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Learning & Values Texts & Writings Classic Texts Sefer Hamitzvot Sefer Hamitzvot (Translation) Negative Commandments

A Priest Marrying a "Profaned" Woman

Negative Commandment 159

By Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon ("Maimonides"); translated by Berel Bell

From the Sichos in English Collection

Negative Commandment 158

Negative Commandment 160

The 159th prohibition is that a Kohen is forbidden to marry a chalalah.1

The source of this commandment is G‑d's statement,2 "They shall not marry a woman who is a zonah or a chalalah."

Should he have relations with her [after they marry], he is punished by lashes.

Negative Commandment 158

Negative Commandment 160

Footnotes

Literally, "a profaned woman." This term refers to a woman whose status has been affected by one of these priestly marriage prohibitions, e.g., should a Kohen marry a divorced woman (which violates N360), both the woman and her daughter get the status of a chalalah.

Lev. ibid.

Rabbi Berel Bell is a well-known educator, author and lecturer. He and his family reside in Montreal, Canada.

From "Sefer Hamitzvot in English," published by Sichos in English.

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