משנה: הָאוֹמֵר בְּנִי זֶה מַמְזֵר אֵינוֹ נֶאֱמָן. וַאֲפִילוּ שְׁנֵיהֶן אוֹמְרִין עַל הָעוֹבֵר שֶׁבְּמֵיעֵיהָ מַמְזֵר הוּא אֵינָן נֶאֱמָנִין. רִבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר נֶאֱמָנִין. MISHNAH: If somebody says, this my son is a bastard, he cannot be believed179Since a father is a relative of his wife’s child, he is unable to testify about him.. Even if both of them say about the fetus in her belly that he is a bastard, they cannot be believed180Both parents agree. They cannot testify even before the child’s birth when the child does not yet have a personality in the legal sense that the formal rules of testimony would be applicable to him.. Rebbi Jehudah says, they are believed181Even the father alone is able to declare his son illegitimate by the power invested in him by Deut. 21:17..
הלכה: הָאוֹמֵר בְּנִי זֶה מַמְזֵר אֵינוֹ נֶאֱמָן כול׳. תַּמָּן תַּנִּינָן. הָאוֹמֵר. בְּנִי זֶה. נֶאֱמָן. רִבִּי אַבָּהוּ בְשֵׁם רִבִּי יוֹחָנָן. לָתֵת לוֹ אֲבָל לֹא לִיקַּח מִמֶּנּוּ. אָמַר רִבִּי יוֹסֵי. וְלָא מַתְנִיתָא הִיא. אֲפִילוּ שְׁנֵיהֶן אוֹמְרִין עַל הָעוֹבֵר שֶׁבְּמֵעֵיהָ מַמְזֵר הוּא אֵינָן נֶאֱמָנִין. דִּילְמָא עַל דְּרִבִּי יְהוּדָה אִיתְאֲמָרַת. דְּרִבִּי יוּדָה אוֹמֵר. נֶאֱמָנִין עָלֶיהָ. רִבִּי אַבָּהוּ בְשֵׁם רִבִּי יוֹחָנָן. לָתֵת לוֹ אֲבָל לֹא לִיקַּח מִמֶּנּוּ. אָמַר רִבִּי חִזְקִיָּה. עוֹד הִיא מַתְנִיתָא. כִּי אֶת הַבְּכוֹר בֶּן הַשְּׂנוּאָה יַכִּיר. הָיוּ מַחֲזִיקִים בּוֹ שֶׁהוּא בְנוֹ וּבִשְׁעַת מִיתָתוֹ אָמַר. אֵינוֹ בְנוֹ. אֵינוֹ נֶאֱמָן. שֶׁאֵינוֹ בְנוֹ וּבִשְׁעַת מִיתָתוֹ אָמַר. בְּנִי הוּא. נֶאֱמָן. אִית תַּנָּיֵי תַנֵּי. עַל קַדְמִייָתָא נֶאֱמָן. רִבִּי חִזְקִיָּה רִבִּי זְרִיקָן בְּשֵׁם רִבִּי הוּנָא. הָיוּ מַחֲזִיקִין אוֹתוֹ שֶׁהוּא מִשִּׁפְחָתוֹ נֶאֱמָן. הָיָה עוֹמֵד בְּצַד הַמּוּכְסִין וְאָמַר. בְּנִי הוּא. וְחָזַר וְאָמַר עַבְדִּי הוּא. נֶאֱמָן. עַבְדִּי הוּא. וְחָזַר וְאָמַר בְּנִי הוּא. אֵינוֹ נֶאֱמָן. אִית תַּנָּיֵי תַנֵּי. נֶאֱמָן. אָמַר רִבִּי מָנָא. בְּגִין אִילֵּין כּוּתָאֵי דִּינּוּן מְשַׁעְבְּדִין בִּבְנֵיהֶן. HALAKHAH: “If somebody says, this my son is a bastard, he cannot be believed,” etc. There, we have stated182Mishnah Baba batra 8:8, dealing with rights of inheritance.: “If somebody said, this is my son, he is to be believed.” Rebbi Abbahu in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: To give him183Make him a legal heir., but not to take from him. Rebbi Yose said, is that not the Mishnah: “Even if both of them say about the fetus in her belly that he is a bastard, they cannot be believed”184The Mishnah makes the statement of R. Joḥanan superfluous.? Maybe it185The statement of R. Abbahu in the name of R. Joḥanan. was said following Rebbi Jehudah, for Rebbi Jehudah said, they can be believed; Rebbi Abbahu in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: To give him, but not to take from him. Rebbi Ḥizqiah said, still it is a baraita: “For he has to recognize the firstborn, the son of the hated one.186Deut. 21:17. Quoting a verse is obviously not quoting a baraita. Probably the baraita quoted in the Babli, 78b, Sifry Deut. 217 is meant: “ ‘For he has to recognize the firstborn, the son of the hated one;’ he has to make him recognized by others; this implies that a person is believed if he says, this son of mine is the firstborn. Rebbi Jehudah says, just as a man is believed if he says, this son of mine is the firstborn, so he is believed if he says that he is the son of a divorcee or one who had received ḥalîṣah, but the Sages say, he is not believed.”” If they187The parents. maintained that he was his son but at the moment of his death he said that he was not his son, he cannot be believed188Once a person has obtained public recognition as a son, the presumption of permanence of the status quo ante requires valid testimony by two independent witnesses to change that status; cf. Giṭṭin Chapter 3.. That he was not his son but at the moment of his death he said that he was his son, he is believed189Since the dying person also could have given an unrelated person a part of his estate.. Some Tannaïm state on the first case that he is believed. Rebbi Ḥisqiah, Rebbi Zeriqan in the name of Rebbi Huna: If they maintained that he was from his slave girl, he is believed190If the father acknowledged that he had fathered the child with his slave girl and everybody assumed that he had manumitted the pregnant girl in order to be the legal father of the child but on his deathbed he acknowledged that he never manumitted the girl and, therefore, his child is not his child in Jewish law (Mishnah Yebamot 2:5), he must be believed since his statement now is compatible with his earlier statements.. If he was standing next to the customs collectors191When he would have to pay customs duty for the importation of a slave but not for an accompanying son. and said, he is my son, but later he said, he is my slave, he is believed192We believe him that he was cheating on the customs.. He is my slave, but later he said, he is my son, he is not believed193Nobody pays custom duties which he is not obligated for.. Some Tannaïm state, he is believed. Rebbi Mana said, because of those Samaritans194In Baba batra: The Nabateans. who use their sons as slaves.
תַּנֵּי. נֶאֱמָן עַל הַגָּדוֹל וְאֵינוֹ נֶאֱמָן עַל הַקָּטָן. אֵי זֶהוּ גָדוֹל. רִבִּי זְעִירָא אָמַר. כָּל־שֶׁיֵּשׁ לוֹ אִשָּׁה וּבָנִים. רִבִּי אַבָּהוּ. כָּל־שֶׁיֵּשׁ לוֹ אֲשָָּׁה. מַתְנִיתָא פְלִיגָא עַל רִבִּי אַבָּהוּ. גֵּר שֶׁמָּל וְלֹא טָבַל וְהָיוּ לוֹ בָנִים וְאָמַר. מַלְתִּי וְלֹא טָבַלְתִּי. נֶאֱמָן וּמַטְבִּילִין אוֹתוֹ בַּשַּׁבָּת. מִשֻּׁם מֵהַנְכָּייָה. דִּבְרֵי רַב יוּדָה. מָה עֲבַד לָהּ רִבִּי אַבָּהוּ. פָּתַר לָהּ. מִשֻּׁם מַה בְכָךְ. It was stated195According to the Tosephta, 5:5, the author of this statement is R. Jehudah.: He is believed about the adult but is not believed about the young196It is clear that this sentence is corrupt and one must read: He is believed about the young but is not believed about the adult. Even R. Jehudah will agree that the Torah gives the father only the right to recognize or to refuse to recognize his child; the moment other people are involved, the usual rules of judicial proof must apply. Since the father does not have the right to declare his grandchildren as bastards, he has lost the right to declare his child a bastard the moment the child has children.. Who is adult? Rebbi Ze‘ira said, any one who has a wife and children; Rebbi Abbahu, any one who has a wife197Since by declaring his son a bastard, the father would forbid the son to his daughter-in-law, he would infringe upon the rights of a third party and cannot be believed.. A baraita198Also quoted in the Babli, Yebamot 47b. disagrees with Rebbi Abbahu: A proselyte who was circumcised but did not immerse himself199He is Jewish for R. Jehudah but still Gentile for R. Yose. but has children; if he said, I was circumcised but did not immerse, he is believed and one immerses him even on the Sabbath because of parsimony200To avoid problems with handling food when he or his family are present. Since for R. Yose, immersion of a circumcised proselyte changes him from Gentile to Jew, this could not be done on the Sabbath. One has to assume that the father admitted that he never was immersed only after he and his children already were known as Jews. Then he can no longer testify to disqualify his children from prospective Jewish marriages; he must be accepted as a Jew., the words of Rav201This certainly must read “Rebbi” since the Babylonian Amora Rav Jehudah cannot be the author of a baraita. Jehudah. What does Rebbi Abbahu do with this202Since the baraita implies that one immerses him on the Sabbath only because he has children; does this not prove R. Ze‘ira’s point?? He explains it, because who cares203Since the author of the baraita is R. Jehudah for whom immersion is unnecessary, there is no problem of Sabbath desecration involved and he will agree that in order to satisfy even the followers of R. Yose, the proselyte should immerse himself at the first opportunity. This explanation is attributed to R. Jehudah himself in the Babli, loc.cit.?