Study Yevamot folio 17A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
זו חדייב, ״נהר גוזן״ — זו גינזק, ״וערי מדי״ — זו חמדן וחברותיה, ואמרי לה: זו ניהר וחברותיה. חברותיה מאן? אמר שמואל: כרך, מושכי, חידקי ודומקי. אמר רבי יוחנן: וכולן לפסול.
this is Ḥadyab. The river of Gozan; this is Ginzak. And the cities of the Medes; this is Ḥamadan and its surroundings. And some say: This is Nihar and its surroundings. The Talmud asks: Which are its surroundings? Shmuel said: Kerakh, Mushkhei, Ḥidkei, and Domakya are the surroundings of Ḥamadan. R' Yoḥanan said: And all of them are for disqualification. In other words, if someone from one of these places wishes to convert, there is concern that he might be a descendant of a Jew and therefore a mamzer. Consequently, they all are disqualified.
כי אמריתה קמיה דשמואל, אמר לי: בנך הבא מן ישראלית קרוי בנך, ואין בנך הבא מן הגויה קרוי בנך, אלא בנה.
Rav Yehuda continued his recounting: When I said this halakha, that there is a concern about the betrothal of non-Jews nowadays, before Shmuel, he said to me: One need not worry about this, as your son from a Jewish woman is called your son, i.e., he inherits his lineage from you, and your son from a non-Jew woman is not called your son, but rather her son. Consequently, all children born to Jews from non-Jew women are not considered Jews, as their lineage is determined by their non-Jew mothers.
והאיכא בנות, ואמר רבינא: שמע מינה, בן בתך הבא מן הגוי קרוי בנך! גמירי דבנתא דההוא דרא איצטרויי אצטרו.
The Talmud asks: Aren’t there Jewish girls who were captured by non-Jews, whose children are considered to be Jews? And Ravina said: Learn from this that the son of your daughter from a non-Jew is called your son. If so, the descendants of Jewish women captured by non-Jews would indeed be Jews. The Talmud answers: This is no concern, as it is learned as a tradition that the girls from the 10 tribes of that generation became barren and did not give birth to any offspring, whereas some of the exiled men of the 10 tribes married non-Jew women. Consequently, all of the children born there were non-Jews.