Sifra Emor Chapter 5

¹1) "widowed or divorced": Let "divorced" be stated and not "widowed." And I would say: If a divorcée who is forbidden to an ordinary Cohein returns (to her father's house to eat terumah), then a widow, who is forbidden to an ordinary Cohein, how much more so does she return! — (No, for) If so, I would say: A divorcée who has no children returns; a widow, whether or not she has children, returns. It is, therefore, written "If she be widowed or divorced and have no seed." ²2) And if it were written "widowed," but not "divorced," I would say: A widow who has no seed returns, but a divorcée, whether or not she has seed, does not return. It must, therefore, be written (both) "a widow who has no seed" and "a divorcée who has no seed" — a widow, for stringency; a divorcée, for leniency. ³3) "and she have no seed" (vezera ein la): This tells me only of her own children (as disqualifying her from eating terumah). Whence do I derive the same for her children's children? From "vezeira ein (not) lah," (the added yod in "ein" signifying intensification of exclusion). How so? The daughter of a Cohein marries an Israelite and has a daughter by him. (The Israelite dies.) The daughter goes and marries a Cohein and has a son by him, who is fit to be high-priest and to stand and serve on the altar. He "feeds" his mother (terumah) and disqualifies his mother's mother! The latter says "Not like my (grandson, the high-priest, who disqualifies me from eating terumah! ⁴4) This tells me only of legitimate children (as disqualifying her from eating terumah). Whence do I derive the same for illegitimate children? From "and she have no seed." How so? The daughter of an Israelite marries a Cohein or the daughter of a Cohein marries an Israelite. (In both instances, the husband dies.) The daughter goes and marries a servant or a gentile and has a son by him, who is a mamzer (and she, too, dies). If the mother of his mother was the daughter of an Israelite who married a Cohein, she eats terumah (for she has from him "seed of seed," though illegitimate). If she was the daughter of a Cohein who married an Israelite, she does not eat terumah (for she has seed of seed from an Israelite). ⁵5) I might think that seed from a maidservant or from a gentile woman disqualifies or "feeds" (with the daughter of a Cohein married to an Israelite or the daughter of an Israelite married to a Cohein, respectively). It is, therefore, written "and she have no seed" — excluding the above, which is not considered her seed. How so? The daughter of an Israelite is married to a Cohein or the daughter of a Cohein to an Israelite. She has a son by him [(the son dying later)], who goes and consorts with a maidservant or a gentile woman, who begets a son by him. I might think that he can disqualify or "feed" (see above). It is, therefore, written "and she have no seed" — excluding the above, which is not considered her seed.