We continue with Maseches Bikkurim, chapter 1, mishnah 5. The beginning of the mishnah completes the topic of converts that we have been dealing with, and its end returns to the laws of bringing Bikkurim and reciting the declaration over them.
The law of the daughter of converts marrying into the kehunah:
Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says: "Ishah bas gerim lo tinasei lekehunah" - a woman whose father and mother are both converts may not marry a kohen. At first glance there would seem to be room to permit her, since she herself is not a convert but was born a Jewess; but Yechezkel says regarding kohanim "ki im besulos mizera Beis Yisrael" - "only virgins of the seed of the House of Israel" - and the daughter of converts is not included in "the seed of the House of Israel."
The mishnah continues: "ad shetehei imah mi'Yisrael" - it is enough that her mother is of the Jewish people, and certainly if her father is a born Jew he too renders her fit, and then she is permitted to a kohen.
"Echad gerim ve'echad avadim meshuchrarim" - this law applies equally to a righteous convert and to a freed slave, who also has the status of a convert. "Afilu ad asarah doros" - as long as we are dealing with a family of converts alone, the daughter does not marry a kohen; and not specifically ten generations, but forever, until her mother (or her father) is a born Jew.
The dispute and the practical halachah:
A similar matter is taught in the mishnayos of the fourth chapter of Kiddushin, and there Rabbi Yose disagrees with Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov and holds that even if a convert married a convert, their daughter is fit for the kehunah. The halachah here divides into two situations:
Lechatchilah (in advance): a kohen who comes to ask beis din whether he may marry the daughter of converts is instructed in accordance with Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov not to marry her.
Bedi'avad (after the fact): if she has already married him, she is not taken away from him. The marriage is valid, and the children are fit for the kehunah and even for the kehunah gedolah.
They bring but do not recite:
From here the mishnah returns to the subject of Bikkurim and lists those who bring Bikkurim but do not recite the declaration of Bikkurim:
The guardian - one appointed over the property of others, such as over the property of orphans.
The agent - one who was sent to bring Bikkurim on behalf of the owner of the field.
The slave - a non-Jewish slave who brings Bikkurim in his master's name.
The woman - who brings Bikkurim from her own produce.
A tumtum and an androginos - a tumtum is one whose private area is covered over so that it is not known whether he is male or female; an androginos is one who has both sets of signs, and there is no determination whether he is a man or a woman.
All of these "meviin ve'einan korin" - they bring but do not recite; and the reason is "she'einan yecholin lomar 'asher nasata li Hashem'" - because they cannot say "which You, Hashem, have given me":
Regarding a woman: Eretz Yisrael was not originally given to women. True, the daughters of Tzelafchad, and likewise any case where a man has no sons, do inherit - but their portion does not come to them as an inheritance but as a division of the land, and that is not included in "which You, Hashem, have given me."
Regarding the guardian, the agent and the slave: the land is not their own, and therefore they cannot say "which You, Hashem, have given me."
The precise point of the Yerushalmi regarding the agent:
The Yerushalmi explains that the law of the agent was stated specifically in a particular case. A person who picked the fruit in his field intending to bring it himself - at that moment it was fit for the recitation, and if he afterward changed his mind and handed it over to an agent, this does not help. The rule is that Bikkurim which at the time of their picking were fit for the recitation, and afterward their status changed to one in which the declaration is not recited over them, can no longer be offered.
With a guardian there is no difficulty, since from the outset it was known that he would be the one to bring them, so it turns out that they were picked from the start not with the intention of reciting over them; and so it is with the others on the list. But with the agent it was necessary to be precise: the owner may not change his mind and send them by an agent after the picking; rather, he must decide from the very outset that he will send them by an agent, so that from the start they were not fit for the recitation.
In summary: in this mishnah we learned the law of the daughter of converts, who does not marry into the kehunah until her mother is a born Jewess, whether with converts or with freed slaves, and the halachah that lechatchilah we rule this way while bedi'avad she is not taken away and the children are fit even for the kehunah gedolah. We also listed the five who bring Bikkurim but do not recite - a guardian, an agent, a slave, a woman, a tumtum and an androginos - because they cannot say "which You, Hashem, have given me," and we examined the precise point of the Yerushalmi that the agency must be established already at the time the fruit is picked.