Yevamot 59B

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Text Excerpt

הא מני ⁠— רבי מאיר היא, ורב דאמר כרבי אלעזר.

The Talmud refutes this proof: In accordance with whose opinion is this baraita? It is in accordance with the opinion of R' Meir, who maintains that a woman who engaged in atypical sex is permitted to a High Priest, and when Rav said his statement, it was in accordance with the opinion of R' Elazar, who holds that such a woman is disqualified from marrying a High Priest.

אי כרבי אלעזר, מאי איריא משום בעולה? תיפוק ליה דהויא לה זונה! דהא אמר רבי אלעזר: פנוי הבא על הפנויה שלא לשם אישות ⁠— עשאה זונה.

The Talmud asks: If Rav’s statement is in accordance with the opinion of R' Elazar, why did he specifically state that she is forbidden to him because she is a non-virgin? Let him derive it from the fact that she is a zona, as R' Elazar said: Even in the case of an unmarried man who had sex with an unmarried woman not for the purpose of marriage, he has thereby caused her to become a zona.

אמר רב יוסף: כגון שנבעלה לבהמה, דהתם משום בעולה איכא, משום זונה ליכא.

Rav Yosef said: When Rav said that a woman who had anal sex is disqualified from marrying a High Priest, he was referring to a woman who had sex with an animal, as there she is disqualified because she is a non-virgin, but she is not disqualified because of the prohibition of a zona.

אמר ליה אביי, ממה נפשך: אי בעולה הויא ⁠— זונה נמי הויא. ואי זונה לא הויא ⁠— בעולה נמי לא הויא. וכי תימא: מידי דהויא אמוכת עץ שלא כדרכה, אם כן, אין לך אשה שכשרה לכהונה, שלא נעשית מוכת עץ על ידי צרור.

Abaye said to him: Whichever way you look at it, there is a difficulty with this answer: If she is considered a non-virgin, she is also a zona, and if she is not a zona she is also not a non-virgin. And lest you say that it is analogous to a case of a woman who lost her virginity via penetration by a foreign object atypically, i.e., anally, whose hymen was therefore not damaged and she is not forbidden as a zona, yet she is no longer considered a virgin, that is not correct: If so, if such a woman is considered a non-virgin and forbidden to a High Priest, you would have no woman who is fit for the High Priesthood, who has not lost her virginity via penetration by a foreign object atypically, i.e., by a pebble used to clean herself in the latrine.

Text data via Sefaria: William Davidson Edition - English and William Davidson Edition - Vocalized Aramaic, CC-BY-NC; edition provenance: Koren. Display terminology has been modernized for readability.