Food For Thought By Yehuda Kranzler and Yonatan Schechter

1996/5756

     Regarding the prohibited marriages of the  כהן גדול, the Torah states in כא:ז -    אשה זונה וחללה לא יקחו ואשה  מאישה לא יקחו... גרושה.  Later, regarding the prohibited marriages of the כהן גדול (כא:יב), the Torah states אלמנה וגרושה וחללה זונה את אלא לא יקח.  Why does the Torah have to reiterate the prohibition of marrying aגרושה  and זונה for a כהן גדול?  Couldn't we just deduce using a קל וחומר that if a כהן הדיוט is not allowed to marry a גרושה or זונה, then surely a כהן גדול who is on a much higher level cannot marry a גרושה or זונה? 

      Furthermore, by a כהן הדיוט, the Torah describes זונה וחללה as two separate types of people, but regarding the כהן גדול, חללה is used an adjective describing a זונה. (Or is it the reverse?)  Why is this?

      In כב:יט the Pasuk states that a נדבה should be לרצונכם - that one is permitted to bring a נדבה according to his will or desire.  If this is so, why does the Torah place restrictions on it (that the נדבה must be תמים and a זכר -a male)?  Also, why does the Torah describe what a person's רצון is?  What is the true meaning of רצון?  Can that help to answer the first two questions?  Furthermore, when the Torah uses the word לרצונכם again in כב:יא in regards to the Omer, does it mean the same thing as it does in כב:יט?  Is there a connection between the  לרצונכםof נדבה and theלרצונכם  of עומר?

      In Perek כג, the word אך precedes the Torah's discussion of the laws of Yom Kippur (כג:כז) and Succot (כג:לט).  What is the significance of the word אך?  Why does the Torah specifically use it by Yom Kippur and Succot?

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