I am not clear on the problem for the Kohen Gadol of the nocturnal emission. Wouldn't that simply have been solved by toyveling?? Why was there a need for a stringency for him not to sleep the night before? It doesn't involve any aveyra either. Thanks.
David Goldman, USA
Sholom Rav,
You must have forgotten that after Tevilah, a Kohen may not eat Terumah or Kodshim, or enter the Beis-Hamikdash until the following nightfall.
Be'Virchas Kol Tuv,
Eliezer Chrysler
Then since there were sleeping areas for serving kohanim, there existed the reality of kohanim who had the emission and who had to run out of the temple area immediately. But the very fact of sleeping there created the very real possibility of this situation EVEN where these people were mere oyness.
Why wouldn't this in itself be considered sort of a michshol bifnei Iver? In other words, since it is an involuntary and unconscious event as an oyness, how could a Kohen ever get a good night's sleep knowing that this could always happen and force him to run out of the Temple and not serve?!
Sholom Rav,
The Kohanim slept there as part of their Avodah (How do you expect a Kohen who lived in Haifa, say, to return home each night and be back early in the morning in time for the first Avodah?) That may well lead to Nisyonos (trials). But then, don't we all have Nisyonos, often the result of different aspects of our Avodah? Should an Oneis occur as a result, we (and the Kohen) are not taken to task. If the Kohen must run out, then so be it.
Moreover, don't you agree that the Nisyonos that a Kohen encounters on the streets and at home are likely to be greater than those that he encounters in the Beis-ha'Mikdash?
And besides, nocturnal emissions are the result of bad thoughts, which one can control.
Be'Virchas Kol Tuv,
Eliezer Chrysler