Parashat Behaalotkha: What's Going On Here?
User Profile Picture
ByHadar Institute

What's going on here? מַה זֶה?

To sacrifice a קָרְבַּן פֶּסַח (korban pesah), a person had to be טָהוֹר (tahor, pure). Our parashah describes an incident when some people couldn’t bring a korban pesah because they were טָמֵא (tamei, impure) from coming in contact with a dead body.

Who were these people? A midrash offers some suggestions (Sifrei Bemidbar 68):
  • Rabbi Yishmael says they were the ones who carried Yosef’s coffin, and that’s what made them tamei. (Remember that Benei Yisrael took Yosef’s bones with them when they left Egypt; Shemot 13:19.)
  • Rabbi Akiva says they were Mishael and Eltzafan, who became tamei because they removed the bodies of Nadav and Avihu (Remember, these were Aharon’s sons who died; Vayikra 10:4.)
  • Rabbi Yitzhak says they were people who became tamei for a מֵת מִצְוָה (meit mitzvah), which is a situation when someone dies and there are no relatives to take care of the burial.
    • All these rabbis agree that these people had a good reason to be tamei. Maybe that’s why God gave them this second chance?