Yevamot 22b
יבמות כ״ב ב — ד"ה פְּשִׁיטָא
Yevamot 22b:3
Discusses the halakhic status of a convert in family relationships and the legal consequences of conversion for kinship. It is relevant to the question whether a converted wife remains included in the kohen's spousal exception.
פְּשִׁיטָא, אָחִיו הוּא! סָלְקָא דַּעְתָּךְ אָמֵינָא: הוֹאִיל וּכְתִיב: ״כִּי אִם לִשְׁאֵרוֹ הַקָּרוֹב אֵלָיו״, וְאָמַר מָר: ״שְׁאֵרוֹ״ — זוֹ אִשְׁתּוֹ, וּכְתִיב: ״לֹא יִטַּמָּא בַּעַל בְּעַמָּיו לְהֵחַלּוֹ״, יֵשׁ בַּעַל שֶׁמִּטַּמֵּא וְיֵשׁ בַּעַל שֶׁאֵין מִטַּמֵּא, הָא כֵּיצַד? מִטַּמֵּא הוּא לְאִשְׁתּוֹ כְּשֵׁרָה, וְאֵין מִטַּמֵּא לְאִשְׁתּוֹ פְּסוּלָה, הָכִי נָמֵי: מִטַּמֵּא הוּא לְאָח כָּשֵׁר, וְאֵין מִטַּמֵּא לְאָח פְּסוּל — קָא מַשְׁמַע לַן. וְאֵימָא הָכִי נָמֵי? הָתָם לְאַפּוֹקֵי קָיְימָא, הָכָא אָחִיו הוּא.
The Gemara asks: Isn’t this obvious, as he is his brother? The Gemara answers: It might enter your mind to say that a priest does not become impure for his brother of flawed lineage, since it is written with regard to priests: “None shall defile himself for the dead among his people except for his kin, that is near unto him” (Leviticus 21:1–2), and the Master said “his kin”; this is his wife, and a priest may defile himself for his wife. But it is written: “He shall not defile himself, being a husband among his people, to profane himself” (Leviticus 21:4), implying that he may not defile himself for his wife. This apparent contradiction is resolved as follows: There is a husband who does become impure for his wife, and there is a husband who does not become impure. How so? He becomes impure for his wife if she was fit and was permitted to a priest, but he does not become impure for his wife if she was unfit to marry a priest. So too, one might have thought that a priest becomes impure for a brother who is of unflawed lineage and not a mamzer, but he does not become impure for a brother of flawed lineage. Therefore, this comes to teach us that he does become impure for a brother who is a mamzer. The Gemara asks: Say this also, that by the same reasoning by which a priest may not become impure for a wife who was unfit for him, he may not become impure for an unfit brother either. Just as he does not become impure for an unfit wife, he should not become impure for an unfit brother? The Gemara answers: The two cases are different, as there, with regard to the unfit wife, she stands to be dismissed, since according to Torah law unfit women must be divorced. For this reason he does not become impure for her. Here, he is his brother.

