Parshat Emor, 5773/2013 thoughts
Basics here.
My oldies:
Conservadox reports on the Torah's attitude regarding the treatment of animals, not to mention the timing of Sukkot.
My new thought: Yechezkel/Ezekiel is an old "chumrah-nik"/believer in stringent interpretation. In Haftarat Emor (Yechezkel/Ezekiel 44:15-31), he says,
כב וְאַלְמָנָה, וּגְרוּשָׁה, לֹא-יִקְחוּ לָהֶם, לְנָשִׁים: כִּי אִם-בְּתוּלֹת, מִזֶּרַע בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְהָאַלְמָנָה אֲשֶׁר תִּהְיֶה אַלְמָנָה, מִכֹּהֵן יִקָּחוּ. 22 Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that is the widow of a priest.
But the ruling from the Torah, narrowly described (Breishit/Genesis through Devarim/Deuteronomy, also known as the Five Books of Moses), is that the law against marrying a widow applies to the Kohen Gadol/High Priest only, not to all Kohanim/Priests. That is the rule currently observed--a Kohen is not permitted to marry a divorcee or a convert, but is permitted to marry any widow, in addition to any never-married born-Jewish woman.
My oldies:
Conservadox reports on the Torah's attitude regarding the treatment of animals, not to mention the timing of Sukkot.
My new thought: Yechezkel/Ezekiel is an old "chumrah-nik"/believer in stringent interpretation. In Haftarat Emor (Yechezkel/Ezekiel 44:15-31), he says,
כב וְאַלְמָנָה, וּגְרוּשָׁה, לֹא-יִקְחוּ לָהֶם, לְנָשִׁים: כִּי אִם-בְּתוּלֹת, מִזֶּרַע בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְהָאַלְמָנָה אֲשֶׁר תִּהְיֶה אַלְמָנָה, מִכֹּהֵן יִקָּחוּ. 22 Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that is the widow of a priest.
But the ruling from the Torah, narrowly described (Breishit/Genesis through Devarim/Deuteronomy, also known as the Five Books of Moses), is that the law against marrying a widow applies to the Kohen Gadol/High Priest only, not to all Kohanim/Priests. That is the rule currently observed--a Kohen is not permitted to marry a divorcee or a convert, but is permitted to marry any widow, in addition to any never-married born-Jewish woman.
posted by Shira Salamone at 10:25 AM
3 Comments:
Actually, a kohen can marry a convert if she converted before the age of 3 years and one day (cf. b. Yev. 60b).
Also, I seem to recall that there was a Law Committee ruling saying that the Conservative Movement was okay with kohanim marrying divorcees.
Wait, just kidding. My brain is stuck in Bavli qua Bavli mode--the Shulchan Aruch says no to marrying converts who converted before the age of three.
This gives all the citations for the CJLS rulings: http://www.schechter.edu/AskTheRabbi.aspx?ID=271
Anon., thanks for the link.
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