Ézéchiel 44:22 Commentaire : Tze'enah Ure'enah & Rashi

“They should not marry a widow or a divorced woman” [44:22]. No priest should marry a widow. That is to say, the high priest should not marry her, but an ordinary priest is allowed to marry a widow. However, the ordinary priest also may not marry a divorced woman. The reason that the high priest should not marry a widow is that she may have previously had bad experiences. It is possible that the widow previously had a bad husband, an Israelite who slept with her all the time. Now, she will want to win the high priest in the same way. The high priest must be warned that he should not sleep with her because of his service in the Temple. However, a widow who was previously married to a priest, the high priest is allowed to marry her because she was previously married to a priest and is used to the rules about sex. Concerning this the verse says, “the widow who is the widow of a priest he may marry” [44:22]. That is to say, the high priest may marry the widow of a priest. Radak writes that an ordinary priest may marry a widow, but not the high priest. About this, it says, “of a priest, they should take” [44:22]. That is to say, some priests may marry a widow, meaning ordinary priests.³Radak, Ezekiel, 44:22.

but...virgins may the High Priests take. But there are some priests who may take a widow, namely, the ordinary ones, and this is the meaning of “some of the priests may marry”; there are some priests who are permitted to marry a widow.

who is only a widow A real [widow], excluding a divorcee and a woman upon whom the rite of chalitzah was performed; although she is unmarried, she is forbidden even for an ordinary [priest].