Or for his virgin sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband — for her he may make himself unclean. The unmarried sister who has no husband and is dependent on her priestly brother is included in the close-relative exception. The vulnerability of the dependent unmarried sister — without the protection of a husband or her own household — creates the pastoral exception: the priestly brother can mourn her because she has no one else whose mourning would honor her. The exception communicates the covenant's attention to the most vulnerable: the unmarried sister's death receives the priestly brother's grief precisely because she has no one else.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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