“Tumah, meaning impurity, is connected to the word atum, meaning sealed. The Jewish idea of impurity is something that seals us off from holiness…

The greatest source of tumah is contact with a dead body… When life leaves the body, it seems like the end. We don’t see the continuity of the life of the soul in the world of souls and the eventual reuniting of body and soul in the world to come. These are at best intellectual concepts to us…

The great barrier that separates us from those who pass beyond this world, this greatest sealing off, this feeling that after life, there is nothing, is the greatest impurity that can be.

…G-d says… “I struck down and I will heal”… The word machatzi, [I struck down] can be read as me-chi-tza-ti, my barrier. G-d says, ‘I will heal my barrier’. The promise of G-d is that the doom of death is not eternal, and the barrier to life beyond will eventually fall.

The knowledge that death is only a temporary barrier is our greatest consolation in times of loss.”

DISCLAIMER
The above excerpts/quotes are provided by Emor precisely as they appear in the original source, without any modifications or corrections to typos. Text within square brackets, as well as subtitles and bold formatting, are added by Emor for emphasis, clarification, or commentary, and the original content has not been changed.