Contemporary Issues In Halakha: Kohen And Giyyoret, Sources Part 1

1) Leviticus 21:1, 21:7

(1) The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:

(7) They shall not take a zona vah.alala (a woman defiled by harlotry), nor shall they marry one divorced from her husband, for he is holy to his God.

2) Ezekiel 44:22

A widow and a divorcee they [kohanim] should not take for themselves for wives; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel or a widow which is the widow of a priest.

3) Torat Kohanim 1:7

A woman who is a zona, Rebbe Yehuda says that a zona is a barren woman.

The sages say that a zona is a female convert, an emancipated slave woman or a woman who had licentious fornication.

Rebbe Elazar says even a single man who had relations with a single woman, not for the purposes of matrimony.

4) Mishna Yevamot 6:5

An ordinary Kohen may not marry a barren woman unless he already has a wife and children.

Rebbe Yehuda says that even though he has a wife and children, he shouldn’t marry a barren woman because she is a zona according to the Torah.

The sages say that a zona is a female convert, an emancipated slave woman or a woman who had licentious fornication.

5) Tosafot to Yevamot 61a:

A zona is a female convert and a freed slave woman – even if she converted at less than three years of age, she is forbidden . . . the reason is that anyone coming from a place of idolatry is steeped in depravity.

6) Tractate Kiddushin 78a

It was taught, Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai said, ‘A girl who converted when she was less than three years and a day is eligible to marry a kohen, as it is said [in the context of a battle against the Midianites, ‘kill every boy and every woman that has known man by lying with him,] but all the young women, who have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves (Num 31:17&18). But Pinhas [a kohen] was among them!

But the Rabbis said, “keep alive for yourselves” means as slaves.

Everyone expounded the same verse,

” . . . they [the kohanim] shall not take widows or divorced women for wives, but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel.” (Ezekiel 44:22)

Rebbe Yehudah says unless the entire seed is from Israel.

Rebbe Eliezer ben Yaacov says even some of the seed.

Rebbe Yosi says the one who was “seeded” in Israel.

Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai says one whose virginity was “seeded” in Israel.

7) Rashi to Tractate Kiddushin 78a

“Rebbe Shimon says” etc. – There are four positions in the dispute. According to Rebbe Yehudah, the daughter of a man who converted is forbidden, even if he married an Israelite woman.

According to Rebbe Eliezer, if one side is Israeli, it is kosher, however the daughter of parents who are both converts would be forbidden.

Rebbe Yosi says that the daughter of two parents who are both converts is kosher as long as she was conceived and born in holiness.

Rebbe Shimon says even a convert herself is kosher as long as she wasn’t suitable for intercourse when she was a gentile; if that is the case she is no longer considered a zonah.

“But Pinhas [a kohen] was among them!” – among those going out to wage battle against Midyan as it is stated in that verse.

“The entire seed” – In other words, the essence of what is called “seed”, meaning from the father; this would eliminate the daughter of a man who converted.

“From some of the seed” – even if it is the “weak” seed, such as from the mother; a convert who married and Israelite woman.

“The one who was seeded in Israel” – that the conception was in holiness.

“One whose virginity was seeded in Israel” – that her virginity came into being after she already became part of the nation of Israel; in other words, at the age of three her virginity is “complete”. If she has intercourse after this point [her virginity] doesn’t return. However, before the age of three her virginity “grows back.

8) Rambam, The Laws of Forbidden Intercourse, 18:3

Similarly, a female convert or an emancipated slave woman, even if she converted or was emancipated when less than three years old, since she is not a daughter of Israel she is considered a zona and is forbidden to a kohen.

Hence the sages said that an idolater or a natin or a mamzer or an Ammonite or Moabite convert, an Egyptian or Edomite convert of the first and second generations, a man with crushed or maimed private parts or a h.alal (unfit priest) who has intercourse with an Israelite woman renders her a zona and she is thereby forbidden to the priesthood.

If she herself is of priestly descent, she is invalidated from eating of the heave offering. Similarly, if a non priest has intercourse with a woman subject to levirate marriage, he renders her a zona. A woman who is barren is permitted to a kohen and is not considered a zona.