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Text Excerpt
דתני רבי זכאי קמיה דרבי יוחנן: ״כי אם בתולה מעמיו יקח אשה״, להביא גיורת מכנה — שהיא כשרה לכהונה. ואמר ליה: אני שונה ״עמיו״, ״מעמיו״ — להביא בתולה הבאה משני עממין, ואת אמרת גיורת מכנה ותו לא?
as R' Zakkai taught the following baraita before R' Yoḥanan: That which is stated with regard to a High Priest: “But a virgin of his own people should he take to wife” (Leviticus 21:14), comes to include an established female convert, one who was a convert from birth, i.e., who was born to a father and mother who converted after their marriage but prior to her birth, and this indicates that she is fit to marry into the priesthood. And R' Yoḥanan said to him: I teach that the words “his own people” and the more inclusive phrase “of his own people” come to include a virgin who comes from two peoples, from a union of converts hailing from two different peoples, and you say only an established female convert and no more?
מאי ״שני עממין״? אילימא עמוני שנשא עמונית, ומאי משני עממין, דזכרים אסורין ונקבות מותרות, היינו גיורת מכנה. אלא בעמוני שנשא בת ישראל.
The Talmud asks: What are these two peoples? If we say this is referring to an Ammonite man who married an Ammonite woman, and what is the meaning of “from two peoples,” that they are legally considered like two separate peoples, as their males are prohibited from entering into the congregation, whereas their females are permitted to do so, there is a difficulty. In that case, this is the same as an established female convert, as the daughter of such a union is a proper convert in all regards. Rather, it must refer to an Ammonite man who married the daughter of a Jew, as they belong to two separate peoples.
ואיכא דאמרי, אמר ליה: אני שונה ״עמיו״ ״מעמיו״ — להביא בתולה הבאה משני עממין, ומעם שיש בו שני עממין, ואת אמרת גיורת מכנה ותו לא?
And there are those who say an alternative version of this discussion. R' Yoḥanan said to R' Zakkai: I teach that the words “his own people” and the more inclusive phrase “from his own people” come to include a virgin who comes from two peoples, i.e., whose mother was Jewish from birth and whose father was a convert, and that convert is from a people that itself consists of two peoples, i.e., an Ammonite or a Moabite, who hail from peoples whose males are prohibited from entering into the congregation, while it is permitted for their females to do so, and you say only an established female convert and no more?