Study Kiddushin folio 74B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
הכי קאמר: כל האסורים לבא בקהל כהונה, מאי נינהו – גיורת פחותה מבת שלש שנים ויום אחד, ודלא כרבי שמעון בן יוחי – מותרין לבוא זה בזה.
This is what the Mishnah is saying: All those for whom it is prohibited to enter into the congregation of the priesthood. Rav Yehuda adds parenthetically: And who are they? Even a female who became a convert at less than 3 years and one day old, and this is not in accordance with the opinion of R' Shimon ben Yoḥai, who holds that such a girl is permitted to marry a priest. Rav Yehuda resumes his presentation of the statement of R' Yehuda: They are permitted to marry into those families that are prohibited from entering into the congregation but are permitted to marry one another.
ונוקמה בבת שלש שנים ויום אחד, ואפילו לרבי שמעון בן יוחי! אם כן, מצידה תברה.
The Talmud asks: And let us establish the Mishnah as referring to a girl who became a convert at 3 years and one day old or older, and then it will accord even with R' Shimon ben Yoḥai’s opinion, as he agrees that this convert may not marry a priest. The Talmud answers: If so, the Mishnah is broken, i.e., contradicted, from within itself, as if the Mishnah states that even a female who converted when she was older than 3 years and a day may marry one with flawed lineage, one would make an incorrect inference, as follows.
אלא טעמא דבת שלש שנים ויום אחד, הא פחותה מבת שלש שנים ויום אחד, דמותרת לבא בקהל כהונה, אסורה לבוא זה בזה? הרי פחותה מבת שלש שנים ויום אחד לרבי שמעון בן יוחי, דמותרת לבא בקהל כהונה ומותרת לבא זה בזה!
Rather, the reason that she may marry one with flawed lineage is that she converted when she was already 3 years and one day old. But if she converted when she was less than 3 years and one day old, as she is permitted to enter into the congregation of the priesthood, is she prohibited from marrying into those families that are prohibited from entering into the congregation but are permitted to marry one another? This cannot be, since according to the opinion of R' Shimon ben Yoḥai, there is also the case of a female who converted when she was less than 3 years and one day old, who is permitted to enter the congregation of the priesthood and is also permitted to marry into those families that are prohibited from entering into the congregation but are permitted to marry one another. Consequently, the Mishnah cannot be explained to accord with the opinion of R' Shimon ben Yoḥai.