Study Bekhorot folio 47B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
איתמר: כהן שמת והניח בן חלל — רב חסדא אמר: הבן חייב לפדות את עצמו, רבה בר רב הונא אמר: אין חייב לפדות את עצמו. כל היכא דמת האב לאחר שלשים, דכולי עלמא לא פליגי דאין הבן חייב לפדות את עצמו, שהרי זכה אביו בפדיונו.
§ It was stated that in the case of a priest who married a divorcée and then died and left a son who was a priest disqualified due to flawed lineage [ḥalal] and has the status of a non-priest, Rav Ḥisda says: The son is obligated to redeem himself. Rabba bar Rav Huna says: He is not obligated to redeem himself. The Talmud explains: In any case that the father died after 30 days following the birth of the son, at which point the father was already obligated in his redemption, everyone agrees that the son is not obligated to redeem himself, as his father acquired his redemption money, i.e., it is as though he separated 5 sela coins and took the money for himself, since he is a priest.
כי פליגי היכא דמת האב בתוך שלשים יום, רב חסדא אמר: הבן חייב לפדות את עצמו, דהא לא זכה אביו (לפדיונו) [בפדיונו]. רבה בר רב הונא אמר: אין הבן חייב לפדות עצמו, דאמר ליה: אתינא מכח גברא דלא מצית לאשתעויי דינא בהדיה.
They disagree when the father died within 30 days of the birth of the son, before the obligation of redemption had taken effect. Rav Ḥisda says the son is obligated to redeem himself, as his father did not acquire his redemption money. Rabba bar Rav Huna says the son is not obligated to redeem himself, as he can say to a priest who demands the redemption money from him: I come due to the strength of a man with whom you cannot enter into judgment, i.e., if my father were alive he would have separated 5 sela coins and taken the money for himself, and I inherit his claim.
The Talmud raises a challenge to the opinion of Rabba bar Rav Huna: We learned in the Mishnah: If one married a woman who converted while she was pregnant, having been impregnated by a non-Jew, the child is a firstborn with regard to redemption from a priest and must redeem himself. But why is this the halakha? Let this son say to the priest: I come due to the strength of a man with whom you cannot enter into judgment, as his father is a non-Jew, from whom the redemption money cannot be claimed. The Talmud responds: The case of a non-Jew is different, as he has no lineage [ḥayis], i.e., this man is not considered his father’s son at all.