Category: Bemidbar Ch. 19

Symbolism of the Para Aduma – Based on RSRH’s commentary to Parshas Chukas

The Torah describes the whole concept of פרה אדומה which entails all the parts of the mitzvah as חטאת. חטאת, a clearing away of sin, is a concept that belongs to the sphere of morality. This mitzvah is חוקת התורה – it is the fundamental institution of the whole teaching of טומאה. When looking for a message in the laws of טומאה וטהרה we must look for a message regarding morality, especially when studying the mitzvah of פרה אדומה, the place in the Torah where this is taught to offer insight to all the other mitzvos regarding טומאה וטהרה.

Moral freedom is the first and indispensable condition for the whole sanctification of life which the Torah obligates us to strive for.

When man comes into contact with death this truth is threatened. The corpse shows the power of death. Someone who comes into contact with death may mistakenly come to think that death and all forces of nature dominate everything, including man. If that was true there could be no room for free will or the Torah’s demand that we dedicate out lives to the fulfilling the will of God. Man wouldn’t have the ability to overcome the forces of nature ie. his own animal nature. The laws of טומאה וטהרה throughout the book of Vayikra come to negate this mistaken idea.

The preparation of the Parah Aduma is done publicly, through the nation’s Kohen representative, in view of the Bais Hamikdah, to proclaim as the moral basis of the whole life of the people, that man can be free of sin, can clear himself of sin, and can remain free of sin. Man is endowed with moral willpower.

However, the Torah recognizes the duality of man’s existence. Man lives in a physical world and is subject to physical forces. The Torah doesn’t teach man to ignore his physical side or make believe it doesn’t exist. Rather, it shows man the contrast of his nature. Both elements exist and both in view of the Bais Hamikdash (which houses the Torah and whose service represents elevating life to the Torah). This חטאת elevates man with his whole nature, both physical and eternal moral powers, and directs him into the free eternal sphere of the One God (Who has absolute free Will).

The Torah teaches us here not to be misled by contact with death. Become free and immortal, not despite, but along with all those aspects of your existence that are physical. Choose to become the immortal master of your mortal body. In the midst of טומאה, preserve your טהרה!

See next post for a detailed explanation of the symbolism of the פרה אדומה.

See intro here

פָרָה אֲדֻמָּה תְּמִימָה אֲשֶׁר אֵין בָּהּ מוּם אֲשֶׁר לֹא עָלָה עָלֶיהָ עֹל
A completely red cow, unblemished, that never wore a yoke

אֲדֻמָּה תְּמִימָה – completely red. Full vitality
אֵין בָּהּ מוּם – unblemished.
It must be at least 3 years old. It is mature.

A פרה is meant to help man in his work. But this פרה never used its strength in the service of man. It never even showed signs of its function to service man (לֹא עָלָה עָלֶיהָ עֹל).

The פרה אדומה represents the physical nature not mastered by man. As such it is taken from the national treasury (from the half shekels collected yearly donated by the nation) and given to the kohen who serves in the Temple.

The kohen (“כהן” means one who gives direction and prepares people for life) will show the people what is the position of physical nature uncontrolled by man. He will show what meaning this nature is to have in the sphere of a society that seeks to shape its life under the influence of the Torah.

וּנְתַתֶּם אֹתָהּ אֶל אֶלְעָזָר הַכֹּהֵן וְהוֹצִיא אֹתָהּ אֶל מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה וְשָׁחַט אֹתָהּ לְפָנָיו
You (the nation) give it to Elazar the Kohen, and he should remove it, outside the camp, and slaughter it in his countenance.

Lesson #1: וְהוֹצִיא אֹתָהּ אֶל מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה – Remove the Parah from the camp. This nature is meant to serve man. Not when it is withered or broken, but in its full strength. If it is not controlled by man, it no longer has a place within the framework of the Jewish national life of the people.

Lesson #2: וְשָׁחַט אֹתָהּ – He slaughters it: This “animal” which which stands here in “the fullness of vitality and completeness” and on which no “yoke” has ever been placed, has only one remedy: שחיטה. It requires total subordination through a sharp and decisive act of human free will. Only then can and should the animal/physical be elevated to a holy relationship to God’s Temple. If not, it has no place in the human realm.

וְלָקַח אֶלְעָזָר הַכֹּהֵן מִדָּמָהּ בְּאֶצְבָּעוֹ וְהִזָּה אֶל נֹכַח פְּנֵי אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד מִדָּמָהּ שֶׁבַע פְּעָמִים
Elazar should take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the Tent of Appointed Meeting (The Temple), seven times.

וְלָקַח אֶלְעָזָר הַכֹּהֵן מִדָּמָהּ בְּאֶצְבָּעוֹ – The Kohen receives the blood into his hand (not into a vessel). The meaning here is: Man receives the animal nefesh and introduces it into his free sphere of influence.

וְהִזָּה אֶל נֹכַח פְּנֵי אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד מִדָּמָהּ שֶׁבַע פְּעָמִים – This teaches: That animal aspect that comes under his influence should be directed to the Divine ideal of the Torah. Seven times ie. until it attains completion. (שחיטה והזיה represent mastery over physical-sensual drives and their direction to the path of God’s moral law.)

וְשָׂרַף אֶת הַפָּרָה לְעֵינָיו אֶת עֹרָהּ וְאֶת בְּשָׂרָהּ וְאֶת דָּמָהּ עַל פִּרְשָׁהּ יִשְׂרֹף
The cow shall be burned before his eyes, its skin, its flesh, its blood, along with its dung, shall be burned.

Any part of the animal that was not elevated to serve God by coming into the sphere of man who used it for a higher purpose, will disintegrate and become ash, for its basis is dust.

But this ash too is placed before God. There was a specific location nearby (גתה) where the ash was to be placed. (If it was burned outside this location, the Parah is disqualified.) It too was facing the entrance of Temple. Teaching us: One God created both elements within man and both parts exist together for one purpose – so that the Divine power of moral and free man’s nature should manifest itself in the very struggle against physical compulsion. The struggle and the exercise of free will is the premise of God’s whole Torah.

וְלָקַח הַכֹּהֵן עֵץ אֶרֶז וְאֵזוֹב וּשְׁנִי תוֹלָעַת וְהִשְׁלִיךְ אֶל תּוֹךְ שְׂרֵפַת הַפָּרָה
And the Kohen should take a piece of cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet wool, and he shall throw it into the burning of the cow.

Cedar is the highest and strongest of plants. Hyssop is the lowest and weakest of plants. Wool dyed with the blood of a worm. Worm and mammal. The lowest and the highest of animal life. Together these represent all of organic life. All of this is thrown into the fire as the cow is burned.

The symbolism of burning these items with the ashes of the cow teaches: The part of the human that decays is the same as the rest of the organic world that ultimately decays. This was joined to him (his higher/spiritual/moral part) only temporarily. Just as all organic matter decays, so too man’s temporary housing decays. It is merely the means to serve God but it is not the person himself.

• With the burning of the Parah the function of the Kohen is completed. In the name of the Temple, facing its entrance, he expresses the duality of man. Man’s free power subordinates the animal element within himself, elevating it towards God to the realm of the Divine freedom of His Torah. This is represented by the שחיטה, הזיה ושריפת הפרה.

וְאָסַף אִישׁ טָהוֹר אֵת אֵפֶר הַפָּרָה וְהִנִּיחַ מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה בְּמָקוֹם טָהוֹר וְהָיְתָה לַעֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְמִשְׁמֶרֶת לְמֵי נִדָּה חַטָּאת הִוא
A man who is pure shall then gather up the ashes of the cow and lay them down outside the camp in a pure place. Its shall remain for the Children of Israel to be kept as a water of separation; it is an offering that clears sin.

Collecting the ashes may be done by an ordinary man. The community is to take the ashes and keep them as משמרת. The ashes are to remind the people of their dual nature; that man is a combination of the heavenly and earthly, and the community should use them whenever it is needed to teach against this טומאה-illusion on man’s nonfreedom.

He must be pure when collecting the ashes, conveying the teaching of purity and put them outside the shechina-sphere of the Temple in a place that is pure.

The emphasis on the purity of the ashes teaches: The physical aspect of man does not bring about טומאה. Rather it is the error in thinking that all parts of man, the physical and the spiritual are all going to decay, that is טומאה. But these ashes are not blended with the spirit. The blood, representing the spirit controlled by man’s free will to follow the Torah, was removed and correctly dedicated to God through שחיטה והזיה. – Even though these ashes are pure, they are not kept in the מחנה שכינה shechina-sphere. Because while it is not at all טמא it is also not subject to being elevated without its attachment to the godly element. The pure physical’s place is outside the Temple. The Temple is the place for “אדם” (As explained in Beraishis, “Adam” means the human who elevates this physical world in service to God – GS).

וְלָקְחוּ לַטָּמֵא מֵעֲפַר שְׂרֵפַת הַחַטָּאת וְנָתַן עָלָיו מַיִם חַיִּים אֶל כֶּלִי
The “eternally living water” is put upon the “dust”.

This evokes the idea of the eternally living, temporarily combined with the material that is subject to decay. This combination is to uproot the טומאה-error that there is not eternal element of man and upon death, or any overwhelming force of nature, man has no ability to choose good. This water is called מי נדה water of separation. Its purpose is to banish this wrong idea from our minds.

The water is upon the dust. Meaning the eternal aspect of man should be the master over the physical. Man is not something earthly that contains life, but it is life containing something earthly. That is what man is.

Once mixed, the water is called מי חטאת. It represents the combination of man’s two aspects and defines what man is. The sprinkling’s function is to restore clarity to man about who he is. All parts of man must be subjugated to fulfilling God’s will. How we eat, engage in pleasure, etc. just the same as how we think and speak, etc.. Before טבילה can restore him to his previous state, he must have clarity about all aspects of who he is.

Symbolism of sprinkling on the the third and seventh days of counting towards purity.

The third day of creation was the day organic life was created and God fixed it in place with the command of “למינו “which dictated that all species should stay within their sphere. On the third day all organic life submitted to Divine Law. On the seventh day of creation man placed his godlike abilities under God’s rule.

And so we see that sprinkling on the third and the seventh days teaches that both aspects of man should be under God’s rule and direction.

How can we resolve the paradox that those involved in the work of creating the ashes and the water combination become unpure and yet the same wate ash mixture is what makes an unpure man pure?

The person who came into contact with a corpse is the one who may be at risk of being confused. He has the טומאה-error that all of man decays. He is the one whose clarity is restored when shown the duality of man and what his job is in this world, while he has a body and a physical surrounding.

However, that which is a remedy for the sick can be a deadly poison for a healthy person. Normally, one does not live thinking of this antithesis. This is how it should be. One should not normally be pondering thoughts of death alongside thoughts of life. Because the normal, pure beat of the pulse is entirely that of life. The spirit of God in man masters the material and elevates it to the realm of morality and eternity, allowing it to participate in the eternity that lies in every moment of a pure person’s life. A pure person is not divided into two and the very consciousness of the antithetical elements in his being blunts his thought. Contact with the מי חטאת – this water-ash mixture is a disturbance to his focus on life and brings about the טומאה-error/illusion.

The sprinkling does not affect the טהרה directly. The הזיה-idea is only a preparation for טהרה. It put the seemingly contradictory elements of a person into the right relationship with one another. It tells man, “Although you are  עפר and will become אפר, your real essence is מיים חיים.”

טהרה only comes about when a person immerses himself – the whole of his being – completely. Then when the sun sets, all thoughts of the corpse will recede and he will begin a fresh new day, free of all inner conflict and not overcome and confused by morbid thoughts.