Nazir 43: On Corpses, Body Parts, and Ritual Impurity for Kohanim

The rabbis are in the middle of a conversation about the transfer of ritual impurity.  They note that one who enters a place that is ritually impure contracts that ritual impurity.  Even putting one's hand or one's nose in that space is enough to make the entire body ritually impure.  The rabbis discuss whether a person must be actually dead to impart ritual impurity.  If a nazirite or kohen enters a home that houses a dead body, certainly s/he becomes ritually impure.  But should that nazirite or kohen also be penalized for becoming ritually impure for touching the corpse when s/he has already incurred ritual impurity from simple entering the house?  

The rabbis discuss another unsavoury topic - how nazirites or kohanim might be affected if the corpse has been dismembered in some way.  They speak of a son who is travelling and his father is killed; his father's head is dismembered.  Shouldn't the son help to collect and bury the body even if it would make him ritually impure?  We learn about a met mitzvah, a positive commandment concerning death, where a priest who otherwise is liable to be lashed if he touches a corpse is permitted to bury the dead.  A met mitzvah is allowed in the case of a Jew found where no one else is able to bury the body and in the cases of the death one's close relatives. 

We learn that even a priest does not become ritually impure through the act of burying a limb or another body part from a corpse.  Nor does s/he become ritually impure from burying an olive-bulk of fluid or a spade of dust from a corpse.  

As much as these conversations seem morbid and grotesque, there exists an underlying theme of compassion.  One who has lost a close family member will be - and should be - preoccupied with the immediate burial of that family member.  Ritual impurity is a concern, but not one that should stop a priest from attending to the very emotionally and practically important tasks involved in burial of the dead.