Daat Emet
  • Torah, Science & Ethics
    • Pamphlets
    • Scientific Errors in Torah
    • Religion & Ethics
    • Mitzvahs
    • Religion Caught in Its Own Net
  • Torah & Talmud
    • Weekly Portion
    • Torah Text
    • Talmud Issues
    • Daily Peppers
  • Questions & Answers
  • Who We Are
    • About Daat Emet
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
  • English
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • Yiddish
    • Français (French)
  • Torah, Science & Ethics
    • Pamphlets
    • Scientific Errors in Torah
    • Religion & Ethics
    • Mitzvahs
    • Religion Caught in Its Own Net
  • Torah & Talmud
    • Weekly Portion
    • Torah Text
    • Talmud Issues
    • Daily Peppers
  • Questions & Answers
  • Who We Are
    • About Daat Emet
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
  • English
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • Yiddish
    • Français (French)
Daat Emet
  • Torah, Science & Ethics
    • Pamphlets
    • Scientific Errors in Torah
    • Religion & Ethics
    • Mitzvahs
    • Religion Caught in Its Own Net
  • Torah & Talmud
    • Weekly Portion
    • Torah Text
    • Talmud Issues
    • Daily Peppers
  • Questions & Answers
  • Who We Are
    • About Daat Emet
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
  • English
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • Yiddish
    • Français (French)
  • Torah, Science & Ethics
    • Pamphlets
    • Scientific Errors in Torah
    • Religion & Ethics
    • Mitzvahs
    • Religion Caught in Its Own Net
  • Torah & Talmud
    • Weekly Portion
    • Torah Text
    • Talmud Issues
    • Daily Peppers
  • Questions & Answers
  • Who We Are
    • About Daat Emet
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
  • English
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • Yiddish
    • Français (French)
One who has sexual relations with her own brother is considered a harlot
Home » Daily Peppers
Yaron Yadan 12/26/2009
One who has sexual relations with her own brother is considered a harlot

According to the laws of the Torah, a cohen is forbidden to marry a harlot or a defiled woman, for it is written “He shall not take a harlot or a defiled woman” (Leviticus 21:7). According to the sages a woman is considered a harlot if she had sexual relations in contradiction to the laws of the Torah. A defiled woman, the sages ruled, is one who had sexual relations which would be forbidden to a cohen. One sage, Rav Papa, asked his colleague: If a Jew has sexual relations with his sister, his sister is considered a harlot according to the widely-accepted law. Is the sister also considered a defiled woman? What are the issues under debate? On one hand, they ruled that a woman is considered defiled only if she is involved in a sexual relationship prohibited to a cohen, and a sister is not forbidden because one is a cohen; every man is forbidden to have sex with his own sister. On the other hand, since sex with one’s sister is a very serious transgression, perhaps she should be considered defiled, even though the prohibition has nothing to do with the priesthood.
Answer: The sister does not become a defiled woman, only a harlot. Therefore another sage, Rav Ashi, concludes that if a cohen has sex with his sister, the sister is considered a harlot. If he has sex with her again, she is also considered a defiled woman, for she was judged to be a harlot and a cohen may not have a sexual relationship with a harlot.
(Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Kiddushin 77b)

About the Author

ירון ידען View all posts by Yaron Yadan

ירון ידען (נולד בטבריה ב-8 בדצמבר 1961) הוא פעיל חברתי ומייסד ארגון "דעת אמת" העומד בראש מפלגת אור.

Additional Peppers
May a girl under three who had sex and enjoyed it marry a cohen?

May a girl under three who had sex and enjoyed it marry a cohen?

Is one permitted to kill to save a girl from being forcibly sodomized?

Is one permitted to kill to save a girl from being forcibly sodomized?

How did they count the throwing of the blood at the Holy Temple curtain on Yom Kippur?

How did they count the throwing of the blood at the Holy Temple curtain on Yom Kippur?

Two men who sleep naked, back to back, may recite the Shema

Two men who sleep naked, back to back, may recite the Shema

A levir who falls from the roof and whose sexual organ penetrates the widow of his brother — has he acquired her?

A levir who falls from the roof and whose sexual organ penetrates the widow of his brother — has he acquired her?

Orgies in the era of the prophet Amos

Orgies in the era of the prophet Amos

Is a red heifer which sprouts a white hair on its tail and another on its head valid or invalid?

Is a red heifer which sprouts a white hair on its tail and another on its head valid or invalid?

© 2016 כל הזכויות שמורות לדעת אמת.
Skip to content
Open toolbar Accessibility Tools

Accessibility Tools

  • Increase TextIncrease Text
  • Decrease TextDecrease Text
  • GrayscaleGrayscale
  • High ContrastHigh Contrast
  • Negative ContrastNegative Contrast
  • Light BackgroundLight Background
  • Links UnderlineLinks Underline
  • Readable FontReadable Font
  • Reset Reset