5 brothers- not one is not like the other TB Yevamot 99

Today’s daIf f TB Yevamot 99 deals with a lot of different hypothetical situations. One of the cases is when the same man and woman have five children together; however, each one of the children has a different status.

“It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Meir would say: A man and a woman can sometimes bear children of five nations, i.e., of five separate categories of lineage.

How so? If a Jew bought a slave and a maidservant from the market, and the slave and maidservant had two children at the time, and one of these children converted, it is found that one child is a convert and the other one is a gentile. If the master immersed the slave and maidservant for the sake of giving them the status of slaves, and they engaged in intercourse with each other and had a child, here there are three children in the family who are a convert, and a gentile, and a slave. If he freed the maidservant, which renders her a Jewess, and her husband the slave engaged in intercourse with her, and they had another child, here there are a convert, a gentile, a slave, and a mamzer. The offspring of a slave and a Jewess, according to Rabbi Meir, have the same status as a son born from an incestuous or adulterous relationship. If the master subsequently freed both the maidservant and the slave and married them to each other and they had another child, here there are a convert, a gentile, a slave, a mamzer, and a regular Jew.” (Sefaria.org translation)

To better understand this scenario, let’s name the characters in this drama. Moshe bought a male slave, Jim, and a female slave Jennifer. Jim and Jennifer already had two children together, Bob and George. Obviously, Bob and George are not Jewish.

Bob converted and became Jewish while his brother George remained a non-Jew. Moshe immersed Jim and Jennifer in the mikvah in order to give them the status of a Canaanite slaves. Canaanite slaves have some privileges living with the Jewish master and must observe Jewish law just like a Jewish woman. One of the privileges is that Canaanite slaves may have sexual relationships with each other. Now that they have the status as a Canaanite slaves, Jim and Jennifer get it together and father a third son, Joseph, who is born into slave hood.

Each of the three sons has a different status. Bob is convert, George is a non-Jew, and Joseph is a slave.

When Moshe freed Jennifer, she became Jewish. Now being Jewish she is forbidden to have any new sexual relationship with Jim who is a Canaanite slave. Nevertheless, they had sex and as a result another son, Billam, is born. According to Rabbi Meir this son is a mamzer because of the forbidden sexual relationship that his parents had.

Now each of the four sons has a different status. Bob is convert, George is a non-Jew, Joseph is a slave, and Billam is a mamzer.

Finally Jim is freed, converts, and becomes Jewish. Now he may marry Jennifer because they are both Jewish. As a Jewish couple they have a fifth son, Gary, who is Jewish born of Jewish parents.

That’s how the same man and woman can have five sons and each one of them has a different status. Bob is convert, George is a non-Jew, Joseph is a slave, and Billam is a mamzer, and Gary is a Jew.

I wonder what their imaginary family get-togethers are like.

By the way, the halakha is not according to Rabbi Meir. If the mother is a mamzeret who has sex with a non-Jew or slave, the child produced of this union is a mamzer. Whether a woman is single or married and has sex with a non-Jew or slave, the child is kosher Jew in all aspects except one. He cannot be considered a kohain, a priest. (Shulkhan Arukh, Even Ha’ezer, 4:19)