Chanukah & Kiddushin 66b

    קידושין סו, ב 
ובן גרושה ובן חלוצה דעבודתו כשירה מנלן אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל דאמר קרא (במדבר כה) והיתה לו ולזרעו אחריו בין זרע כשר ובין זרע פסול אבוה דשמואל אמר מהכא (דברים לג) ברך ה' חילו ופועל ידיו תרצה אפילו חולין שבו תרצה רבי ינאי אמר מהכא (דברים כו) ובאת אל הכהן אשר יהיה בימים ההם וכי תעלה על דעתך שאדם הולך אצל כהן שלא היה בימיו אלא זה כשר ונתחלל
In the new Sefer Hamitzvos of R' Saadiah Gaon

Sefer HaMitzvos of Rasag (Rav Saadiah Gaon)
Published for the first time from Genizah fragments +
Pirush by Rav Chaim Sabato
Yad Yitzchak Ben-Zvi
(Note: Rav Yerucham Fishel Perla ZT'L wrote on a Piyut on Mitzvos of Rasag which is included as a nispach) https://t.co/fiHtK8NQ3g pic.twitter.com/9C4PLOnMz3

— SeforimChatter (@SeforimChatter) December 4, 2019

at the end of Perek Chof, when Hashem will give a victory to the descendants of Levi in their wars when they were attacked we will honor that time, as the pasuk says
בָּרֵךְ יְהוָה חֵילוֹ, וּפֹעַל יָדָיו תִּרְצֶה; מְחַץ מָתְנַיִם קָמָיו וּמְשַׂנְאָיו, מִן-יְקוּמוּן
and we do not find they fought except with the Yevanim.

The footnote quotes Rav Saadiah's commentary to Megillas Antiochus (Rav Kapach [or Kafih]  edition) that this pasuk  ברך ה' חילו is a prophesy about the victory of the Chashmonaim.  Rashi's second explanation on that Pasuk is like Rav Saadiah - it is a prophesy about the Chashmonaim's future victory.

More on Mothers in Tanach

see here for an interesting discussion on mothers in Tanach, and elaborates on a Ramban I quoted here

Ths is about when Tanach names the mother of a person.
(Recall the Mekallel isn't Ploni ben Shlomis, but
וַ֠יִּקֹּב בֶּן־הָֽאִשָּׁ֨ה הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִ֤ית אֶת־הַשֵּׁם֙ וַיְקַלֵּ֔ל וַיָּבִ֥יאוּ אֹתֹ֖ו אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וְשֵׁ֥ם אִמֹּ֛ו שְׁלֹמִ֥ית בַּת־דִּבְרִ֖י לְמַטֵּה־דָֽן׃
in Vayikra 24:11

Testimony of Smell, not voice

The Bechor Shor on Toldos explains after Yiztchak said Hakol kol yaakov, vehayadayim yidei Eisav, he had two conflicting pieces of information: 1) voice is Yaakov 2) feels like Eisav.  So he asked Yaakov to come close to kiss him and smelled the begadim - because they were Eisavs' clothes, they smelled a bit like Eisav (or the fields that Eisav frequented), so Yitzchak was machriya that the person who brought him food was Eisav.

I am not aware of halachik discussions based on recognizing something as smell, but there may be sources out there.  Please comment if you have something.

Previous posts on testifying based on Voice (tevias ayin d'kol):
first, second, and third

Guide to Chodosh 2019-2020

Originally published by Rabbi Yoseph Herman, now by Mrs. Rosskamm.

   Chodosh Guide 2019 Final by shasdaf on Scribd

Surrogate Pregnancy - 2 Mothers

Parshas Vayeitzei discusses surrogate pregnancy - see this post. This week, the following story came out of England:

A same-sex couple has become the first in the world to carry the same baby in both their wombs as part of a landmark “shared motherhood” procedure. British couple Jasmine and Donna Francis-Smith welcomed their son, Otis, two months ago. The baby was born via in vivo natural fertilisation, which involves the eggs being incubated in the mother’s body, rather than externally, as is the case with in vitro fertilisation (IVF). The AneVivo procedure, which was pioneered by Swiss technology company Anecova and carried out at the London Women’s Clinic, involved the eggs of the biological mother being placed inside a miniature capsule and inserted into her womb, where they were incubated. After the incubation of the eggs, they were taken out of the first mother’s womb and placed into the womb of the gestational mother, who carried the baby to term.

So now two mothers carried this baby; like Tosfos (Kesuvos 4b s.v. ad) מכל מקום כמה דברים אשכחן דלא שכיח ומיירי בהן הש"ס לדרוש ולקבל שכר כדאמרינן בפרק המקשה (חולין ע.) בלעתו חולדה והוציאתו והכניסתו והקיאתו ויצא מאליו מהו הדביק שני רחמים ויצא מזה לזה מהו אף על פי שלא יבא לעולם where he quotes Chullin 70a where Rava asked if you connected two wombs and the [fetus] left the first and entered the second [which mother is the mother] we see technology is coming very close to that situation. (I think this news story where the egg was only in the first womb for 18 hours has minimal significance. Had it been for at least 40 days, then it would present more issues.) But this case is pushing the frontier to having multiple surrogates for the same fetus. Source here