Masechet (tractate) Kiddushin, Perek Dalet, Mishnah Yod. The Mishnah says, “And then later on he returned with his wife and with his children. He was recognized, but nobody recognized his wife. And he said, ‘My wife, who left with me overseas, this is her, even though you don’t recognize her. This is her. I’m giving testimony that it’s her. And these are her children.’” The husband does not need to bring proof about the woman. We believe him when he says that it’s the same wife. He has a chazakah that it was his wife. There’s no reason to think otherwise. And we knew that she was qualified when they got married. We could also make the assumption that these children who are with her are her children. We’re talking about little children who are attached to their mother. They’re close to her. They’re wrapped around her. Therefore, we could assume that they are her children. If you’re talking about older children who aren’t attached to their mother, then the man here has to bring proof that they’re actually the woman’s children.
Matthew, but if he comes back and says, “My wife died and these are her children,” he has to bring proof that the children are his wife’s children. But he doesn’t have to bring any proof about his wife. He doesn’t have to bring proof now that his wife was qualified and not a mamzeret (woman of forbidden lineage). The whole chashash, the whole nervousness in this Mishnah, is the question of whether we could trust that these children are able to marry into the Jewish people. Are they possible mamzerim? So he has to bring proof that the children were related to the mother, but we already have it established that the mother was qualified. Therefore, once we just link the children to her, we’re okay. We know that she is qualified. We don’t have to bring any proof about that.