[Avodah] the cohen gadol and marriage to a pubescent girl

[Yaacov Shulman]

Hello!

I recently learned (Yevamot 59a) that when the chumash says that a cohen
gadol must marry a virgin (if he is unmarried), that is referring to a girl
aged 12-1/2 (a naarah).  The reason is that he must marry a female with all
the signs of virginity fully manifested, and as a female grows older her
virginality starts to fade away (even though she technically may still be a
virgin).

Please note as well that he cannot decide to marry her now and consummate
the marriage later on--he must consummate the marriage at this time as well.

Rambam cites this as halachah.

My background thoughts:

I have adapted as a working principle the idea that "darkei noam"--"ways of
pleasantness"--constitutes an essential dynamic in Torah (something
noticeably missing, lehavdil, in the Moslem world). Thus, it seems to me
that someone who simply quotes difficult Torah sources without
contextualizing them in darkei noam may be said to be, in a new application
of Ramban's phrase, a naval birshut hatorah--a "degenerate within the
technical guidelines of Torah."

And it would seem that every generation needs wider and new applications of
darkei noam as we become sensitized to matters that weren't of import in
previous generations.

It also seems to me that, generally speaking, when we consider the
"hypersensitivity" shown in specific areas of Torah thought, the idea that
someone concerned for "darkei noam" is oversensitive cannot be supported.
For instance, the Talmud mandates that a person choose death rather than
embarrass someone else.

That leads us back to the case of the cohen gadol and the virgin.

As I look at it, this halachah follows its interior logic to the ultimate
degree. That is to say, the verse states that the cohen marries a woman
"with her virginal tokens"--i.e., all of them, not some of them.  One might
also say that it follows the concept of virginal purity to the ultimate
degree. The cohen gadol must marry a woman as much as possible who is not
immersed into the realm of this world.

But where is the context of darkei shalom, which is to say, as I am seeing
it, the humanistic context: that 12-1/2 year old girls should not be
married, and in particular not to adults?

As far as I see, practically speaking there is a way of avoiding this. If a
cohen gadol is widowed, he can simply resign and allow another cohen who is
already married to take his place.  But that seems very unwieldy and not the
intent of the halachah.  Why is this halachah there in the first place?

I would be most interested in hearing other people's thoughts on this issue.

Thank you.

-- 
Yaacov David Shulman
Translator; Editor; Ghostwriter
Specializing in Torah and literary texts
freewebs.com/jewish-spiritual-and-beautiful
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