Shalom Friends;
This week, our Parshat HaShevua, Emor is being sponsored anonymously and dedicated Lilui Nishmas HaRav Yehuda Leib HaKohen ben HaRav Moshe Shimon HaKohen and Miriam bat Reb Menachem Mendel and Reb Zev Avraham ben Shlomo and wife Sima. To our anonymous sponsor, many thanks for your sponsorship and for your continued kindnesses.
You can celebrate a Simcha — a birth, a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a Chassuna or other Simcha event in your life, or commemorate a Yahrtzeit of a loved one, or for whatever other reason by sponsoring a Parshat HaShevua.
Please forward to your relatives and friends and encourage them to sponsor a Parshat HaShevua. And please be in contact with me with any questions, or for further details.
Best Regards,
Moshe Burt
olehchadash@yahoo.com
skype: mark.burt3
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In the previous two pairings of Parshiyot; Acharei Mos and Kedoshim, and Tazria and Metzora before them, we learn about the Kohen as the only one Divinely invested with ruling as to Tumah or Ta’Hara regarding ones’ skin, hair, clothing or homes, as well as with being the vehicle for the Yom Kippur avodah, on behalf of the nation, in the Kadosh Kedoshim and as the model, the paradigm of the Darchim for the entire B’nai Yisrael to emulate as a model for all mankind.
In Parsha Emor, we learn how the Avodah, the Service of the Kohanim necessitated them “…to maintain an especially high standard of purity and perfection.” (L’lmod L’Lamed, Rabbi Mordechai Katz, Parsha Emor, page 119)
Shem Mishmuel (Sefer Shem Mishmuel, Parsha Emor, page 273) explains the function of the Kohen and the manifestation of his Kedusha in this way:
The job of the Kohen is to join the physical world to it’s spiritual counterpart. He performs the Avodah in the Beit HaMikdash, the place where heaven meets earth. There he brings the fire of Hashem upon the Mizbei’ach [Altar], a service which joins the physical earth to Hashem. The very nature of the Kohen is to join two opposite entities… This trait is fundamental to his ability to carry out his role in life. It therefore follows that anything which destroys his capability as a “joiner” should be assiduously avoided.
Thus, we learn again that one of the attributes of a Kohen is to serve as a paradigm of how a Jew is treat his brethren. One of the traits of Aharon was that he did everything he could to make peace between people.
In previous vorts on Parshat Emor, this author has cited Sefer Shem Mishmuel on our Parsha (page 274) who notes that the co-existence of physical and spiritual is broken by the tumah (defilement) associated with death. Therefore, it is inappropriate for a Kohen to come into contact with death as death rips apart the unity of the physical and spiritual. He adds, in the name of the Arizal, that prior to death, a person is attacked by impure forces:
“The holy soul which rests within a person can’t bear to be connected with those forces and departs from the body to alleviate it’s discomfort. This is the moment of death. The tumah induces a split between the body and soul which is totally opposite of the Kohen’s role as a unifier or ‘joiner.’”
We learn that it is for these reasons that the Kohen is held to a higher level of behavior, morality and spiritual purity than the rest of the Jewish people. This higher level reflects itself in restrictions, such as to the Kohen’s exposure to tumah (impurity), i.e. the immediate relatives (wife, offspring, siblings and parents, or an unattended Jewish corpse) being the only ones for which the Kohen’s priestly responsibility is superseded by responsibility as a family member or human being to care for the burial of the deceased.
In this vort, this author focuses on this higher level as reflected in restrictions as to whom the Kohen is permitted to marry, i.e. divorced women, women who converted to Judaism, women of Jewish mother/gentile father and women with the status of Chalutza (widowed woman who bore no offspring to their now-deceased husband) are all denied halachically to the Kohen. The Kohen Godol also has the further restriction that he may only wed a virgin.
The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash renders Sefer Vayikra, Perek 21, posuk 7 to English:
“They [Kohanim] shall not marry a woman who is a harlot or has been desecrated, and they shall not marry a woman who has been divorced by her husband; for each one is holy to his G’d.” (Or as Sefer Shem Mishmuel renders it: “and a woman divorced from her husband they shall not take, for he is holy to his G’d.”)
A major set of restrictions concerns marriage. As the sacrifice he offered could have no blemish, the kohen himself could have no blemish. Thus to maintain the purity of his lineage he was kept to stricter marriage standards than his Jewish brothers. In addition to prohibitions that apply for all other Jews, the following partners are specifically prohibited to the kohen.
A Kohen may not marry a ge’rusha (divorcee), chalalah (woman of defective kohen status), zonah (woman who previously violated certain sexual prohibitions), giyoret (convert) or chalutzah (a Levirate widow). If he does marry any of them, their children likewise become chalalim. Sons born do not have priestly status, and daughter may not marry kohanim.
Shem Mishmuel now brings from a gemara a description of the ideal marriage with sources (pages 274-275) :
“Rabbi Akiva expounded: a man and a woman, if they so merit, the Divine Presence rests between them; if they do not merit, fire consumes them.” (Shem Mishmuel citing Sotah, 17a)
“The Divine Presence rests between them” — for He splits His Name and rested it between them: a yud in ish (man) and a hei in ishah (woman).
“If they do not merit, fire consumes them.” — For Hashem removes His Name from between them, leaving eish (fire) and eish. By way of explanation, the Hebrew word for “man,” ish, and the word for “woman,” ishah, each consist of the word eish (fire) plus one of the letters of the Divine Name… If, however, they do not merit, Hashem, as it were, withdraws His Name from the couple, leaving just eish and eish — a consuming fire.
This name [yud and hei] expresses the conjunction of the physical world and the spiritual world, as Chazal tell us: Olam HaZeh [this world] was created with a hei and Olam HaBah [the world to come; spiritual world] was created by a yud.
When a couple divorces, this power conjunction, symbolized by the name Yah, is removed from them. They return to eish, a consuming fire, and thus must part company. Instead of having the power to unify, the divorced couple are left with a sense of division and disunity. Thus, a divorced woman is no longer in a spiritual position to marry a Kohen, whose very being demands contact only with unifying forces. …Her relationship with a Kohen would frustrate his personal mission. This may be the basis behind this interesting gemara:
“When a divorce’ marries a divorcee, there are four views in the marital bed.” (Shem Mishmuel citing Pesachim 112a)
Four, the number of directions on a compass, always represents the opposite of unity — spreading in four directions rather than retaining oneness. Chazal intend to tell us that despite their remarriage each partner has lost, through his or her divorce, the innate ability to be solely unified with one person. As such, a divorcee may not marry a Kohen.
But there are other relationships ussur to a Kohen, yet may be permitted to Levi’im, Yisraelim or converts to Jewry.
The Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash defines “harlot” (zonah) or a Challalah :
Harlot: …A woman who lived with any man who is not permitted to her because of a negative commandment. This includes not only relationships punishable by death or kares, but also living with a mamzer or a non-Jew.
Chalalah: A woman who has been desecrated. Any woman who is forbidden to marry a Kohen or a Kohen Godol, but lives with him, i.e. a divorcee with a Kohen, or a widow with a Kohen Godol, and any daughters born of such unions. (Artscroll Stone Chumash citing Rashi)
This author, very early on in becoming Observant, learned about relationships forbidden for a Kohen from Rambam’s Mishne Torah with a Chavrusa on Wednesday nights in Philly Yeshiva. In addition to the two forbidden relationships mentioned above, there is also the woman with a status of Chalutzah.
Such a woman was married to a man who subsequently died without bearing offspring. In such a case, in Biblical times, i.e. Ruth and Boaz who we read of on Shavuot, such a woman could marry the deceased husband’s brother should they agree. However, if there was no such agreement, a ceremony called Chalitzah is performed which then prohibits the woman to marry a Kohen due to its resemblance to Divorce. In subsequent times, the Rabbanim ussur’ed such a childless widow from marrying her brother-in-law, upon her husband’s death. Therefore, Chalitzah became mandatory for the childless widow, thus prohibiting her to a Kohen. The understanding being that the Chalitzah ceremony, as in earlier times, prohibits the woman to marry a Kohen.
There was one halacha, however, that this author only learned once he was living in Eretz Yisrael. That is the halacha concerning the daughter of inter-marriage where the mother is a Jew and the father not.
It was this author’s first Shavuot in Beit Shemesh and, with his host, learned on Shavuot night. The halacha ussuring such a woman to a Kohen was related to this author as “not from the seed of Israel.” Unfortunately, this author does not remember the source for ussuring her to a Kohen.
The Ohel Sara website records regarding the case of the daughter of a mixed marriage with a Jewish mother:
A girl born from a Jewish woman and non-Jewish man is not a “chalalah.” In the case under discussion, the mother had engaged in a forbidden relationship, and may therefore fall under the category of a “zonah,” but the daughter has not done anything to fall under this category.
There is a debate among the Rishonim concerning this matter. The Rambam (a”h) states that it is permissible for the daughter of a Jewish woman and non-Jewish man to marry a Kohen. The Rosh (a”h) and other Rishonim accept this prohibition as normative halachah. The Rif (a”h) and the Ramban (a”h), held that the woman in this case has the status of “Safek Pegumah,” – it is uncertain whether or not she is halachically eligible to marry a Kohen.
The Shulchan Aruch follows the view of the Rosh, that the daughter of a Jewish woman and a non-Jewish man may not marry a Kohen. However, Rabanim write that if such a woman did marry a Kohen, they may remain married, and do not need to divorce. Of course, a competent Rabbi must be consulted for guidance concerning such a situation. And in general, it behooves all people to determine the lineage of a prospective spouse before marriage. This is especially true when dealing with Kohanim, regarding whom the laws of marriage are particularly complex.
If the B’nei Yisrael were to only glean from the Kohen, to glean from paradigms of the righteous: constancy of service, kindness, humility, efficiency, the total honesty and purity so as to elicit the implicit trust of others — whether or not they happen to be frum, or to what degree of frumkiet, and apply a higher level of morality and the unity of loving kindness to our brethren, as to ourselves; with Hashem’s help equivocal, corrupt governance in Israel would cease to exist, would be turned upside down and replaced by Torah governance. And then, B’ezrat Hashem, we’ll be zocha to fulfill our assigned mission, to serve as a light, a model to the nations of Hashem’s blueprint for creation and how a G’dly Nation acts on Its Land.
May we, the B’nei Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently settled and be made totally whole — be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them, that the thrice expelled families of Amona be restored to their rebuilt homes and the oft-destroyed Yeshiva buildings in Homesh be rebuilt, all at total government expense; due to alt-leftist-agendized, supreme court legalized Yassamnik gunpoint. Baruch Hashem that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard is now in his third year at home in Eretz Yisrael and has embarked on a new chapter in his life. May Esther Yocheved bat Yechiel Avraham have an aliyah in Shemayim and may her spirit and memory continue to lift Jonathan to at least 120 years. May the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem — as with the return in April, 2019, via Russia, of the remains of Zachariah Baumel, as should the remains of the two chayalim from the Gaza War of nine years ago. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V’Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and prevent Chas V’Challila the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel’s and Judaism’s destruction and eradication. And may we soon and finally see the total end to the Communist Chinese corona virus pandemic and all like viruses. May we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nei Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Ki Karov Yom Hashem Al’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bimhayrah b’yamainu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Good Shabbos!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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