Siman 8

Kohanim, Leviyim, and Yisraelim are permitted to intermarry with one another, and the offspring follows the male, as it is said: "by their families, by their fathers' houses" (Numbers 1:2). Therefore, a Kohen who married a Leviyah or a Yisraelit—the offspring is a Kohen; and a Levi who married a Kohenet or a Yisraelit—the offspring is a Levi; and a Yisrael who married a Kohenet or a Leviyah—the offspring is a Yisrael. And Leviyim, Yisraelim, and chalalim are permitted to intermarry with one another, for chalal-status was only forbidden to the Kohanim. And the offspring follows the male, for if he is a chalal—the offspring is a chalal, and if she is a chalalah—the offspring is not a chalal, as was written in siman 7, section 36; see there.

And so Levi'im, and Yisraelim, converts, and emancipated slaves are permitted to marry one another, and regarding the offspring, the Tur wrote that it also follows the male, it makes no difference if a convert married a Yisraelite woman or a Yisraelite man married a female convert. Thus far his words. And according to this, if a convert married a Yisraelite woman, the offspring is permitted to a mamzeret. And the reason is that in any place where there is kiddushin and no transgression—the offspring follows the male, as I wrote in siman 4. However, the Rambam wrote in chapter 19 of Hilkhot Issurei Biah that the offspring is a Yisrael, and according to this, he is forbidden to a mamzeret; and also the Tur himself in siman 4 wrote so, and the reason we wrote there in section 12, see there. And that which the Tur wrote here that the offspring follows the male would have a practical difference regarding the matter that he is not fit to be a dayan for chalitzah, as I wrote in siman 169. And a Yisrael, a Levi, and a chalal who married a female convert or an emancipated slave—the offspring follows the male.

And anyone married in a state of prohibition—the offspring follows the more flawed of the two, such that if one of them is among those disqualified from the priesthood—the offspring is disqualified from the priesthood, and if one of them is among those disqualified from the congregation—the offspring is forbidden from entering the congregation. And the offspring of a maidservant or a gentile woman, the offspring is like them, whether they conceived from a fit person or whether they conceived from a disqualified person, and the reasons for these laws were explained there.