Halakhah su Levitico 21:12

Sometimes the reasons for commandments are similar to negative commandments and are thought of as being included in that which should be counted by itself. And this is like its stating, "Then the first husband who sent her away shall not take her to wife again [...] you must not bring sin upon the land" (Deuteronomy 24:4): Its stating, "you must not bring sin upon the land," is the reason for the prohibition that preceded it. It is as if it is saying that if you do this, you will cause great loss to the land. An it is [also] like its stating, "Do not profane your daughter and make her a harlot, lest the land fall into harlotry" (Leviticus 19:29). For its stating, "lest the land fall into harlotry," is the reason. It as if it said that the reason of this prohibition is so that "the land not fall into harlotry." And so too, its stating, "you shall not make yourselves unclean therewith and become unclean with them" (Leviticus 11:43): After mentioning the prohibition of the various species that are forbidden to eat, it gave a reason for this and said, "you shall not make yourselves unclean" by eating them. It is as if it is saying that which caused this to be prohibited is the making of oneself impure. And to explain that which He, may He be blessed, said after He prefaced not taking ransom from a murderer, "You shall not defile the land" (Numbers 35:34) - they said in the Sifrei (Sifrei Bamidbar 160:13), "The verse is telling us that spilling blood defiles the land." Hence behold it is clear that this negative statement is the reason for the previous negative commandment, not something else. And likewise regarding that which is stated, "He shall not go outside the sanctuary and not profane" (Leviticus 21:12) - if he does go outside, he profanes. And someone besides us already erred about this principle as well, and counted all of these [as] negative commandments, without observation. However whoever counted them will be embarrassed when they ask him and say, "What thing does this negative commandment prohibit?" And he will not have anything to answer at all. So through this, it becomes clear that it is not be counted. And this is what we intended to clarify about this principle.

That the priests not go out from the Temple at the time of the service: That the priests not go out from the Temple at the time of the service, as it stated (Leviticus 10:7), "And from the entrance of the Tent of Meeting you shall not go out, lest you die." And this prevention was repeated likewise with the high priest, and it stated (Leviticus 21:12), "And from the sanctuary he shall not go out." And the language of Sifra, Shemini, Mechilta d'Miluim 42-43 is "'And from the entrance of the Tent of Meeting' - it could be [that they shall not go out] at the time of the service and [also] not at the time of the service. [Hence] we learn to say, 'And from the sanctuary he shall not go out and he will not profane' - [...] it would be said, when he is officiating. [...] 'For the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you' - I only have Aharon and his sons who were anointed with the oil of anointment, if they went out while serving, they would be liable for death; from where [do I know] for all of the priests of the generations? As it is stated, 'for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.'"

That He prohibited the priests from leaving the Temple at the time of the [Temple] service. And that is His, may He be exalted, saying, "And from the door of the Tent of Meeting, etc." (Leviticus 10:7). And this prohibition was already repeated when He said about a high priest, "And out of the sanctuary shall he not go" (Leviticus 21:12). And the language of the [Sifra] (Sifra Shemini, Mechilta d'Miluim 2:42-43) is "'And from the door of the Tent of Meeting he shall not go out' - I might think [even] not during the service. [Hence] we learn to say, 'shall he not go out and he will not desecrate.' I would [hence] say, [only] at the time of the service. 'For the anointing oil of the Lord [is upon you]' - I only know [about] Aharon and his sons, that if they went out at the time of the service, they would be liable for death. From where [do we know] about the priests in all the generations? [Hence] we learn to say, 'for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.'" And know that there is a supplement with the high priest, that he may not accompany his dead [relatives]. And this is the simple understanding of Scripture, from His saying, "And out of the sanctuary shall he not go." And it has already been explained in the second [chapter] of Sanhedrin (Sanhedrin 18a) that if [a relative] of his died upon him, he may not follow the [procession of the] bier. And they brought a proof from His saying, "And out of the sanctuary shall he not go [and he shall not desecrate]." And we learn from this that it is permissible for him to serve [in the Temple] on the day that his [relative] dies. And so did they explain, "And out of the sanctuary shall he not go": "Behold another, if he did not go out [but served], he desecrated" - meaning to say, an ordinary priest. For the service is not permitted for him when he is grieving. Rather he is prohibited from this - meaning to say that he may not serve [while] grieving. And this principle has already been explained to you in Horayot (Horayot 12b). And that is that an ordinary priest that is grieving may not serve, but a high priest may serve when he is grieving. And behold that it has been made clear to you that His saying, "and he shall not desecrate," is a negation - not a prohibition - to say that his service is not desecrated, even thought he is grieving. But the simple meaning is [that] when He said, "and He shall not desecrate" - it is a reason for the previous prohibition, which is [that] he shall not go out, so that he shall not desecrate. And according to these things - as has been explained - this negative statement is inappropriate to count separately [as a negative commandment], as has been explained to the one who understands the original principles of this essay. And it has already been explained that these three negative commandments - which are, "and he shall not let his head be wild, or rend his garments [...] And out of the sanctuary shall he not go" - have already been repeated with a high priest, to explain their content. [This is] like the prohibition about the divorcee, the zonah and the desecrated woman is repeated to explain some content about these three things that were prohibited to them. For these three negative commandments [to the high priest] are exactly that which was forbidden to them when He said, "you shall not let your head be wild and do not rend your garments [...] And from the door of the Tent of Meeting he shall not go out." And that was what our teacher, Moshe - peace be upon him - said to Elazar and Itamar: That in your excitement about this great distress, the content that is forbidden to you has not become permitted; rather you are [still] in your holiness of being forbidden about unkempt hair, tearing garments and leaving the Temple during the service. And [here] the prohibition was repeated with the high priest, such that we understood that this prohibition [for which one is] liable for death is only during the service. As you see that they brought a proof to explain the matter of His saying, "And from the door of the Tent of Meeting, etc." - from His saying, "And out of the sanctuary shall he not go." And even though there is a supplement in each of these negative commandments that were repeated with the high priests - as we explained - there is no expansion of the count of the commandments with this, for the one who understands our introduction. For the essence of the verse is that he should not do any of this during the service. (See Parashat Shemini; Mishneh Torah, Admission into the Sanctuary 2.)