Earlier, we mentioned that for seven days before Yom Kippur, the High Priest is separated into a special chamber, where they teach him the order of the services. Why do we do this?
The Talmud asks, what kind of question is that? We already explained: according to Rabbi Yochanan, this is derived from the dedication ceremony, and according to Resh Lakish - from the giving of the Torah. The Talmud then rephrases: why do we separate him from his “house,” that is, from his wife? Let her go together with him!
The Talmud answers that there may be a doubt about her being ritually impure because of the menses and dismisses that: are we talking about non-observant people? Of course not! Rather, the doubt may arise my accident, later, after they had relations. If so, we should likewise be concerned that someone will die in his presence, and we should not allow him any human contact at all! The answer is that the ritual impurity of the dead is different: if most of the priests (and in our case, if the High Priest, the only one who can lead the Yom Kippur service) are ritually impure with the impurity of the dead, the service can proceed. Alternatively, the answer is that people normally don’t die suddenly in one's presence, so the Sages were not concerned about this possibility.
Art: The Dead Body of Wallenstein by Von Piloty Karl Theodor
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