Impurity from the dead on an airplane
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Question
Shalom to the honored Rav,
I would like to ask regarding the status of a Kohen’s impurity in our times.
Although nowadays we are all in a state of tum'at met (impurity from contact with the dead), nevertheless a Kohen is warned not to add impurity to his existing impurity, and therefore Kohanim are careful not to become impure through a dead body.
It is known that there are Kohanim who, when flying, make a point of checking the airplane’s route so that it does not pass over a cemetery, and they also check whether there is a deceased person being transported in the plane’s cargo hold for burial.
What I find difficult is this: when the deceased is in a coffin in which there is an empty space of more than a tefach (approximately 9.6 cm according to the Chazon Ish) between the body of the deceased and the lid of the coffin, it would seem that this constitutes an ohel (tent) that serves as a barrier, and the impurity does not break through and rise up to the heavens, for the law of “impurity that breaks through” applies only when there is no space of a tefach.
If so, what is the concern for Kohanim on an airplane? And why is there such great care taken to check flight paths or whether there is a dead body in the cargo hold?
I would like to ask regarding the status of a Kohen’s impurity in our times.
Although nowadays we are all in a state of tum'at met (impurity from contact with the dead), nevertheless a Kohen is warned not to add impurity to his existing impurity, and therefore Kohanim are careful not to become impure through a dead body.
It is known that there are Kohanim who, when flying, make a point of checking the airplane’s route so that it does not pass over a cemetery, and they also check whether there is a deceased person being transported in the plane’s cargo hold for burial.
What I find difficult is this: when the deceased is in a coffin in which there is an empty space of more than a tefach (approximately 9.6 cm according to the Chazon Ish) between the body of the deceased and the lid of the coffin, it would seem that this constitutes an ohel (tent) that serves as a barrier, and the impurity does not break through and rise up to the heavens, for the law of “impurity that breaks through” applies only when there is no space of a tefach.
If so, what is the concern for Kohanim on an airplane? And why is there such great care taken to check flight paths or whether there is a dead body in the cargo hold?
Answer
Shalom u’vracha.
The rule of an “open tefach” is effective only when there is an empty space of a tefach by a tefach that serves as a place through which the impurity can go out to the outside.
But when the ohel (covering) itself is sealed and there is no place for the impurity to exit, the impurity breaks through and rises upward.
Source
Mishnah Ohalot 3:7, based on the explanations of the Rash and the Rosh.
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