Midrasch zu Wajikra 21:1

(Lev. 21:1:) THEN THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES: SPEAK UNTO THE PRIESTS, THE SONS OF AARON, < AND SAY UNTO THEM: LET NO ONE DEFILE HIMSELF FOR A DEAD SOUL AMONG HIS PEOPLE >. This text is related (to Ps. 12:7 [6]): THE SAYINGS OF THE LORD ARE PURE SAYINGS…. Everything < against > which the Holy One warned Israel is for the sake of their holiness and their purity.¹Tanh., Lev. 8:1. (Ibid.:) THE SAYINGS OF THE LORD ARE PURE SAYINGS. (Lev. 21:1:) SPEAK (literally: SAY) UNTO THE PRIESTS, THE SONS OF AARON, AND SAY UNTO THEM. Note that "say" < occurs > two times. To what is the matter comparable? To a cook who would go in and out before the king. The king said: I am commanding you not to look at a dead person all your days, since you come in and out before me, lest you defile my palace.²Lat.: praetorium, Gk.: praitorion. Similarly, the Holy One had commanded the priests who enter the Temple not to be defiled for a dead person. It therefore says (in Lev. 21:1): LET NO ONE DEFILE HIMSELF FOR A DEAD SOUL AMONG HIS PEOPLE.

(Lev. 21:1:) “Speak unto the priests.” This text is related (to Ps. 12:7), “The sayings of the Lord are pure sayings….” Everything [against] which the Holy One, blessed be He, warned Israel is for the sake of their holiness and their purity. Hence, “The sayings of the Lord are pure sayings.” Another interpretation (of Lev. 21:1), “Speak (literally, say) unto the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say unto them”: Note that "say" [occurs] two times. To what is the matter comparable? To a cook who would go in and out before the king. The king said, “I am commanding you not to look at a dead person all your days since you come in and out before me, lest you defile my palace.”¹Lat.: praetorium, Gk.: praitorion. Similarly, the Holy One, blessed be He, had commanded the priests who enter the Temple not to be defiled for a dead person. It therefore says (in Lev. 21:1), “Let no one defile himself for a dead soul among his people.”

Another matter, “who is like the wise man” – this is Moses, in whose regard it is written: “A wise man ascended against the city of the mighty” (Proverbs 21:22).¹³This is an allusion to Moses ascending
heavenward to the stronghold of the angels to receive the Torah. “And who knows the meaning of a matter” – as he explained the Torah to Israel. Rabbi Mana of Shaab said in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: For each and every matter that the Holy One blessed be He would say to Moses, He would tell him its ritual impurity and purity.¹⁴For each form of ritual impurity He taught Moses, God would also teach him how to return to a state of ritual purity. When he reached the portion of: “Say to the priests” (Leviticus 21:1),¹⁵This is the prohibition against priests subjecting themselves to the impurity imparted by a corpse. [Moses] said before Him: ‘Master of the universe, but if they do become impure, in what manner is their purification?’ He did not respond to him. At that moment, Moses’s face changed. When they reached the portion of the red heifer,¹⁶Numbers chap. 19. Being sprinkled with the ashes of the red heifer in a specific ritual removes the ritual impurity imparted by a corpse. the Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: ‘That statement that I said to you: “Say to the priests,” and you said to Me: ‘In what manner is their purification,’ and I did not respond to you; this is their purification: “They shall take for the impure from the ashes of the burning of the purification” (Numbers 19:17).’ [Moses] said to Him: ‘Master of the universe, is that purification?’¹⁷How can sprinkling ashes remove impurity imparted by a corpse? The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘It is a statute, and I issued a decree, and no creature can comprehend My decree,’ as it is written: “This is the statute of the Torah” (Numbers 19:2).