We have reached the conclusion of Maseches Horayos. In chapter 3, mishnah 8, the Mishnah continues to deal with the laws of precedence - the order of priority determined by levels of holiness. The practical question is this: when two Jews stand before a person and he can choose only one of them - to show honor, to give charity, to provide a livelihood, to redeem from captivity or to save from drowning - whom does he choose? The basic rule, as explained in the previous mishnah, is that the one whose holiness is greater comes first.
In most cases the two Jews stand on an equal level, and so the Mishnah presents two separate criteria. The first and decisive criterion is Torah learning: whoever is more learned than his fellow takes precedence. This is not a binary distinction between a talmid chacham and someone who is not a talmid chacham; rather, wherever it is clearly recognizable who is greater in Torah, that person takes precedence.
Accordingly, by strict law the first aliyah in shul on Shabbos morning belongs to the talmid chacham and not to the kohen. But a long-standing custom developed to give the aliyah in such a case to the kohen, and the reason appears to be the prevention of resentment and strife, since otherwise it would be necessary to decide who is the greatest talmid chacham in the shul. In any event, the Mishnah first sets out the order of precedence when all other things are equal, and afterwards establishes that the merit of Torah learning overrides everything.
The order of precedence in the Mishnah:
"Kohen kodem l'Levi" - a kohen takes precedence over a Levi. The kohanim are a special group within the tribe of Levi. The Bartenura sees no need to bring a verse for this, and it seems his reason is that the kohanim are obligated in more mitzvos than the Levi'im and therefore their holiness is greater. Other commentators bring a verse from Divrei HaYamim: "And Aharon was set apart, he and his sons, to sanctify him forever" - a special holiness by virtue of which they take precedence.
"Levi kodem l'Yisrael" - a Levi takes precedence over a Yisrael. The tribe of Levi was set apart as a special tribe, as stated explicitly in the verse in Devarim, and therefore the Levi takes precedence over a Yisrael who is not a Levi.
"Yisrael kodem l'mamzer" - a Yisrael takes precedence over a mamzer. A mamzer is one born from a forbidden relationship whose punishment is kares, such as adultery and incest. He may not enter the congregation and marry into the main body of the Jewish people, and in that respect his holiness is diminished and he comes later in the order of precedence. In every other matter he is a Jew in every way. It is worth noting that one born from relations with a niddah, even though that too carries a prohibition of kares, is not a mamzer.
"Mamzer kodem l'nasin" - a mamzer takes precedence over a nasin. The nesinim are the descendants of the Givonim, that Canaanite tribe that deceived Yehoshua and presented themselves as coming from a distant place. Out of fear, they sought to escape the destruction that had been decreed upon them, and once Yehoshua made a covenant with them he allowed them to remain, so as not to cause a chillul Hashem. In the end they converted and became Jews, but in the days of David HaMelech they behaved with great cruelty, and it was decreed upon them from then on that they would never enter the congregation of Israel. They are therefore Jews who may not marry into the main body of the population, like mamzerim, except that their origin is from the Canaanite tribes and not from the tribes of Israel, and therefore their level is lower than that of a mamzer.
"Nasin kodem l'ger" - a nasin takes precedence over a convert. A convert was not Jewish for part of his life and does not come from Jewish stock, and therefore, compared with a Jew who is not a convert, he lacks a certain element of holiness. The nesinim, by contrast, have been Jews for many generations, and both parents of a nasin are full Jews, whereas the parents of a convert are not.
"Ger kodem l'eved meshuchrar" - a convert takes precedence over a freed slave. A slave purchased by a Jew must undergo something of a conversion process: circumcision and immersion in a mikvah, and he is obligated in keeping kosher and Shabbos and in all the mitzvos that a Jewish woman is obligated in, except for time-bound positive commandments such as tefillin and the like. A slave who has not been freed is not a Jew, but rather almost a Jew, since he is under the ownership of another person.
It should be emphasized that every convert is worthy of tremendous admiration, for what more could one ask of a person than to go so far as to actually convert? It is a mitzvah from the Torah not to wrong a convert, and on the contrary, a person is obligated to go out of his way to strengthen him, to make him feel at ease and not to single him out as a convert. The distinction in the Mishnah relates only to the element of holiness that comes with lineage, and when one reaches a situation of having to prioritize, the ordinary Jew or the nasin comes before the convert.
And what is the matter of the freed slave? The only thing separating him from an ordinary Jew is that he is under the ownership of a human being. That layer forms a barrier between him and his true Master in heaven, the Holy One, blessed is He. Once his human master frees him, that master drops out of the equation and no one remains above the slave except the Holy One, blessed is He. The freed slave thus becomes like a convert: he began life born as a gentile, and he undergoes a kind of naturalization into the Jewish people through immersion in a mikvah, through circumcision if he is male, through keeping the mitzvos and through accepting the yoke of heaven - a sort of conversion through the back door - and he is a full Jew. And if he does not keep the mitzvos, he should be freed and sent out of the house, for such a slave should not be kept in the household.
Nevertheless, in terms of precedence and holiness, the freed slave begins at a level lower even than an ordinary convert who chose to convert. The reason is a separate verse teaching that the slave is cursed: the very state of a person being owned by another is fundamentally accursed, a curse that carries with it no continuation of a family line. Therefore, when one must decide between a convert and a freed slave, the convert takes precedence.
"Bizman shekulan shavin": - when all of them are equal.
This entire order applies when all of them stand on an equal level. But "im hayah mamzer talmid chacham v'kohen gadol am ha'aretz - mamzer talmid chacham kodem l'kohen gadol am ha'aretz" - if the mamzer is a talmid chacham and the Kohen Gadol is an ignorant man, the mamzer who is a talmid chacham takes precedence over the Kohen Gadol who is an ignorant man. The Kohen Gadol stands at the top of the pyramid, but if he is an ignoramus and not learned, while the mamzer, who stands at the bottom of the ladder socially, is a talmid chacham - the mamzer takes precedence.
And this precedence applies in all of those same matters:
Showing honor.
Giving charity.
Providing a livelihood.
Redeeming captives.
Rescuing from a fire.
Returning a lost object.
Calling someone up to the Torah.
And what about those who stand lower than the mamzer on the ladder - the netinim, the converts and the freed slaves? The answer is that they too are included. A freed slave who is a Torah scholar stands at the top of the ladder, and likewise a convert who is a Torah scholar takes precedence even over a High Priest who is an ignoramus. The Mishnah mentioned specifically the mamzer because it assumed that someone who became Jewish at a later stage of his life, a convert or a slave, is not likely to become a Torah scholar, and therefore it did not deal with unlikely scenarios; but if it did happen, fortunate are they and fortunate is their lot.
In summary: In this Mishnah we learned the order of precedence in sanctity - kohen, Levi, Yisrael, mamzer, natin, convert and freed slave - and the reason behind each and every level. We further learned that this entire order applies only "bizman shekulan shavin" - when they are all equal, whereas the merit of Torah study overrides everything, to the point that a mamzer who is a Torah scholar takes precedence over a High Priest who is an ignoramus in honor, in charity, in support, in the redemption of captives, in rescue, in the return of a lost object and in being called up to the Torah.
And with this, with the help of Heaven, we complete Tractate Horayos, and not only that, but we complete along with it the entire Order of Nezikin. Hadran alach Seder Nezikin! From here we continue to Seder Kodashim, and the first tractate in it is Tractate Zevachim.