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Text Excerpt
בקרונות של ציפורי היה מעשה, וכדרבי אמי. דאמר רבי אמי: והוא שהיתה סיעה של בני אדם כשרין עוברת לשם, וכדרבי ינאי. דאמר רבי ינאי: נבעלת בקרונות כשרה לכהונה.
The incident transpired among the wagons [keronot] in the marketplace of Tzippori on the market day, and this halakha is in accordance with the statement of R' Ami, as R' Ami said: And this is the ruling only in a case where there was a contingent of men of unflawed lineage passing there. Due to the fact that both the lineage of the majority of the people of the city where the girl was raped and the lineage of the majority of the passersby is unflawed, the rape is attributed to a man of unflawed lineage. And this ruling is in accordance with the statement of R' Yannai, as R' Yannai said: If she had sex in the wagons, she is fit to marry a member of the priesthood.
בקרונות סלקא דעתך? אלא נבעלת בשעת קרונות, כשרה לכהונה. אבל פירש אחד מציפורי ובעל — הולד שתוקי.
The Talmud asks: Does it enter your mind to say that the woman was raped in the wagons, in the crowded area of the marketplace where business is conducted? Rather, R' Yannai is saying that if she was forced to have sex at the time of the wagons, i.e., when the convoys pass, she is fit to marry a member of the priesthood. However, if one individual, whose lineage is unknown, left Tzippori and had sex with a woman, the child is a shetuki and deemed unfit to marry into the priesthood even though the majority of the inhabitants of city are of unflawed lineage.
כי הא דכי אתא רב דימי, אמר זעירי, אמר רבי חנינא, ואמרי לה, אמר זעירי אמר רבי חנינא: הולכין אחר רוב העיר, ואין הולכין אחר רוב סיעה.
The Talmud notes: That is similar to this statement that when Rav Dimi came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, Ze’eiri said that R' Ḥanina said, and some say directly that Ze’eiri said that R' Ḥanina said: One follows the flawed lineage of the majority of the people in the city and one does not follow the unflawed lineage of the majority of the traveling contingent, and the woman who had sex with a member of the itinerant contingent is deemed unfit to marry into the priesthood.