daf bit: Nazir 49

[cellio]

If a nazarite becomes ritually impure, he must shave, wait to become ritually pure, and start over. What are the things that can make him ritually impure? The mishna says contact with a corpse or parts (or derivatives) thereof. What is contact? Touching, being under the same roof as, or being above or below a corpse (without an intervening roof). (49b)

This list has a lot in common with contact forbidden to kohanim. I don't know if that's just a similarity or if there is some causal link; I could imagine seeing priests as being akin to nazarites in that they are dedicated to ritual service, though most are not actual nazarites. (The bit about being above a body without a roof intervening is why some kohanim will not fly over graveyards. I have no idea if floors on multi-story buildings count as roofs; does a kohein have to worry about the apartment below his?)

Comments

[magid.livejournal.com]

The major source of ritual impurity in Judaism is dead bodies, which affects a lot of things, but in modern days, without a Temple and so forth, it's an eara of halacha that's not dealt with much beyond women's monthly ritual impuurity (for which I've heard one explanation that the reason there's impurity at all is that there was a potential life that didn't happen... relating back to the major reason for ritual impurity).

[baron-steffan.livejournal.com]

Understand that I'm looking at this as a not-particularly-frum Conservative/Reform Jew, but I'm struck by a contrast. On the one hand we have this concern about whether a multistory building's floor counts as a roof -- and I didn't know about the flying-over-graveyards thing, where I suppose the question is "does the fuselage of an airplane count as a floor*". But on the other hand we have the laws of eruv, where a mere cord counts as a "wall". Why does a "roof" have to be real, while a "wall" can be a piece of string?

* Clearly not, since a plane is a vehicle, not a building, yes?

[fauxklore]

I know a few kohanim who also won't walk under a tree branch if the tree is growing in a cemetery.

Tumah 101

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

A kohen is not allowed to make himself tamei to a corpse which is not one of the close relatives (parent, wife, sibling or child). A nazir is not allowed to make himself tamei to a corpse even if it is a close relative. This difference is usually attributed to the fact that a Kohen is a kohen by virtue of his family, while a nazir is not a nazir in this way (Samson, being a nazir by parental vow, would probably still not be allowed to attend funerals for close relatives)

Thus Kohanim today who observe this mitzva should avoid being in a situation which will make them tamei. The tumah of a Jewish corpse is transmitted in 3 ways: 1) touching 2) carrying 3) tent, which has 3 subcategories 3a) being together in a tent which has 1 tefach (handsbreath) of space above the corpse 3b) if the corpse is immediately above the kohen 3c) if the corpse is immediately below the kohen. The latter two subcategories can best be understood like this, which Jewish cemetaries work to avoid: imagine a corpse buried underground. Because there is no space between the corpse and the earth above him, a kohen who stood above him would be making a "tent" over him (even though there is no space between the kohen and the ground) and become tamei. Similarly, this ray of tumah extend upward an infinite distance until stopped by a tent of some sort (trees work for this). Little discussion that I have seen is devoted to a person under a corpse, but he the corpse were hanging in the air, anyone or anything (this doesn't just apply to kohanim, but is only practiced today by kohanim) passing underneath the corpse would become tamei.

Floors of apartment buildings would work, but the fact that the two apartments are connected by a continuous indoor path complicates things. A building which requires a person to walk outdoors to go from floor to floor (such as some motels & condo buildings) would be less problematic, I think.