The high priesthood bought and sold TB Yoma 18

Today’s daf TB Yoma 18 details two high level meetings the Kohen Hagadol, High Priest, attended before Yom Kippur. The first meeting was with the Elders. Elders from the court met with him each day the week before Yom Kippur. “MISHNA: The Sages provided the High Priest with Elders selected from the Elders of the court, and they would read before him the order of the service of the day of Yom Kippur. And they would say to him: My Master, High Priest. Read the order of the service with your own mouth, as perhaps you forgot this reading or perhaps you did not learn to read…” (Sefaria.org translation)

We can understand how the Kohen Hagadol, especially as he ages, could forget some of the details of the Yom Kippur service. A review was probably very helpful. But how could the Kohen Hagadol never learn about the Yom Kippur worship service which would be the most important aspect of his ministry?! The Gemara asks this very question and then answers it.

“Granted, perhaps he forgot, that is fine, as it is conceivable that he is not accustomed to reading the Torah and might have forgotten this portion. However, is it conceivable that perhaps the High Priest did not learn to read? Do we appoint a High Priest of that sort who never learned the Bible?

“But wasn’t it taught in a baraita that it is stated: “And the priest who is greater than his brethren” (Leviticus 21:10); this teaches that he must be greater than his priestly brethren in strength, in beauty, in wisdom, and in wealth. Aḥerim say: Wealth is not a prerequisite for selecting a High Priest, but from where is it derived that if he does not have property of his own that his brethren the priests elevate him and render him wealthy from their own property? The verse states: “And the priest who is greater [haggadol] than his brethren”; elevate him [gaddelehu] from the property of his brethren. In any event, there is a consensus that wisdom is a prerequisite for his selection.

“Rav Yosef said: This is not difficult. There, the baraita that lists wisdom among the attributes of the High Priest is referring to the First Temple, where this halakha was observed and the High Priests possessed those attributes listed. Here, the mishna is referring to the Second Temple, where this halakha was not observed, so a situation where the High Priest was not well-versed in the Bible was conceivable. As Rav Asi said: The wealthy Marta, daughter of Baitos, brought a half-se’a of dinars in to King Yannai for the fact that he appointed Yehoshua ben Gamla as High Priest. This is an example of the appointment of High Priests by means of bribery and gifts. Since that was the practice, a totally ignorant High Priest could have been appointed.” (Sefaria.org translation)

We learned earlier in this chapter that during the first Temple period a range of 8 to 18 worthy people became the Kohen Hagadol and during the second Temple period 300 people were appointed the Kohen Hagadol. Probably most of these 300 Kohenim Hagadolim were not worthy. As the above story shows the high priesthood was sold to the highest bidder. According to Tosefot Yeshanim the above story is just one illustration of how somebody purchased the high priesthood. In this case the Jewish people lucked out because a worthy person Yehoshua ben Gamla was appointed the Kohen Hagadol. “Yehoshua b. Gamla was an influential member of the Sanhedrin during the time immediately before the Temple's destruction. He was most famous for his ordinance that all communities hire teachers to instruct children.” (Sefaria.org notes)

Rashi comments that King Yannai was not the same Yannai who murdered the Pharisees (the precursors to the Sages) because he was a Sadducee. I think because of the sugiya Rashi was forced to create another King Yannai who was more sympathetic to the rabbinic tradition as proved by the appointment of Yehoshua ben Gamla. Nevertheless, I confirmed in my research that there was only one King Yannai

King Yannai aka Yonaton aka Jannaeus Alexander, a Hasmonean King, ruled Israel from 103-76 BCE. “The two Sadducee kings of the Hasmonean dynasty-Judah Aristobulus and Jannaeus Alexander -had many enemies both among the Jews and among the Greek writers. The crown on the heads of the Hasmoneans aroused the ire of the Pharisees and their sages, for only a scion of the House of David could be king… Aristobulus’ Jewish political enemies apparently fabricated stories ascribing all sorts of cruelties to him, as they also did with respect to Jannaeus Alexander. As for the Greek historians, they hated the Hasmonean rulers for having destroyed the Greek cities in Palestine, and referred to them as a ‘kingdom of robbers.’

“… little by little the Pharisees and their ‘innovations’ became an object of his mockery. Josephus (Ant. XIII, 372, cites an instance when Jannaeus, standing beside the altar on the Festival of Tabernacles and about to offer the sacrifice of the festival, was pelted with citrons (etrogs-gg) by rebellious Jews shouting, ‘son of the captive woman’ and declaring that he was unfit to serve as high priest…” (J. Klausner in The World History of the Jewish People: the Hellenistic Age, volume 4, chapter 9, pages 223-230.