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Why is an eshes kohen who was unfaithful (even by force) forbidden to return to her husband, while an eshes Yisrael is permitted? The shiur develops the Rambam (רמב"ם)'s reading that the issur stems from her becoming a zonah—a psul haguf—not merely a psul haishus. This yesod distinguishes the foundations of various issurim and resolves contradictions across the Rambam's rulings in Hilchos Sotah and Gerushin.
This shiur undertakes a deep analysis of the Gemara (גמרא) in Yoma 82b addressing the halachic status of an eshes kohen she'nisu (the wife of a kohen who was raped) and develops a fundamental conceptual distinction between psul haguf (a personal disqualification in the woman herself) and psul haishus (a disqualification in the marital bond). The Gemara's discussion revolves around the pasuk "acharei asher hutamah" (after she has been defiled), which forbids a woman to return to her husband after relations with another man. The pasuk initially seems to include all cases of infidelity, yet the Gemara teaches that by ones (force), an eshes Yisrael is permitted to return, while an eshes kohen remains forbidden. Rabbi Zweig explains that the Gemara's resolution—"sha'arei hi zonah" (she remains a zonah)—is the key to understanding the Rambam (רמב"ם)'s approach. According to the Rambam, when an eshes kohen is violated even by ones, she acquires the status of zonah. Although there is no malkos for zonah by ones (as the Gemara states "ain zonah be'ones"), the psul of zonah is nonetheless present in her as a psul haguf. Since a kohen is forbidden to marry a zonah, this psul haguf affects the ishus: the marriage itself becomes compromised because the woman now carries a disqualification that is relevant to her kohen husband. By contrast, an eshes Yisrael does not become forbidden to her husband through ones, because the psul of zonah does not affect a Yisrael—he is permitted to marry a zonah. Therefore, the psul haguf in her does not create a psul in the ishus with a Yisrael.
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Yoma 82b
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