Kommentar zu Wajikra 21:4

לא יטמא בעל בעמיו להחלו This means: he shall not defile himself for his wife if she is really unfitted to be his wife (because he is a כהן) and through whom he consequently becomes profaned as a priest, so long as she remains with him (Sifra, Emor, Section 1 15). The following, therefore, is the literal exposition of the verse: לא יטמא בעל, a husband shall not defile himself for his wife's corpse while it is among its people, which means that there are persons who can bury her so that she is not a מת מצוה (cf. Rashi’s explanation of בעמיו on v. 1). And with reference to what kind of wife do I say this? With reference to such a one who להחלו, i. e. who leads to his being profaned and therefore disqualified from his priestly duties so long as she remains with him (cf. Sifra, Emor, Section 1 15; Yevamot 90b).

לא יטמא בעל בעמיו להחלו, the reason why a priest is not to defile himself through contact with the dead except those of his next of kin, is that also the priest is indeed a בעל בעמיו, a distinguished, highly placed member of his people, it is his task to understand and teach these laws as we know from Maleachi 2,7 “for the lips of the priest are meant to guard knowledge, and Torah and the people will enquire concerning these from his mouth.” This makes him a person to be treated in the manner one treats a politically highly placed person, a king. Seeing he is supposed to be ever ready to serve the King of Kings, in His Temple, it is not appropriate for such a person to desecrate his status even temporarily in order to participate in the burial rites of ordinary people. According to our sages in Sanhedrin 47 the prime purpose of burying and eulogising the dead is to render honour to them. This conflicts with the honour the priests have to accord to G’d on an ongoing basis. However, the Torah exempts the priests from this restriction for burial and eulogising of near relatives from this rule. [some of the last line is my own wording, though it corresponds to the thoughts expressed by the author. Ed.]

לא יטמא בעל בעמיו, no husband among the tribe of the priests is to defile himself ritually

לא יטמא בעל בעמיו, “A husband among his people shall not contaminate himself to desecrate himself.” Rashi understands this verse as referring to a priest who has married someone forbidden to him as a wife, but whose marriage is recognized in Jewish halachah as such. Nachmanides understands the word בעל here as similar to that same word in Samuel II 6,2 מבעלי יהודה, from the “notables of the tribe of Yehudah.” [And other similar verses]. Accordingly, the message appears to be that priests are not only warned by the Torah not to defile themselves legally, but to be conscious of their position among the people at all times and to conduct themselves accordingly, so that they do not bring shame on the institution of the priesthood. One such example would be marrying someone obviously not suited, such as a harlot. Defiling himself by attending funerals of the people not his near relatives is among the things he must not do.

לא יטמא בעל בעמיו להחלו, “a husband [a priest, of course, Ed.] among his people, shall not contaminate himself to one (his wife) who had become his wife as a result of her having desecrated him.” According to the author of b’chor shor, we must understand this as if the Torah had written: לבעל בעמיו, even if he is a High Priest.” [The word בעל is being used by that commentator as “the highest authority,” not only the husband, i.e. his wife’s authority. Ed.] Even in the situation described, an alternate priest who is not allowed to defile himself except to the relatives mentioned in our portion may not substitute for the High Priest to save him from performing the commandment of מת מצוה.

לא יטמא בעל בעמיו, “a husband (who is a priest) may not defile himself for his wife’s corpse;” if there are other people available who can do this without delay. According to the Targum, there is a letter ב missing here at the beginning of the word בעל which should be understood as if it had been written בבעל. The reference then would be to the High Priest not being allowed to bury his wife as he is the highest ranking priest. According to our author, this construction is not unique, and he cites Genesis 38,11 שבי אלמנה בית אביך, where Yehudah tells his daughterinlaw to spend the period of her widowhood in her father’s house pending his son Shelah becoming of age so that he could marry her. In other words, the word בית there should really have been: בבית, “in the house.” Our author claims that there are numerous such constructions to be found elsewhere. According to Ibn Ezra, the verse speaks of an ordinary priest not being allowed to defile himself on his wife’s body, as she is not a blood relative.

להחלו, as he would thereby desecrate his status as a priest. According to the words of our sages (compare Rashi) he is not to so defile himself if his dead wife had been someone whom a priest should not have married in the first place, such as a divorcee; however, he is entitled or obligated to defile himself for the sake of burying a wife whom he was legally entitled to have married.