Hello kollel!
I have a question on one of the discuss the daf questions, about the rambams position that chuppah is a yichud that's roeh lebiah.
How does the rambam understand that standby second wife of the kohen gadol? Since it's the day of yom kippur itself, biah isn't possible so how does he marry her?
The "standby wife" is only according to Rebbi Yehudah, and the Rambam holds like the Chachamim. But, what would the Rambam say about Rebbi Yehudah's opinion?
The Rambam provides Nidah as an example of a Chupah that is not Re'uyah l'Bi'ah (Hilchos Ishus 10:2). The Rambam appears to contradict his opinion that Chupah must be Re'uyah l'Be'ah by his ruling that an Avel who does not yet have children can perform Chupah even though he may only have Bi'ah after his Aveilus has ended (Hilchos Avel 6:5). (See Keren Orah on Moed Katan 23a, who raises this problem and leaves it unanswered.)
To reconcile this seeming contradiction, perhaps we can say that the Rambam holds that only an Isur that is defined as an Isur Bi'ah, as is the case in Nidah, prevents Chupah from taking effect. The Isur of Tashmish ha'Mitah of an Avel is not defined as an Isur Bi'ah but an Isur Aveilus.
The same would apply to the Isur Tashmish ha'Mitah on Yom Kippur; it is not defined as an Isur Bi'ah but an Isur Yom Kippur. In other words, even though the Ma'aseh Aveirah in these cases is a Ma'aseh Bi'ah, the Aveirah itself is classified as an Aveirah of Aveilus or of Yom Kippur respectively, and not an Aveirah of Isurei Bi'ah.
Avraham Phillips