Mamzer Talmid Chacham

The title of this post has multiple meanings, depending on which ideology the reader subscribes to. For the Rabbis, a “mamzer” is the offspring of an adulterous or incestuous relationship.  Adultery could also be achieved, by a woman not having a “kosher get” i.e. a rabbinical divorce document.

And a talmid chacham is, accordingly, only a student of the rabbis, not for example a great student of the Bible.

Quite a lot has been written about what a “mamzer” might be, and instead of repeating this, a good article on the subject is on A Blue Thread - http://abluethread.com/2013/10/15/get-with-the-program/

However, the rabbis have another strange saying, where they claim a Mamzer who is learned in Talmud, gets priority over a Kohen who is an Am Haaretz (they mean by this an ignoramus).

This is in the context of priority eg being saved from a sinking ship or releasing hostages etc, as mentioned in the Mishnah of Horayot:

ג,ח  כוהן קודם ללוי, לוי לישראל, ישראל לממזר, וממזר לנתין, ונתין לגר, וגר לעבד משוחרר.  אימתיי, בזמן שכולן שווין; אבל אם היה ממזר תלמיד חכמים, וכוהן גדול עם הארץ--ממזר תלמיד חכמים קודם לכוהן גדול עם הא

http://kodesh.snunit.k12.il/b/h/h4a.htm

Whether or not one agrees with the priority system of the Mishnah, and I do not, the priority accorded to a mamzer who is a rabbinical student, is also applied to other areas, such as reading the Blessing of the Torah.

This is problematic for a number of reasons.

1)    The meaning given to mamzer by the rabbis is unlikely to be true.  It is more likely to refer to a particular nation group.  In Deut 23, the verse 3 dealing with mamzer is followed by an identical ruling preventing the Ammonites and Moabites also from entering the Congregation of Israel.  Then later the same about Egyptians, for 2 generations. So it is more likely prohibiting certain classes of people from converting or entering the Israelite congregation.

2)    Whatever one does define mamzer as, there is still an internal logic to the verse prohibiting these people from entering the congregation.  What the rabbis say in Horayot  violates this verse, since it gives them priority over a Kohen, who is not a mamzer, and hence has no such restrictions!  

The rabbis claim that the restriction applies only to marrying a Jewish spouse.  However, this is their own definition, and does not have any basis in the verse proscribing them.

A possible explanation may be found in a previous post –

http://tanakhemet.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/talmudic-whistleblower-akavya-ben.html

and one of my favourites.

The Rabbi Akakvya Ben Mehalelel had pointed out that 2 rabbis, Shemaya and Avtalyon, who were converts to rabbanism,  were falsifying the Sotah ceremony, and it appears that this was for their own personal reasons.  These 2 gentiles, who were not Kohanim, should not have been involved at all in the Sotah ceremony, and they also cursed the real Kohen Gadol, who was a Sadducee, in return for the blessing he gave them.

It thus makes sense that these “talmid hachamim” were perhaps mamzerim, in that they were foreign, and they had been given priority in the Sotah and temple services which are limited only to the Kohen himself.