Yoma 13a

יומא י״ג ע״א

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Topic

Replacing a disqualified כהן גדול, and how רבי יהודה's backup wife for יום הכיפורים could work

Overview

The עמוד opens by ruling like רבי יוסי about a replacement כהן גדול. The replacement does not serve once the original is fit again, but his service counts if he served anyway, and he takes over if the original dies. The גמרא then turns to the משנה's dispute about preparing a backup wife. The רבנן prepare a backup כהן but not a backup wife, because טומאה is common and death is not, and the כהן גדול is careful about impurity. רבי יהודה says one death is a real worry but two are not. The גמרא then asks how רבי יהודה's backup wife could even work, since the Torah requires the כהן גדול to have exactly one wife ('ביתו') on יום הכיפורים. It tries betrothal, full marriage, and several conditional גיטין, and each one leaves him with no wife or with two. Along the way it uses רבא's rule that a condition tying husband and wife together for life is not כריתות. The final attempt, a גט on condition that the other wife does not die, is challenged at the end of the עמוד, and that challenge continues on the next עמוד.

Opening lines

The steps (33)

1. StatementThe הלכה follows רבי יוסי, and service done anyway is valid
2. StatementIf the original כהן גדול dies, the replacement takes over
3. ChallengeIsn't that obvious?
4. ResolutionWe might have thought it is like a rival wife
5. StatementQuoting the משנה: רבי יהודה wants a backup wife too
6. ChallengeDon't the רבנן also worry about 'maybe'?
7. ResolutionImpurity is common, death is not
8. StatementQuoting the משנה: 'If so, there is no end'
9. ChallengeThe Rabbis made a good point
10. Resolutionרבי יהודה: one death we worry about, two we don't
11. QuestionHow would the רבנן respond?
12. ResponseThe רבנן: if we worry at all, we worry even for two
13. ChallengeTurning the רבנן's logic back on them
14. ResolutionThe כהן גדול is careful
15. ChallengeThen why have any backup at all?
16. ResolutionA rival makes him even more careful
17. ChallengeA backup woman is not 'his house'
18. ResolutionHe betroths her
19. ChallengeBetrothal is not yet 'his house'
20. ResolutionHe fully marries her
21. ChallengeNow he has two houses
22. ResolutionHe then divorces her
23. ChallengeBack to the original problem
24. ResolutionA conditional divorce: 'on condition that you die'
25. ChallengeWhat if nobody dies?
26. ResolutionFlip the condition: 'on condition that you do not die'
27. ChallengeHe might be left with no wife
28. ResolutionA divorce tied to one of the wives dying
29. ChallengeWhat if neither wife dies?
30. ChallengeIs such a divorce even valid?
31. Proofרבא's rule about conditions that do not cut the bond
32. ResolutionA divorce on condition that the other wife does not die
33. ChallengeWhat if the other wife dies in the middle of the service?