and Rabbi Yishmael holds in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Akiva concerning a different halakha. The Gemara clarifies: Rabbi Elazar holds in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yishmael, who says: Samaritans are lion converts, i.e., they converted out of fear of being attacked by lions for worshipping idols in Eretz Yisrael. They were never converts for the sake of Heaven, but remained gentiles according to halakha. And Rabbi Yishmael holds in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, who says: In the case of a gentile or a Canaanite slave who engaged in sexual intercourse with a Jewish woman, the offspring is a mamzer. Since over the generations Jews assimilated with Samaritans, who have the status of gentiles, the descendants of those Jews who married Samaritans have the status of uncertain mamzerim.

The Gemara asks: But does Rabbi Yishmael hold in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Akiva in this matter? But doesn’t Rabbi Yoḥanan say in the name of Rabbi Yishmael: From where is it derived with regard to a gentile or a Canaanite slave who engaged in sexual intercourse with the daughter of a priest, or with the daughter of a Levite, or with the daughter of an Israelite, that they have disqualified her from marrying a priest? It is as it is stated: “But if a priest’s daughter is 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).

He explains: It is only if she was married to one who has the halakhot of widowhood and divorce, meaning a Jew, that she can return to her father’s house and partake of teruma. This serves to exclude a gentile or a Canaanite slave, who do not have the halakhot of widowhood and divorce; if the daughter of a priest engages in intercourse with such a man, she may no longer partake of teruma.

And if it enters your mind that Rabbi Yishmael holds in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Akiva that the offspring of a Jewish woman and a gentile or a slave is a mamzer, what need is there for this proof? Now that he holds that the offspring from a gentile is a mamzer, is it necessary to state that the gentile or slave disqualifies her from marrying a priest by engaging in intercourse with her?

Rather, the Gemara explains as follows: Rabbi Elazar holds in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yishmael, who says: Samaritans are lion converts, and Rabbi Elazar himself also holds in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, who says: If a gentile or a Canaanite slave engaged in sexual intercourse with a Jewish woman, the offspring is a mamzer.

The Gemara asks: But does Rabbi Elazar hold in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Akiva? But doesn’t Rabbi Elazar say: Although Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel disagreed with regard to the halakha of rival wives, as to whether the rival wife of a yevama who is a forbidden relative of the yavam is obligated in or exempt from levirate marriage, they concede that a mamzer is only the offspring born from one whose prohibition is a prohibition of forbidden relatives and punishable by karet. Since engaging in intercourse with a gentile or a Canaanite slave is not punishable by karet, Rabbi Elazar would agree that the child of such a union is not a mamzer.

Rather, when Rabin came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, he reported that Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says, and some say that it was Rabbi Abba bar Zavda who says that Rabbi Ḥanina says and some say it was Rabbi Ya’akov bar Idi who says that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says: There are three divisions of opinions with regard to the matter.

Rabbi Yishmael holds that Samaritans are lion converts, and the priests who assimilated among them were unfit priests, as it is stated: “And made unto them from among themselves priests of the high places” (II Kings 17:32). And Rabba bar bar Ḥana says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: What is the meaning of “from among themselves”? From the thorns that are among the Jewish people, meaning those of flawed lineage. And it was due to that reason that the Sages disqualified them, not due to the Samaritans themselves, who are gentiles, but due to the Jews of flawed lineage who are assimilated among them. When a Samaritan seeks to marry another Samaritan, it is possible that one of them is a Jew of flawed lineage.

And Rabbi Akiva holds: Samaritans are true converts, and the priests who assimilated among them were fit priests, as it is stated: “And made unto them from among themselves priests of the high places” (II Kings 17:32). And Rabba bar bar Ḥana says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: “From among themselves” means from the chosen ones, the upper echelon of the Jewish people. And for what reason did the Sages prohibit them from entering into the congregation if there is no problem with regard to their conversion or with regard to the Jews who assimilated among them? It is because they did not act in accordance with the halakha, as they would perform levirate marriage with betrothed women. They would perform the mitzva of levirate marriage only with one who was widowed from a betrothal,