Daily Mitzvah (Rambam)

The 168th prohibition is that a kohen gadol is forbidden from becoming tameh by means of a dead body, regardless of the type of contact — whether through touching or carrying.1

The source of this prohibition is G‑d's statement,2 "He shall not become tameh [even] for his father or mother."

You might think that this mitzvah and the previous one3 are all one idea, and the phrase, "He shall not become tameh [even] for his father or mother," is merely explaining [the previous phrase4]. But this is not the case; there are two prohibitions, "He shall not come," and "He shall not become tameh." [We see this from] the words of the Sifra:5 "He is punished for transgressing, 'He shall not come,' and he is punished for transgressing, 'He shall not become tameh.' "

These prohibitions [regarding a kohen gadol] also apply to a regular kohen, because of a gezeira shavah.6 Our Sages said, "Just as the kohen gadol is forbidden from becoming tameh through a dead body by two prohibitions — 'He shall not come' and 'He shall not become tameh' — so too the regular kohen. Since he is prohibited from becoming tameh,7 he also has the prohibition, 'He shall not come.' " This prohibition, however, is not counted separately, for the reason given in the Second Introductory Principle.8

But we have counted these [of the kohen gadol] as two separate mitzvos because there are two separate statements: "He shall not come" and "He shall not become tameh." And the prohibition "he shall not come" is independent of "he shall not become tameh," as our Sages, guardians of the Oral Tradition, said, "He is punished for transgressing, 'He shall not come,' and he is punished for transgressing, 'He shall not become tameh.' "

Footnotes

1.

Tumah can be conveyed through touching the dead body [maga] or by carrying it, even if it is not touched [masa]. There is a third way, ohel, which is transmitted when the person is under the same roof (literally, "tent") as the dead body. This third type of tumah is counted by the Rambam as a separate prohibition (N167), as he now explains.

2.

Lev. 21:11.

3.

N167, regarding the tumah of ohel (see footnote above). As listed in Mishneh Torah (and therefore listed in the Moreh Shiur for Sefer HaMitzvos), this mitzvah comes after the present mitzvah, not before it as in Sefer HaMitzvos itself.

4.

The full verse reads, "He shall not come into [a tent containing] any dead body; He shall not become tameh [even] for his father or mother." If the second phrase (N168) was merely explaining the first (N167), it would be as if the verse said, "He shall not come into [a tent containing] any dead body in order that he not become tameh for his father or mother." If read in this way, the verse would constitute one mitzvah instead of two.

5.

Parshas Emor, op. cit.

6.

This is one of the 13 methods of Torah extrapolation. When two laws or ideas contain the same word or phrase, other aspects of the laws or ideas are sometimes applied to each other. In this case, the phrase, "He shall not become tameh," is said both by the kohen gadol (Lev. 21:11) and the regular kohen (ibid., 21:1) and the two are therefore compared.

7.

N166. See footnote there.

8.

A mitzvah which is derived by means of one of the 13 methods of Torah extrapolation is not counted among the 613 mitzvos.