Nazir 47 almost seems like the start of a bad joke - a Kohain and a Nazir are walking down the street and find a random dead body that is not being prepared for burial. Who allows themselves to become ritually impure in order to bury the body? The problem for both the Kohain and the Nazir is that while the mitzva to bury the person (aka Meis Mitzva) is a very important and honorable act, both the Kohain and the Nazir are under obligations to avoid becoming tamei (ritually impure) through the burial of the Meis Mitzva, unless there is no one else to bury the person.
The daf has a number of variations on this scenario as there are discussions about priorities among the Kohanim and even among multiple Kohanim Gedolim. It is the discussion of the multipke Kohanim Gedolim that I would like to focus on.
On Nazir 47a, the gemara discusses a scenario where a Kohain Gadol who had been anointed with the special oil and another who has been appointed Kohain Gadol but has not been anointed with the oil are both in a position to bury the Meis Mitva. Tosafos (d'h V'Chen) explains that the oil which existed from the days of Moshe until it was buried by Yoshiahu was used on the first Kohain Gadol. This Kohain Gadol then became temporarily unable to serve. The replacement Kohen Gadol was not anointed with the oil because in the interim it had been buried by Yoshiahu.
Tosafos then takes issue with the scenario because the replacement Kohain Gadol (who serves as Kohain Gadol by virtue of his wearing the eight garments of the Kohain Gadol rather than the four garments normally worn by a regular Kohain) is only serving temporarily while the original Kohain Gadol is impure. Tosafos reasons that it would be illogical to think that the original Kohain Gadol should get involved with the burial since the original Kohain Gadol was only replaced for a short time and would soon return to his original status. As such, Tosafos redefines the case as one involving a Kohain Gadol who absconded for a few years and the replacement Kohain Gadol (who was deprived of being anointed with the oil since it was buried by Yoshiahu) served as Kohain Gadol during the intervening time. Tosafos puts them on the same level and explains that this is the scenario that the gemara must be dealing with.
The question remains to be asked - why does Tosafos need to go through these machinations? Indeed, why is it significant that the replacement Kohain Gadol only serves on a temporary basis? The answer can be found in the gemara in Yoma 12b. In that gemara (referred to in Tosafos d'h Meruba on Nazir 47b) it is explained that the temporary replacement Kohain Gadol is stuck in limbo after he completes his short term assignment of "filling in" for the Kohain Gadol. He cannot remain as Kohain Gadol as it would create enmity between the two. He also cannot return to the prior position of being a regular kohain, since once he has been elevated to a holier position, he may not be lowered to the prior spot.
In a way, the situation is akin to baseball or hockey player who has exhausted his minor league options. The player can be called up to take the place of an injured member of the major league roster. However, once the major leaguer returns from injury, the former minor leaguer (if his options have been exhausted) may not be returned to the minor leagues. Yes, I know that the analogy is not perfect since he can be sent down if he clears waivers because no other team wants him, but there are distinct similarities.
As a footnote to last week's daf thoughts - Nazir 47 does laugh at us as well. When learning the daf this evening with R' Ephraim, I realized that the citation to Vayikra used to prove that a Kohain Gadol can become impure to bury a Meis Mitva is actually derived from Chapter 21 of this week's parsha. Yet again, the daf laughs at us.
If you have seen this post being carried on another site such as JBlog, please feel free to click here to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!
The daf has a number of variations on this scenario as there are discussions about priorities among the Kohanim and even among multiple Kohanim Gedolim. It is the discussion of the multipke Kohanim Gedolim that I would like to focus on.
On Nazir 47a, the gemara discusses a scenario where a Kohain Gadol who had been anointed with the special oil and another who has been appointed Kohain Gadol but has not been anointed with the oil are both in a position to bury the Meis Mitva. Tosafos (d'h V'Chen) explains that the oil which existed from the days of Moshe until it was buried by Yoshiahu was used on the first Kohain Gadol. This Kohain Gadol then became temporarily unable to serve. The replacement Kohen Gadol was not anointed with the oil because in the interim it had been buried by Yoshiahu.
Tosafos then takes issue with the scenario because the replacement Kohain Gadol (who serves as Kohain Gadol by virtue of his wearing the eight garments of the Kohain Gadol rather than the four garments normally worn by a regular Kohain) is only serving temporarily while the original Kohain Gadol is impure. Tosafos reasons that it would be illogical to think that the original Kohain Gadol should get involved with the burial since the original Kohain Gadol was only replaced for a short time and would soon return to his original status. As such, Tosafos redefines the case as one involving a Kohain Gadol who absconded for a few years and the replacement Kohain Gadol (who was deprived of being anointed with the oil since it was buried by Yoshiahu) served as Kohain Gadol during the intervening time. Tosafos puts them on the same level and explains that this is the scenario that the gemara must be dealing with.
The question remains to be asked - why does Tosafos need to go through these machinations? Indeed, why is it significant that the replacement Kohain Gadol only serves on a temporary basis? The answer can be found in the gemara in Yoma 12b. In that gemara (referred to in Tosafos d'h Meruba on Nazir 47b) it is explained that the temporary replacement Kohain Gadol is stuck in limbo after he completes his short term assignment of "filling in" for the Kohain Gadol. He cannot remain as Kohain Gadol as it would create enmity between the two. He also cannot return to the prior position of being a regular kohain, since once he has been elevated to a holier position, he may not be lowered to the prior spot.
In a way, the situation is akin to baseball or hockey player who has exhausted his minor league options. The player can be called up to take the place of an injured member of the major league roster. However, once the major leaguer returns from injury, the former minor leaguer (if his options have been exhausted) may not be returned to the minor leagues. Yes, I know that the analogy is not perfect since he can be sent down if he clears waivers because no other team wants him, but there are distinct similarities.
As a footnote to last week's daf thoughts - Nazir 47 does laugh at us as well. When learning the daf this evening with R' Ephraim, I realized that the citation to Vayikra used to prove that a Kohain Gadol can become impure to bury a Meis Mitva is actually derived from Chapter 21 of this week's parsha. Yet again, the daf laughs at us.
If you have seen this post being carried on another site such as JBlog, please feel free to click here to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!
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