Yevamot 61: More Rules of Engagement

We are introduced to a number of shorter Mishnayot in today's daf.  First, a conversation regarding ritual purity is completed.  The rabbis use verses from Torah to determine whether the word adam, man, refers to all people or to only Jewish people.  Since the Torah was thought to be written as a sort of guidebook for the Jews, the rabbis wondered whether adam referred to a Jewish man unless otherwise specified.  Rabbeinu Tam is quoted in a note: perhaps adam refers to a Jewish man, but ha'adam, the person, refers to all human beings?  This commentary relates to notions of ritual purity regarding tents over graves.

Our first new Mishna teaches that when a man is betrothed to a widow and then is appointed as High Priest, he may marry that widow.  This could be in reference to Marta bat Beitos, who was a powerful woman who betrothed Yehoshua ben Gamla shortly before he was called to be the High Priest.  In fact, our commentary notes that Marta may have facilitated that appointment.  She may have done this to promote her own status.  The Mishna contrasts this ruling with the forbidden status of a yevama who has partaken of levirate betrothal.  

Our next Mishna teaches that if a High Priest's brother dies without children, he must perform chalitza and not perform levirate marriage, for he is forbidden to marry a widow.  The Gemara notes that levirate marriage is a positive mitzva.  Marrying a widow and being a non-virgin are both prohibitions.  One positive mitzva cannot override two negative prohibitions.  On the other hand, the widow in this case might be only betrothed to her now-deceased husband and thus she is a virgin.  In that situation, the High Priest would be able to marry his yevama, for he would be performing two positive mitzvot while partaking in only one negative prohibition.  Note that the rabbis argued over this.  The mitzva of yibum includes one act of intercourse and the assumption that intercourse will continue.  In this case, only the first act of intercourse is a mitzva; any further acts are prohibited because the yevama is both a widow and not a virgin any longer (the High Priest cannot marry widows and must marry virgins).

Our third new Mishna teaches that a priest may not marry a sexually undeveloped woman, for she is a zona.  Other rabbis argue that she is not a zona; a zona can only describe a convert, a freed maidservant, and a woman who has sexual intercourse with a man whom she is not eligible to marry.

The Gemara argues that a zona is also forbidden to a priest, and that a priest must not marry a sexually undeveloped woman unless he already has a wife and children.  Perhaps a zona is included in the final category of forbidden wives above because they cannot have children, and thus intercourse with a priest is by definition intercourse with someone she is not permitted to marry.

We learn that Rabbi Meir teaches from a baraita that only men and women can perform levirate marriage, for our mitzvah tells us about a man and a woman rather than a boy and a girl or a male and a female.   A number of other reasons are suggested for this.  First, a boy might grow up to be a eunuch, one who cannot have children; a girl might grow up to be a aylonit, one who cannot have children.   As well, such a young girl could be seduced easily and the High Priest should be protected from that transgression.  It is noted that the seduction of a minor is considered to be rape.  However, an Israelite who is raped can continue to be married to her husband.  A High Priest's wife who is raped cannot return to her husband's home.  Finally, it is noted that an isha, a grown woman, is considered to be only a partial-virgin because her hymen has naturally worn down over the years.  Thus High Priest should only marry maidens: girls within the first 6 months of their puberty (ie. age twelve and with two pubic hairs). 

Finally, our last Mishna of the day: we are required to have at least two children, so that we follow the Mitzvah of "be fruitful and multiply".  Beit Shammai teach that two boys fulfill that Mitzvah, for Moses had two sons (I Chronicles 23:15).  Beit Hillel teach that we are required to have a boy and a girl who each can procreate (Genesis 5:2).  Or perhaps it was the other way around; the rabbis are not clear about this.

The Gemara notes that we learn that "it is not good for man to be alone".  The rabbis wonder whether or not a man is ever permitted to marry a woman who cannot have children.  They note that if the man does not have children, he is even permitted to sell a Torah scroll to support a wife who can have children.  We can see echos of our foremothers here - Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel.  All of these women were desperate for children and their husbands were permitted to have children with other women for the sake of procreation.  We continue to suffer through infertility, desperately hoping that the relationship survives that stress.  And that's without the Torah's sanctioned polygamy!  Talk about stress...