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When can we believe a woman who says her child's father was kosher? The Rambam (רמב"ם) requires two statistical majorities to permit her to marry a kohen but only her testimony for the child's legitimacy. The shiur resolves this apparent contradiction through a novel understanding of when halachic decisions are made during pregnancy versus after birth.
This shiur analyzes a complex passage in Rambam (רמב"ם)'s Hilchos Issurei Biah dealing with when a woman is believed regarding the identity of her child's father. The Rambam rules that if witnesses see a single woman engaging in relations and she claims it was with a kosher man, she is believed. However, there appears to be a contradiction between two sections of the Rambam's code. In Perek 9, Halacha (הלכה) 16, the Rambam states that even if there is a majority of disqualified men in the area, the woman is believed when she says the father was kosher, and the child may marry into regular Jewish families. However, in Perek 18, the Rambam requires not only her testimony but also two statistical majorities (rov) supporting her claim before she can marry a kohen - both that the majority of people in the city are kosher, and that the majority of people who frequent the marketplace are kosher.
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Why does halacha forbid entering dangerous places if everything happens by Divine decree? The shiur examines the debate between Rashi and Tosfos on traveling at night, developing a fundamental distinction: Rashi holds one must avoid even deserved punishments that Hashem delays through mercy, while Tosfos holds the prohibition addresses self-inflicted harm through free will. This framework reveals how people rationalize self-destructive behavior as "hashgacha."
Why does the Gemara praise hospitality to scholars as a unique mitzvah rather than ordinary hachnasas orchim? The shiur distinguishes two mitzvahs: hachnasas orchim (providing for those in need) and connecting to talmidei chachamim (cleaving to God through scholars). Yisro's meal for the Jewish leaders wasn't charity—it was his way of bonding with those transformed by Torah, teaching that learning must fundamentally change who we are.
Kesubos 13a
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