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Text Excerpt
ואסקיניה. ואתו בי תרי ואמרי: בן גרושה ובן חלוצה הוא, ואחתיניה. ואתא עד אחד ואמר: ידענא ביה דכהן הוא. ודכולי עלמא מצטרפין לעדות.
and therefore we elevated him back to the priesthood, as one witness is sufficient to negate the rumor. And then two witnesses came and said: He is the son of a divorced woman or the son of a ḥalutza, and then we downgraded him from the priesthood, as two witnesses negated the testimony of one witness. Then one witness came and said: I know that he is a priest of unflawed lineage. And everyone agrees that the two single witnesses join together and constitute two witnesses for the purpose of testimony that he is a priest of unflawed lineage, and fundamentally his presumptive status of priesthood should be restored.
והכא במיחש לזילותא דבי דינא קמיפלגי. תנא קמא סבר: כיון דאחתיניה, לא מסקינן ליה, חיישינן לזילותא דבי דינא. ורבן שמעון בן גמליאל סבר: אנן אחתינן ליה ואנן מסקינן ליה, ולזילותא דבי דינא לא חיישינן.
And here it is with regard to concern that it will lead to contempt for the court that they disagree. The first tanna, R' Eliezer, holds: Once we downgraded him from the priesthood, we do not then elevate him. We are concerned that it will lead to contempt for the court, as the reversal in the court decisions create the impression that the court does not know what it is doing. And Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel holds: We downgrade him from the priesthood and we then elevate him, and as for the possibility that it will lead to contempt for the court, we are not concerned about it. The primary concern is that the matter be determined based on the relevant testimonies.
מתקיף לה רב אשי: אי הכי, אפילו תרי ותרי נמי!
Rav Ashi strongly objects: If so, if they disagree with regard to contempt for the court, why is it necessary to establish the dispute in a case where the witnesses who testified that he is a priest of unflawed lineage came individually? If so, then even if two witnesses testify together that he is unfit for the priesthood, and the court downgraded him, and two witnesses testify together that he is fit for the priesthood, and the court elevated him, the tanna’im would also disagree, as the same concern for contempt of court applies.