Thursday, February 21, 2013

are kohanim commanded in mechiyas Amalek?


The Sefer haChinuch (603) opines that women are exempt from the mitzvah of zechiras Amalek because they are not participants in war and do not to go out to battle; since they would not wage war against Amalek, they are exempt from the mitzvah of zechira as well.  The assumption (which the Minchas Chinuch questions) of the Chinuch is that the mitzvah of zecher and the mitzvah of mechiyas Amalek go hand in hand.

R’ Wahrman in his Sheiris Yosef (vol 7) refers to a fascinating teshuvah of the Binyan Shlomo (#57) who suggests that kohanim did not go out to battle either, as they could not risk becoming tamei meis; therefore, they too were exempt from the mitzvah of waging war with Amalek.  The Binyan Shlomo writes that if this is true, kohanim should be exempt from ta’anis Esther, as according to Rabineu Tam the ta'anis is a commemoration of the fast undertaken  on 13Adar in preparation for the war against Amalek.  Since kohanim did not participate in battle, they would not have participated in the fast.  (I am not sure why this follows – perhaps there is a chiyuv to join with the tzibur in doing teshuvah and fasting to ensure success in battle even if one does not participate directly in the fighting.)  It follows as well that according to the logic of the Chinuch, kohanim should be exempt from the mitzvah of hearing parshas zachor.

The gemara's question of whether a kohein can take a yefas to’ar (Kiddushin 23) implies that kohanim did in fact go to battle, contrary to the Binyan Shlomo, but there does seem to be some basis in Rishonim for his view.  In the context of debating whether a kohein who gives a get al tnai may remain together with his wife, the Mordechai (Gittin 432) attempts to bring proof from the fact that all who went out to war with King David wrote gittin (al tnai, lest they be lost in war), presumably including kohanim, who returned afterwards to their wives.  The Mordechai is not convinced of the proof, as one could argue that kohanim never went out to war to begin with (he raises the sugya in Kid as an issue, but how he deals with it is unclear to me.)  Anyone in tune with the current debate over whether yeshiva students should server in Tzahal has probably heard the oft-cited Rambam (end of Hil Shemita) that anyone who wants can take on the role of a levi as teacher to Torah and become exempt from the burden of going out to war.  Whether the Rambam’s view can serve as a basis for yeshiva student levi-wanna-be’s being exempted may be debatable, but it seems clear that a true kohen or levi could indeed stay home.  Or maybe it’s not so clear: the Rambam himself (Hil Melachim ch 7) refers to a kohein married to a gerusha as being exempted from battle because of the aveira he has done, implying that a kohein otherwise would in fact have to join the fight.

5 comments:

  1. "The Sefer haChinuch (603) opines that women are exempt from the mitzvah of zechiras Amalek because they are not participants in war and do not to go out to battle ..."

    That's interesting, since the Mishneh Torah, in Hilkhot Melakhim u-Milchamot 5:1, says that waging war against Amaleq is a Milchemet Mitzvah, and in 7:7[4], that all go out to a Milchemet Mitzvah, even a bride from her canopy.

    "... the Rambam himself (Hil Melachim ch 7) refers to a kohein married to a gerusha as being exempted from battle because of the aveira he has done"

    Where's that exactly?
    In 7:11[8] it says( as examples of men who've consecrated women they're forbidden to marry) that a Kohen Gadol who's consecrated a widow, or even a Kohen Hedyot who's consecrated a divorcée or a Chalutzah is not to be exempted from battle( if he had consecrated a woman he was allowed to marry, he'd have been exempted till the end of a year into the marriage).

    It should be noted, that all these exemptions are mentioned for a Milchemet Reshut, but in Milchemet Mitzvah all go out, as I mentioned above.

    "Whether the Rambam’s view can serve as a basis for yeshiva student levi-wanna-be’s being exempted may be debatable, but it seems clear that a true kohen or levi could indeed stay home."

    Somebody once( in arguing against Yeshivah students being exempt from serving in the IDF) argued that, based on Hilkhot Melakhim u-Milchamot 5:2, that says that in a Milchemet Mitzvah the king can force the people to go to war without mentioning the Leviyim's exemption, that the exemption mentioned in Hilkhot Shemitah ve-Yovel 13:10[12] only holds true for a Milchemet Reshut.

    I countered that the lack of mention proves nothing, as the Leviyim's exemption isn't mentioned in Hilkhot Melakhim u-Milchamot for Milchemet Reshut either, and in Hilkhot Shemitah ve-Yovel it doesn't say which type of war they are exempt from.
    I also said that if anything, it could be argued their exemption from taking part in war is only in a Milchemet Mitzvah, as it is mentioned with their not having a portion in the Bizah or a Nachalah, which the Rambam in Hilkhot Shemitah ve-Yovel 13:8-9[10-11] opines only hold true in 'Eretz Kena'an( who's conquest is a Milchemet Mitzvah). As in the Ramabm's opinion the Leviyim( and Kohanim) could take part in the Bizah, and receive a Nachalah, outside the Promised Land( where conquest is a Milchemet Reshut), so should they not be exempt from taking part in the Milchemet Reshut itself.

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  2. Anonymous3:03 AM

    >>> perhaps there is a chiyuv to join with the tzibur...to ensure success

    maybe too, since a kohein annointed for war very much participates in that war, where no one is designated as such, each kohein is considered
    a candidate for the role & so must join the fast?

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  3. Superintendant Chalmers10:56 AM

    Interseting

    If you assume Kohanim are indeed patur from Zachor, so of course a kohen couldn't be your baal koreh for Zachor. But acc the Avnei Nezer's (I think) biur in Behag that nashim are chayav in shmia and can't be motzi men in megilla because megilla is also a kiyum of zachor and women are patur from that aspect, it would come out that you shouldn't have a kohen as your megilla reader either.

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  4. chaim b.10:52 AM

    >>>all go out to a Milchemet Mitzvah, even a bride from her canopy.

    Achronim explain that it does not mean they go out to fight, just to assist. (Radbaz, Rashash in Sotah 44).

    Also, (and this would require another post to clarify) the mitzvah of killing 7 nations is a chovas hayachid, which even the Chinuch does not exempt women from. Killing Amalek in particular is specifically a chiyuv milchama.

    >>>since a kohein annointed for war very much participates in that war

    See the Mordechai in Gitin -- he could have read the warning and then gone home.

    Superintendent -- yes, that is true.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:07 PM

      >>> he could have read the warning and then gone home.

      his participation understood as sociological (& halachic), not physical {a kohein's blessing of the nation is merely verbal,
      yet instrumental in any physical shefa that follows...)

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