Two halves of marriage – Sh’mini
Sh’mini tells us about the kohanim, each of whom had a duty to have a wife.
The partnership between husband and wife enables both parties to complement each other.
The Talmud has a section in Yevamot 62b-63a that offers many wise observations about marriage, including the notion that someone who lacks a marriage partner is only half a person.
Shakespeare, who was aware of many rabbinic passages, used this idea when he said, “He is the half part of a blessed man, left to be finished by such as she; And she a fair divided excellence, whose fullness of perfection lies in him” (King John 2:1).
One of the things that a married couple whose union is successful discovers is that each spouse completes the other. Together they can achieve things that singly would be impossible.
