jerusalem_Talmud_Ketubot.1.9.4">Ketubot 1:9 (Notes 248–254); a slightly different version in the Tosephta 5:2, Ketubot.14a">Babli Ketubot 14a.: “What is qualified dough¹³⁰As dough is kneaded from different ingredients, so a dough woman is descended from both more and less qualified sources; cf. Ketubot 1:9:3" href="/Jerusalem_Talmud_Ketubot.1.9.3">Ketubot1:9 Note 251. [For “mixture of dough” used as simile for lineage, perhaps also cf. Swiss-German expression vom Teig“from the dough”, meaning “from (the best) families”. (E.G.)]? Anyone about whom there is [no suspicion of descent from] a desecrated one, a bastard, or a Gibeonite. Rebbi Meïr says, the daughter of any woman not tainted with any of these is qualified for the priesthood. But about a family in which a disability had disappeared, Rebbi Meïr says he checks up to four mothers and marries, but the Sages say, he checks forever.¹³¹Until he finds the source of the trouble.” Rav said, these¹³²The interpretation of the position of the Sages. are the words of Rebbi Meïr, but the Sages say, he checks from which family one marries into the priesthood and marries¹³³All women in a family from whom one married into the priesthood are qualified unless her personal disqualification be known. In the Kiddushin.76b">Babli, 76b, Rav’s statement is stronger: A presumption of legitimacy applies to all families (unless anything derogatory be known).. Through whom does he check? Rebbi Ḥaggai in the name of Rebbi Josia: He checks through his female relatives¹³⁴Testimony by females is close to be hearsay evidence, but sufficient to qualify a marriage. The language of the statement is derived from Ketubot 1:9:1" href="/Jerusalem_Talmud_Ketubot.1.9.1">Mishnah Ketubot 1:9, dealing with a woman’s bodily defects.. To Rebbi Ḥama came an old man¹³⁵Interpretation of Pene Moshe.Qorban Ha‘eda reads: Rebbi saw an old man coming. Both interpretations are possible; in neither case is the text idiomatic Aramaic.; he asked him: Does one marry into the priesthood from this family? He answered: yes, and he¹³⁶R. Ḥama. was making a match based on this information. Rav said to his son Ḥiyya: Descend a degree to marry a wife¹³⁷Rav had married a noble woman and relative who gave him a hard time.. Rebbi Idi said, the following is a frequent saying of the rabbis: “If the woman was not impure but she is pure.¹³⁸Numbers.5.28">Num. 5:28.” If she was not impure, she is pure¹³⁹They reject the Mishnah and hold that anybody can marry any woman about whose family nothing derogatory is known.. Not like Pappos ben Jehudah who locks the door before his wife¹⁴⁰Cf. Sotah 1:7:3" href="/Jerusalem_Talmud_Sotah.1.7.3">Soṭah 1:7, Note 260. He did not permit his wife to talk to any male except himself.. One said to him, did your forefathers act like this¹⁴¹Jews do not lock up their wives in a harem; Sotah 1:7:2-5" href="/Jerusalem_Talmud_Sotah.1.7.2-5">Soṭah 1:7; Gittin.90a">Babli Giṭṭin 90a.? A Cohen came to Rebbi Joḥanan and said to him: I acted on the Mishnah when I married a woman from a priestly family and checked after her four mothers which are eight. He said to him, if the origin was defective, who would inform you¹⁴²If there was a problem a few generations earlier, would you know? Note that the Cohen quotes the Mishnah in Hebrew, claiming the status of a learned person, but R. Joḥanan answers him in Aramaic, demoting him to the unlearned class since he followed the Mishnah.?

לְוִייִם וְיִשְׂרְאֵלִים מוֹסִיפִין עָלֶיהָ עוֹד אַחַת. וְלֹא נִמְצֵאת מַחְמִיר בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל יוֹתֵר מִן הַכֹּהֲנִים. אָמַר רִבִּי יוֹסֵי בֵּירִבִּי בּוּן. אַחַת זוֹ וְאַחַת זוֹ קְנָס קָֽנְסוּ חֲכָמִים בָּהֶן כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּהֵא אָדָם דָּבַק בְּשִׁבְטוֹ וּבְמִשְׁפַּחְתּוֹ. “But for Levites or Israel one adds another generation¹⁴³This quote is different from the Mishnah which speaks of a Cohen marrying a non-priestly wife whereas here one refers to a non-priest marrying a priestly wife. The Tosephta, 5:4, straddles the issue, mentioning לְוִיָּה וְיִשְׂרְאֵלִים “a Levite (f. singular) and Israels (m. plural)”..” Does it not turn out that one is more stringent for an Israel than for a Cohen? ¹⁴⁴In a different situation R. Yose ben R. Abun gives the same explanation in Ketubot 1:5:2-3" href="/Jerusalem_Talmud_Ketubot.1.5.2-3">Ketubot 1:5, end. He seems to think that in Herodian times and later the priests had a tendency to develop into a separate caste. Rebbi Yose ben Abun said, in both cases¹⁴⁵Both the cases mentioned in the Mishnah and the one mentioned in the quote. the Sages demanded a fine so that everybody should cling to his tribe and family.