Hello kollel!
In the gemara we see that we can only do chalitza in a situation where yibum is possible. This raises an interesting question about whether you could do chalitza with a niddah, and it seems yes Bc that's not a fundamental disqualification of yibum status. I believe there's a tosafos and a rosh that discuss this early in the masechta.
My question is, in the times of the beis hamikdash if a yavamah falls to a kohen, if she's tamei mes would we require her to be purified before doing chalitzah? Since she's tamei she couldn't do yibbum so do we need it for chalitza too? Is that "essential" since the husband is a kohen or is it comparable to niddah?
Thank you!
1) The Tosfos ha'Rosh that you cited, Josh, is in Yevamos 2a, DH v'Achos. The Tosfos ha'Rosh seems to say that the reason why the 15 women mentioned in the first Mishnah are exempt from Yibum and Chalitzah is that they are Ervah, while a Nidah is not an Ervah since she is not forbidden because of being a close relative. According to this, the Yevamah who is Tamei Mes is also not an Ervah so she can do Chalitzah.
2) However, I have another question which may be food for thought. In fact, I do not understand why you asked, Josh, about a Yevamah who is a Tamei Mes, and you did not ask about when the Kohen himself is a Tamei Mes! The Kohen has an immediate Mitzvah to become Tahor. If so, we can compare this with the case of the Teshuvos Maharit (part 2, Even ha'Ezer #16), who discusses a case where the time for Chalitzah had been fixed, and then the father of the widow died. It was not possible to do Chalitzah after the funeral, so the question now was can an Onen do Chalitzah? The Maharit writes that she cannot do it because Chalitzah is a Mitzvah and an Onen is exempt from all Mitzvos.
3) I want to suggest that possibly a Kohen who is Tamei is also exempt from Chalitzah because the Kohen has a Mitzvah to become Tahor as soon as possible (see the first Rashi on Shabbos 121a), and someone who is occupied in one Mitzvah is exempt from a second Mitzvah.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom
Thank you rav bloom!
Re:3 does that mean he's exempt permanently, or just while he's pending purification and once purified the chiyuv kicks back in? If there were multiple brothers and the oldest one was tamei would we wait for him to purify or should one of the younger brothers just do the yibum/chalitzah?
I like your version of the question...the reason I had asked the other way was that if the yevamah was temeiah, the kohen wouldn't be able to effect the yibum or the chalitzah without her touching him and causing him to become tamei in the process. It seemed more parallel to niddah.
1) I have another similar question. There is a Din in Shulchan Aruch (Even ha'Ezer 161:6) that if there are two brothers it is preferable that the older brother should do Chalitzah. However, the Beis Shmuel (#7) writes that if the older brother is married and the younger brother is single, it is preferable that the younger brother should do Chalitzah.
2) My question is, what is the Din if the younger brother is about to get married in a few days time? Is it best to wait a few days and then the Halachah will change and we will say that it is preferable that the older brother should do Chalitzah?
3) I want to suggest that this may be similar to the question of the Terumas ha'Deshen (#35) about when is it advisable to wait until Motza'i Shabbos in order to do Kidush Levanah, and when is it better to do it immediately? The Terumas ha'Deshen cites a proof from Yevamos (end of 39a) that we do not wait for the older brother to come home from overseas to do Yibum, because we have a rule thet "we do not wait to do Mitzvos."
4) If Motza'i Shabbos is on the 11th of the month, we do not wait that long for Kidush Levanah, because the moon might get covered by clouds and one could miss the Mitzvah entirely. In such a case, it is preferable to do Kidush Levanah in the middle of the week.
5) Similarly, I suggest that if the wedding of the younger brother is a while away, we would say that it is not advisable to wait so long to do Chalitzah, since if one waits a long time the Mitzvah might get forgotten. Instead, we say that the younger brother should do Chalitzah immediately.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom