daf bit: Yoma 6

[cellio]

This week we begin tractate Yoma, which is principally concerned with Yom Kippur. The first mishna begins the discussion of the high priest's preparation: seven days before Yom Kippur he is to be removed from his house and reside with counselors (we'll learn more about them later); in addition, a backup priest is prepared lest anything happen to make the high priest unable to perform his duties; and similarly, a backup wife is prepared for the high priest lest his wife die during the week, because it is written "he shall make atonement for himself and his house" -- "house" means his wife. (Why minor children, if he had any, wouldn't quality even if his wife died is not addressed.)

Today's daf finds us in the midst of a discussion of the removal of the high priest from his home. Why is this? Lest he have relations with his wife and they discover afterward that her monthly cycle had begun -- this makes him ritually impure, disqualifying him for the service. (Knowingly having relations at that time is a transgression, but even accidents have consequences.) (mishna 2a, g'mara 6a)

Comments

[cellio]

I have learned that this is a minority opinion; while R. Yehoshua says you can do this, apparently the other sages say "wait, what? are you nuts?". Well, maybe not those words exactly, and there may be more on this ahead.

A "just in case" divorce is, I understand, real, or at least was at some points in history -- if no one can prove that a man died then his wife is stuck (an agunah, or chained woman), because she might be married and only he can give a divorce and he's gone missing. So, I understand, at some points in history men would give their wives divorce documents before going off to war, just in case. But I think those are documents that she might choose not to act on, while a conditional divorce (the document spells out the terms, no action on her part required) would be different. But also wrap a great big "citation needed" around this; this is stuff I've heard but can't source.