Sanhedrin 032

5:
The rest of this mishnah is concerned with possible infringements of the dignity of the High Priest when he is personally involved in matters connected with his personal status in common with other Jews. The first item in this category is Ĥalitzah. We have often had occasion to explain this concept: for the last time check out our web archive for March 9th last, explanation #12. In great brevity let us say that when a woman becomes a childless widow she should be married by her husband's surviving brother; should he choose not to do so (and nowadays he may not choose to do so!) a ceremony must be performed called Ĥalitzah. This ceremony was designed to be degrading for the man (for details see archives as before). Nevertheless, our mishnah stipulates that if his sister-in-law needs him to give her Ĥalitzah he must submit, despite the blow to his high-priestly dignity that is involved. Interestingly enough, our mishnah also indicates that the dignity of the high priest also adheres to his spouse; for it specifically stipulates that if he dies leaving her a childless widow, the deceased high priest's brother must give her Ĥalitzah. Alternatively, should the high priest's brother choose to take his brother's widow to wife – a ceremony called Yibbum [levirate marriage] – he may do so. But if the high priest survives his brother he may not marry his childless sister-in-law. The reason for this is stated clearly in the Torah portion we read last Shabbat (outside Israel it will be read next Shabbat) [Leviticus 21:13-14]: "He [the High Priest] must marry a woman who is a virgin; he may not marry a widow, a divorcée…" Since the requirement of marriage to a virgin applies only to the high priest, this rule does not prevent his brother from contracting a levirate marriage, as we have already noted.

6:
The first verses of the chapter just quoted [Leviticus 21:1-3] require a priest to be careful not to come into contact with a corpse, this restriction being lifted only for the relatives for whom he must observe statutory mourning: "He [the priest] shall not defile himself for his kinsfolk. Only for his closest relatives [may he do so]: mother, father, son, daughter, brother and unmarried sister…" (To this list we must, of course, add his spouse.) This list has become accepted as the list of relatives for whom all Jews are required to observe statutory mourning: parent, child, sibling, spouse. Our mishnah states that if one of these relatives dies the High Priest may not join the funeral cortège, he may not 'accompany' the deceased [Levayah in Hebrew] to his grave. In earlier times (and in modern Israel for the most part) people are not interred in coffins or caskets, but the body, wrapped in its grave-clothes [Takhrikhim] is thus carried to the cemetery and thus placed in the grave. Should the High Priest join in the funeral procession there is a danger that in his anguish he might touch the corpse, thus defiling himself ritually. To prevent this, our mishnah prescribes that he must always be one street behind the rest of the procession: when they turn into the next street he may enter the street, and so forth.

7:
According to the mishnah [Bava Batra 2:9] installations that produced a stench could not be placed to the west of the towns. Such installations include a tannery and the burial grounds. In mishnaic times corpses were laid in niches inside burial caves, and only about a year later were the bones collected and placed in a small receptacle. Since the prevailing winds in Eretz-Israel are westerly, it was ecologically sound to have these installations mainly to the east of the towns and villages.