Chazal tell us that Klal Yisrael were purged of the defilement of the primordial Serpent through the experience of Maamad Har Sinai, and death would no longer be applicable to them. However, because of the sin of the eigel ha’zahav, that defilement returned. The Leviim, though, did not participate in the debacle of the eigel ha’zahav. They were nevertheless included in the restored reality of death because of a “gezeiras ha’kasuv” type of blanket-rule. However, they still retained a certain quality that transcends the reality of death. This quality is manifest in the fact that removing the defilement of a dead body can be executed only be a Kohen. This finds expression in the Kohen’s exclusive ability to carry out the purification process of a metzora. Chazal tell us that the defiled state of a metzora is akind to the tumah of a dead body. The Kohen’s ability to do away with that tumah stems from the fact that Shevet Levi had no part in the eigel ha’zahav. They therefore maintained – to some degree – the power of being above death that granted us at Maamad Har Sinai.
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