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Daughters of Priests

Laws of Worship of God

Sources

When the daughter of a priest defiles herself through harlotry, it is her father whom she defiles; she shall be put to the fire.

If a priest’s daughter becomes a layman’s [wife], she may not eat of the sacred gifts; but if the priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced and without offspring, and is back in her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food. No lay person may eat of it:

Leviticus 22:12-13

The Gemara raises an objection: On the contrary; burning is more severe than stoning, as it is meted out to a priest’s daughter who committed adultery (see Leviticus 21:9). And for what reason is the severity of this transgression considered greater than others? Because through her sin she profanes not only herself but her father as well.

Sanhedrin 49b:18

What is the reason of Rebbi Meïr? (Lev. 21:9) “If she desecrates her father’s house by whoring,” one who may not return to her father’s house; this excludes one who may return to her father’s house. If she married acceptably but committed adultery, may she return to her father’s house? How is this? “If she desecrates by whoring;” the one whose desecration is by whoring, not the one whose desecration is by marriage. What is the reason of the rabbis?…

Jerusalem Talmud Terumot 7:2:3

כי תחל לזנות means, if she profanes herself through unchastity, i. e. that a marriage-tie of some kind applied to her and she nevertheless prostituted herself either after betrothal (which constituted a kind of marriage-tie, since she would require a bill of divorce to enable her to marry someone else) or after marriage (having left her father's house for her husband’s). Our Rabbis are of different opinions regarding this (whether Scripture speaks here of an ארוסה or a נשואה), but all agree that Scripture is not speaking of a פנויה (a woman who is neither betrothed nor married) (cf…

Rashi on Leviticus 21:9:1-2

The baraita teaches: From the expression “the daughter of a priest,” I have a source only for the case of a priest’s daughter who married a priest. From where is it derived that she is also liable to be executed by burning if she married a Levite, an Israelite, a Samaritan, a ḥalal, a Gibeonite, or a mamzer? The verse states: “And the daughter of a priest,” indicating that this halakha applies even if she is not now a priestess.…

Sanhedrin 51a:14-52a:2

§ The mishna also teaches: And a one-day-old baby disqualifies his mother, the daughter of a priest who is no longer married to his father, an Israelite man, from continuing to partake of teruma. The Gemara explains that the reason is that the Merciful One states: “But if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow, or divorced, and has no child, and is returned to her father’s house, as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s bread” (Leviticus 22:13), and this daughter of a priest has a child…

Niddah 44a:11-12

And if the betrothed daughter of a man of the priesthood profane herself, by going astray in fornication; if, while she is yet in her father's house, she is guilty of fornication, she shall be burned with fire.

Targum Jonathan on Leviticus 21:9

The Gemara asks: What is Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi saying? Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, says: Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi holds in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yishmael, who says that only the betrothed daughter of a priest is singled out for execution by burning, but not one who is married; a married daughter of a priest who commits adultery is executed in the same manner as other women who commit adultery. And this is what Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi is saying: If a woman’s first act of sexual intercourse occurs…

Sanhedrin 66b:15

§ The mishna teaches: And conspiring witnesses who testified that the daughter of a priest and her paramour committed adultery are executed by strangulation. The Gemara asks: From where are these matters derived? Rav Aḥa, son of Rav Ika, says: It is derived as it is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yosei says: What is the meaning when the verse states with regard to conspiring witnesses: “And you shall do to him as he conspired to do to his brother” (Deuteronomy 19:19)? The verse is formulated in this manner due to the fact…

Sanhedrin 90a:12-13

The Gemara asks: And about marriage were they concerned? Isn’t it taught in a baraita: In the case of the daughter of a priest who married an Israelite and her husband died on that same day, she immerses to purify herself, as she is ritually impure due to their intercourse, and she may partake of teruma that same evening? Evidently, the Sages were not concerned that she became pregnant from the initial act of intercourse, even that of marriage.

HALAKHAH: “The offering of an Israel’s daughter married to a Cohen,” etc. What is the difference between a Cohen and a Cohen’s daughter? “The flour offering of a Cohen’s daughter is eaten, that of a Cohen is not eaten.” For it is written, “any flour offering of a Cohen shall be total, it should not be eaten;” not the Cohen’s daugher’s. Rebbi Abbahu asked before Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish: Is it not written: “If a Cohen acquire a person with his money,” should that apply to a Cohen but not ro a Cohen’s daughter? How is that? “The Cohen anointed in his stead, one of his sons…

Jerusalem Talmud Sotah 3:7:2-3

Rabbi Elazar ben Tzadok said: An incident occurred with regard to a certain priest’s daughter who committed adultery, and they wrapped her in bundles of branches and burned her, contrary to the process described in the mishna. The Sages said to him: That court did not act properly; they did so because the court at that time was not proficient in halakha.

Sanhedrin 52a:8

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