Rambam: Issurei Biah, Chapter 20
| Related Text: | Mishneh Torah (Rambam): Issurei Biah - Chapter 20 |
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Rabbi Yehoshua Gordon directed Chabad of the Valley in Tarzana, CA until his passing in 2016.
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Chapter 20:13 Didn’t we learn before, that there is a Halachic principal that the mouth that prohibits is the same mouth that permits so how is he believed to disqualify himself but not believed when he includes himself?
Great question!
The Maggid Mishne explains that when he says that he is a kohen, it is considered as if he is taking a vow, forbidding himself from all things that a kohen cannot do.
So, it is not that we are believing him that he is a kohen in regards to those things, but that we consider it like a separate vow.