And the father of the victim (who was present at the time) noticed that the dagger that killed his son could still be pulled out before his son died (which would contaminate the dagger), so he screamed: Pull it out quickly, so it shouldn’t become Tamei! The Gemara criticizes this father, who was more worried about the purity of the Bais Hamikdash than his own son’s life. And as soon as the fire of the Churban started burning, the Cohanim fell upon the fire so they should get burned instead of the Bais Hamikdash.
And when Eli, the Cohen Gadol heard about Klal Yisroel losing the war against the vicious and cruel Pelishtim, and the sad news about his own sons, Chofni and Pinchos, who were killed, he didn’t get carried away until he heard that the Aron was captured; the shock of hearing this made him fall backwards from his chair and he was Niftar.
The same with his daughter-in-law Pinchos’ wife, who was giving birth as she heard the news, i.e., that they lost the war, that she had become an Almana, and that her father-in-law was Niftar. What broke her was the capture of the Aron HaKodesh and she named her son: אִי כָבוֹד (removal of Kavod), which indeed sums up the true nature of the calamity of Churban Bais Hamikdash. When there is no Kavod, there is nothing but a Hefker goyish fake existence, without any meaning and without responsibilities. See what kind of person was the wife of a Cohen. And this is despite that Pinchos was Chayav Missa since he was M'zalzel in Kodoshim. (Gemara). There is a Halacha that no knives are allowed on the table during Bircas HaMazon, because a Yid once killed himself while bentching when he got to the words: וּבְׁ נ י יְׁ רוּשָ לַ יִ ם “Hashem, please rebuild Yerushalayim!” (Shulchan Aruch).
