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Week 53 - Shabbat - 2 December 2000

YEVAMOT: CHAPTER 6: MISHNAH 4

A High Priest may not wed a widow, whether a widow after betrothal, or a widow after marriage. And he may not wed a bogeret; Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Shimon permit a bogeret. He may not wed one injured by a piece of wood. If he betrothed a widow and was appointed High Priest - he may wed. It once happened that Yehoshua ben Gamla betrothed Marta the daughter of Baitos, and the king appointed him High Priest, and he wed her. If a shomeret yavam came before a common priest, and he was appointed High Priest - though he married her by ma'amar, he may not wed. A High Priest whose brother died, submits to halitzah and does not marry by yibum.

And he may not wed a bogeret - a girl twelve years, six months, and one day of age, i.e., six months after she has produced signs of puberty (two hairs). The reason for this law is because regarding the High Priest it is written, "And he shall take a wife in her virginity" (ibid., v.13) - when she is a complete virgin, excluding a bogeret, whose virginity is incomplete; Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Shimon permit a bogeret - for they interpret "in her virginity" to mean, even partial virginity; hence a bogeret is also fit to be wed to a High Priest. The halakhah does not follow Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Shimon. He may not wed one whose hymen was injured by a piece of wood – with the consequent loss of her virginity. If he betrothed a widow - when he was a common priest, and was appointed High Priest - before he wed her, he may wed - her, since he betrothed her when the marriage was permitted, for a common priest is permitted to marry a widow.

It once happened that Yehoshua ben Gamla betrothed Maria the daughter of Baitos - who was a widow, and the king appointed him High Priest, and he wed her - after he became High Priest. The Gemara infers from "and the king appointed him," that he was not fit for this position, but Marta the daughter of Baitos gave King Yannai a large sum of money, so that he would appoint him High Priest. If a shomeret yavam came before a common priest - she was awaiting her yavam, a common priest, to wed her as his yevamah, and he was appointed High Priest - before he wed her as his yevamah, though he married her by ma'amar - if he betrothed her with money or a document, while he was still a common priest, he may not wed her, since marriage by ma'amar has no validity by Torah law, and after his appointment he is prohibited from marrying her as his yevamah, because she is a widow. A High Priest whose brother died childless, submits to halitzah and does not marry by yibum - the mishnah adds this law in order to teach that, even though the yevamah spits on the ground before him during the halitzah ceremony, we are not concerned about his honor, and he is required to fulfill the mitzvah of halitzah (Tosafot).

YEVAMOT: CHAPTER 6: MISHNAH 5

A common priest may not wed an ailonit, unless he has a wife and children. Rabbi Yehudah says, although he has a wife and children, he may not wed an ailonit, for such is the harlot mentioned in the Torah. But the Sages say, A harlot is only a female convert and a freed woman, and one who submitted to licentious intercourse.

Kehati

A common priest may not wed an ailonit - a woman who is incapable of giving birth - unless he has a wife and children either a wife who is capable of fulfilling the obligation of "be fruitful and multiply," or children (i.e., he has already fulfilled his obligation). The Gemara states that the same law applies to an Israelite, for the same reason, i.e., that he should not fail to fulfill the mitzvah of “be fruitful and multiply." The mishnah refers to a priest only because of Rabbi Yehudah, who disagrees and is more stringent in the case of a priest than of an Israelite.

Rabbi Yehudah says, Although he has a wife and children, he may not wed an ailonit, for such is the harlot mentioned in the Torah - "They shall not take a woman that is a harlot, or profaned" (Lev. 21:7) - since she is not capable of giving birth, he evidently takes her, from the outset, for harlotry, and thus transgresses the prohibition of "They shall not take a woman that is a harlot." But the Sages say, A harlot - mentioned in the Torah as being prohibited to a priest, is only a female convert - since non-Jews are excessive in carnal gratification, and a non-Jew probably engaged in sexual intercourse with her prior to her conversion, and - or - a freed woman - a Canaanite bondwoman who was freed, for a slave probably engaged in sexual intercourse with her, and one who submitted to licentious intercourse - with a man she is forbidden to marry, whether on pain of karet or a Court-imposed death penalty, or by a prohibition punishable by lashes or by isur aseh (a prohibition not stated explicitly in the Torah, but implicit in a positive commandment), which apply equally to all, and not specifically to priests, e.g., an Ammonite or Moabite convert, an Egyptian, and an Edomite (until the third generation), a natin and a mamzer (Rashi; Rambam, Hil Isurei Bi'ah 18:1). According to another opinion, the harlot prohibited to the priesthood is only a woman who engaged in sexual intercourse prohibited on pain of karet or a Court-imposed death penalty, since the "marriage" is not effective in these cases, and so also a woman who had intercourse with a non-Jew or with a slave, with whom marriage cannot be contracted. The woman, however, who had intercourse which is punishable by lashes or forbidden implicitly by a positive commandment is not called a "harlot," because the marriage is valid in these cases, and she is permitted to marry a priest (Tosafot; Ravad, in his Hasagot on Rambam, op. cit.; Rabbeinu Asher; see also Tosefot Yom Tov).

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