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21 ‎[1] **The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the priests, sons of Aaron. **Since the following commandments concern the priests, they should be addressed mainly to them. **And say to them: He, **a priest, **shall not become impure from a corpse among his people. **It is prohibited for a priest to come into contact with the ritual impurity imparted by a corpse, even outside the Temple.
‎[2] The verse lists the exceptions to the aforementioned prohibition. The priest may become impure
**only for his **deceased **kin, who is close to him: for his mother, for his father, for his son, for his daughter, **and **for his brother, **all of whom are first-degree blood relations.
‎[3] The priest may also become impure
**for his virgin sister, who is close to him, who has not been with a man, **neither married nor betrothed to one; **for her, he may become impure. **
‎[4] The priest is
**an important man among his people; **therefore, he **shall not become impure, to profane himself **. 1 Alternatively, the verse means that a priest may not become impure for an important individual; 2 that a husband may not become impure for a wife who profanes him, that is, in a case where he married a woman prohibited to him; 3 or that a priest may not become impure for more distant relatives. 4 The list of relatives for whom a priest may become impure includes only first-degree relatives; it is far shorter than the list of relatives with whom sexual relations are prohibited (18:6–18).
‎[5] **They shall not create a bald spot on their head **by tearing out their hair, **and the corner of their beard they shall not shave, and in their flesh they shall not make a laceration. **In the surrounding heathen societies, mourners would tear out their hair and lacerate themselves as an expression of sorrow or due to some other overwhelming emotion. 5 The prohibition against shaving the corner of one’s beard is stated above with regard to all Jews 6 and is reiterated here with regard to the priests in the context of mourning. 7
‎[6] **They shall be holy to their God, and they shall not profane the name of their God **due to their sanctity, **for the fire offerings of the Lord, the food of their God, they offer; they shall be holy. **Due to their unique status as ministers of God, certain restrictions apply to priests that do not apply to the rest of the people. These include the requirement to distance themselves from the dead and the additional prohibitions against disfiguring their bodies.
‎[7] In addition to these prohibitions, the priests are also restricted with regard to whom they may marry:
**A licentious woman, **one who engaged in prohibited sexual relations, **or a profaned woman, **a woman profaned because of sexual relations, **they, **the priests, **shall not marry. **
‎[8] The Torah now addresses all Jews, or at least the courts that are responsible for the enforcement of the commandments, and instructs them:
**You shall sanctify him, **the priest, treating him with reverence and ensuring that he maintains his sanctity, **for he presents the food of your God. **Not only are the priests themselves required to maintain their sanctity by adhering to the aforementioned commandments, but the rest of the people are also required to sanctify them. These commandments are not for the priests’ self-aggrandizement and glorification. They are obligations imposed upon the entire community to uphold the sanctity of the priests, so that they will be worthy of their noble function. 8 **He shall be holy to you, for I, the Lord your sanctifier, am holy. **Due to the priests’ closeness to God, they must maintain a greater state of sanctity, which involves the observance of certain prohibitions.
‎[9] The verse presents another law that stems from the priests’ state of sanctity:
**The **married **daughter of a man who is a priest, if she shall profane herself by acting licentiously **, 9 **she profanes her father; she shall be burned in fire. **Even if she were not the daughter of a priest, she would be liable to receive the death penalty. However, the particular method of execution, burning, is more severe than the death penalty meted out to other women who committed the same sin, and this emphasizes the severity of her offense as the daughter of a priest. 10
‎[10] **The priest who is greater than his brethren, that the anointing oil will be poured on his head, **in order to appoint him as the High Priest, **and who is ordained to don the **unique **vestments **of the High Priest, since he is sanctified to a greater extent than the other priests, **he shall not grow out the hair of his head **during a period of mourning, **and he shall not rend his garments. **
‎[11] **He shall not go near any dead people. **He is prohibited from coming into contact with a corpse under any circumstances. **He shall not become impure **even **for his father and for his mother, **and certainly not for other relatives, whom he is under no obligation to honor. 11
‎[12] **He shall not emerge from the Sanctuary **to accompany the dead or for other matters concerned with mourning the deceased. 12 This is so **that he not profane the Sanctuary of his God **by deviating from the prohibitions that sanctify him. He must maintain his sanctity, **for the crown of the anointing oil of his God, **his unique appointment **, is on him. I am the Lord, **and it is I who confer a unique role and elevated status upon the High Priest.
‎[13] The High Priest is also restricted to a greater extent in the matter of marriage:
**He shall marry **only **a woman with her virginity **intact.
‎[14] **A widow, or a divorcée, or a profaned woman, or a licentious woman, these he shall not marry. **Three of these four women are prohibited to common priests (see verse 7). In addition to these, the High Priest is also prohibited from marrying a divorcée. He may not marry a woman who has had relations with a man: **Only a virgin from his people he shall take as a wife. **
‎[15] **He shall not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the Lord, his sanctifier. **
‎[16] **The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: **
‎[17] **Speak to Aaron. **The following matter is addressed to Aaron, as it introduces an additional aspect of his priesthood. You shall speak to him, **saying: Any man from your descendants, **the
‎[18] **For any man in whom there is a blemish **at present **shall not approach **the Sanctuary. He is unfit to perform the sacred service, even if the blemish is only temporary. 13 The Torah lists those blemishes that render a priest unfit: **a blind man, or lame, or with a sunken nose. **A sunken nose is an overtly visible blemish, even though it does not impair one’s abilities. 14 The list of blemishes continues: **or **a man **with a protruding limb, **the opposite of a sunken nose, 15
‎[19] **or a man with a broken foot or a broken hand **that has not yet healed,
‎[20] **or a hunchback **, **or a dwarf **, **or **a man **with a cataract in his eye, **a white spot that covers part of the eye, usually without causing blindness, 18 **or scabbed, or with a skin eruption, **certain forms of skin diseases, 19 **or with crushed testicles. **The Sages dispute the precise nature of this last blemish. 20 Some of these blemishes do not bother the individual in question, but nevertheless are conspicuous to an observer.
‎[21] **Any man in whom there is a blemish from the descendants of Aaron the priest shall not approach to present the fire offerings of the Lord; he has a blemish, **and **the food of his God he shall not approach to offer. **The verse twice states the prohibition that a blemished priest “shall not approach” to present offerings. The Sages derive from the repetition that other physical blemishes that are noticeably abnormal also prohibit a priest from serving in the Temple.
‎[22] **The food of his God from the sacred sacraments and from the sacraments **of lesser sanctity 21 **he may eat. **Although a blemished priest is unfit to present offerings on the altar, the blemishes do not mar the priest’s character and do not disqualify him from the sanctity of the priesthood. He therefore does not forfeit his right to partake of the sacrificial food.
‎[23] **However, he shall not come to **the inner sanctum, behind **the curtain, **as the High Priest does on the Day of Atonement, **and he may not approach the altar, **in the manner of all priests, **because there is a blemish in him. And he shall not profane My Sanctuary. **This teaches that if a blemished priest performs the rites of an offering, the offering is profaned and disqualified, 22 **for I am the Lord, their sanctifier **. 23
‎[24] **Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons, **to whom this passage is specifically addressed, **and to all the children of Israel. **These commandments do not pertain only to the priests, as all Jews are commanded to ensure that the priests observe these commandments meticulously. 242
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
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