The table below presents an aligned extract of verses
in
Lv21-01e,Lv21-11.
Both verses
discuss
the prohibition of priests becoming ritually
impure by contact with a dead person
The alignment justifies the Rashi assertions that
The priest should not come to a dead body
in ordinary funerals in the country.
But if he bumped into the dead body (strewn
on say a road) the priest should defile himself and
bury the person.
Verse
|
Text of Verse
|
Rashi comment
|
Lv21-01e
|
- to a soul
- in the country
- the priest should
- not become defiled
|
- He shouldn't come to ordinary funerals in the country
- But if he bumps unexpectedly to a dead person on the road
then he should bury it.
|
Lv21-11
|
- to any dead soul
- -----
- the High priest should
- not come
|
- He shouldn't come to ordinary funerals in the country
- But if he bumps unexpectedly to a dead person on the road
then he should bury it.
|
Advanced Rashi:
In our analysis we have emphasized the two contrastive aligned pairs
come-defile and in the country indicated in bullets (2) and (4)
in the above table. The combined nuances of these two bullets - come vs. bump into-
and - in the country vs on the road - make it plausible that the Bible makes an
exception if either the priest or High Priest bumped unexpectedly into a dead body
on the road with no one attending to the person to bury it. In such a case the
Priest must defile himself and bury the body. In presenting this explanation
we have deviated from Rashi's literal statement that we infer this law
from the extra phrase in the country (bullet #(2)). We instead offer
a combined approach come vs bumped into unexpectedly (bullet #(4)) and
in the country vs on the road (bullet #(2)). The combined approach makes
Rashi more plausible. Such a reading of Rashi where we interpret
Rashi's statement we learn from
here to mean We learn from a variety of places inclding here is
consistent with the approach to Rashi laid down in rule #1, references above.
There are some further subtleties in this Rashi which we have not gone into.
For example the Bible splits the aligned nuances between the
chapters dealing with Priest and High Priest.
The High Priest should not come to a dead body but he may defile himself to
a dead body he bumps into unexpectedly. Similarly the ordinary priest should not let
himself be defiled for funerals in the country; but for a dead body
on the road he
may or even should let himself be defiled. It is my opinion that Rashi simply
noted one difference in the country. He expected each student to
supplement this one observation with other differences.
|