(א) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר הֹ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה אֱמֹ֥ר אֶל־הַכֹּהֲנִ֖ים בְּנֵ֣י אַהֲרֹ֑ן וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֲלֵהֶ֔ם לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ לֹֽא־יִטַּמָּ֖א בְּעַמָּֽיו׃ (ב) כִּ֚י אִם־לִשְׁאֵר֔וֹ הַקָּרֹ֖ב אֵלָ֑יו לְאִמּ֣וֹ וּלְאָבִ֔יו וְלִבְנ֥וֹ וּלְבִתּ֖וֹ וּלְאָחִֽיו׃
(1) God said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: None shall defile himself for any [dead] person among his kin, (2) except for the relatives that are closest to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother;
Moses gives the priest a general rule: while they are permitted to be near the dead bodies of their parents, some siblings, or children, they are not allowed to serve the burial needs of more distant relatives. This guidance becomes more haunting when we remember that Moses is speaking to his own nephews about a rule that will one day prevent them from approaching his own dead body. In other words, Moses is telling his nephews that they will not be permitted to attend his funeral.
"We've all been on the kid side of this kind of conversation, where a grownup is fumbling through something that is clearly important. The big one most of us remember is when someone told us about sex. And on the adult side, whatever the question is-- what is sex, what is God, or what is ISIS, what does transgendered mean-- you know in that moment that what you say could really matter, could be the thing this person remembers and carries with them into adulthood, could shape the way they feel about their safety or their sexuality. These conversations are how we make our mark on the next generation. They're also, very often, how we learn how much we do not know."
אמור אל הכהנים בני אהרן ואמרת אליהם לנפש לא יטמא בעמיו, “speak to the Priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them 'none of them must defile himself through a dead person among his people'” The verse commences with the words: ”say to the Priests,” and immediately repeats: “and tell them!” Why the repetition? We need to understand the sequence as follows: “say to the Priests whatever was written in the previous paragraph, and now add new information, i.e. laws recorded forthwith and applicable specifically to the priests.” The reason that the Priests had to be instructed in the legislation contained in chapter 20 was that they were the foremost teachers of the Jewish people and therefore had to be conversant with all legislation concerning civil law such as marriages, etc. Our sages (Yevamot 114) understand the repetition to mean that the adults were to warn the minors concerning all these laws. One was not to make use of one’s children while they were not yet of age to perform tasks for their parents which the Torah had forbidden to be carried out by adults. This warning includes many of the prohibitions of the Torah whether in the field of ritual impurity, violations of the Sabbath by minors, consumption of forbidden food by minors, etc. On the other hand, if minors choose to carry out such tasks forbidden to their elders without having been urged to do so, the parents are not commanded to stop them. To make sure we do not act in this manner the Torah repeated the exhortation “say to them,” to teach us that we do have to train the young priests already to distance themselves from all that is forbidden to the adult priests.
(ג) י֣וֹם לְ֭יוֹם יַבִּ֣יעַֽ אֹ֑מֶר וְלַ֥יְלָה לְּ֝לַ֗יְלָה יְחַוֶּה־דָּֽעַת׃ (ד) אֵֽין־אֹ֭מֶר וְאֵ֣ין דְּבָרִ֑ים בְּ֝לִ֗י נִשְׁמָ֥ע קוֹלָֽם׃
night to night speaks out. (4) There is no utterance,
there are no words,
whose sound goes unheard.-a
The midrash relates this verse in Leviticus to the verse in Psalms 19:3-4 (see above)
This is related to the times of year of spring and fall where day and night are equal length, at all other times either the day is borrowing from the night, or the night is borrowing from the day.
This is all done in the heavens without legal documents or ordinances, because unlike on Earth where people are very litigious, the heavens are able to borrow and lend without fear of litigation.
--Rabbi Joey Glick