The Sages decreed that anyone who left Israel would immediately become ritually impure to discourage people from leaving the Land of Israel. Ostensibly, this is because people who live outside of Israel are not as careful marking off graves (ground-based impurity), and one can pass over an unknown grave. However, the Sages may have declared the airspace outside Israel impure (air-based impurity).
The laws of nazir may shed some light on this. A nazir who went outside of Israel becomes ritually impure and will have to continue his days after he purifies himself. We also saw that he purifies himself with the ashes of Red Heifer. Now, the ashes are only needed for the impurity of the dead. This proves that the out-of-Israel impurity was because of the unmarked graves, and it is a ground-based impurity, does it not? – Actually, no. It could be that this is sheer air-based impurity, and the ashes of the Red Heifer are mentioned only regarding a plowed-over cemetery but not anything else.
Art: Graveyard under Snow by Caspar David Friedrich
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