Emor translates to “say” and the first line of the parashat is:
Vayomer Adonai el-Moshe
emor el-hakohanim b’ney Aharon
v'amarta aleihem:
L'nefesh lo-yitama b'amav.
God said to Moses:
Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron
and say to them:
None shall defile himself for any [dead] person among his kin
Nefesh first appears in Genesis 1:20: haMayim sheretz nefesh chayah, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures.” Nefesh is translated as “soul” and chayah means “living.”
This same phrase is used in Genesis 2:7 when God breathes life into Adam.
In Emor, nefesh is used without chayah to mean "dead soul” or “dead person." The next word, yitama, means to become defiled. To defile something is to desecrate something sacred. In Jewish law, this is a spiritual state, not a physical one. Tum'ah is to be in a state of ritual impurity which restricts a person from holy activities, such as entering the Temple or consuming holy food. The rituals that return a person to purity, taharah, differ based on the source of tum’ah.
This first line of Emor is a negative mitzvah, the prohibition against Kohanim coming into contact with a dead body (with the exception for close family members). However, Leviticus 5:2 has established other ways that people become impure and, in Numbers 19 (Parasha Chukat), we learn that anyone who comes into contact with a dead body, or is in the same tent, or touches a human bone or a grave, becomes impure for seven days. Chukat also gives us instructions for purification: The law of the Red Heifer, one of the strangest stories in the Torah.
Briefly, a red cow without blemish that has never been worked is slaughtered by the High Priest; its blood is sprinkled seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting; its hide, flesh blood and dung are burned along with cedar wood, hyssop, and “crimson stuff”. The priest then becomes impure so another person must gather the ashes and deposit them outside the camp. That person also becomes impure.
A priest mixes some of the ashes with fresh water to create the water of lustration, which is sprinkled on the impure person on the third day and the seventh day. The person must then wash their clothes and bathe in a mikveh, and they become pure in the evening.
This decree defies rational explanation and is considered beyond human understanding, but then it makes a dire warning: “Whoever touches a corpse and does not undergo cleansing, defiles God’s Tabernacle; that person shall be cut off from Israel.”
Other sources of tum’ah, in ascending order of severity, include:
- Semen Emission
- Childbirth (Yoledet): (7 days for a son, 14 days for a daughter)
- Menstruation (Niddah)
- Discharges (Zav/Zavah) other than semen and menstrual blood
- Skin Disease (Tzaraath)
- The Eight Creeping Animals: After Leviticus 11 defines what animals may be eaten, it then randomly lists eight animals whose corpses cannot be touched, including moles, mice, lizards, geckos, crocodiles, and chameleons.
Corpse contamination (tumat met) is considered the highest level of ritual impurity and is called avi avot hatumah (literally "grandfather of impurity"). The Mishnah describes several grades of tumat met: The corpse itself is the most severe; followed by anyone who touches the corpse; and then if that person touches anyone else, or food and drink, while they are still impure.
It would be very easy to dismiss this as public health dressed as religion: Corpses have diseases so requiring people to isolate and wash after contact with a corpse just makes sense, right? As far back as the 18th century BCE people were aware of contagion. The etymology of the word tum’ah is obscure but it reflects the idea that a defiling substance can be transferred from one person or thing to another, even if it is not visible.
But if this is for pragmatic reasons, why is the ritual so enigmatic? God repeatedly tells us, “You shall be holy for I am holy.” In Judaism, "holy" (kadosh) means “set apart” and ritual items have strict rules for their use. When we light the shabbat candles, we do not use them for light or warmth; when we wear tallit, blow the shofar or read the siddur, these are all treated with reverence. Similarly, for the Israelites to be set apart, to become holy, we also must have rules for how to live, as well as a way to return to a state of holiness.
In Jewish tradition, a human corpse is viewed as profoundly sacred—often compared to an "impaired Torah scroll"—retaining holiness even after death. The dead body creates the highest form of ritual impurity precisely because it requires special purification rites. And for those handling the body, death reminds us of our own mortality, it takes us out of the life-affirming nature of holiness, which in turn requires extreme steps for us to return. Tum’ah literally forces us to choose between life and death, and warns us that if we don’t make the effort to return to life, we are cutting ourselves off from God.
N.B. In copying this, all of the footnotes were stripped out, so apologies for not referencing my sources.
