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The crux of the mystery is its property of contaminating the pure and purifying the contaminated.
Sforno
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Holy Cow!
Thirty-eight years have passed since the preceding chapters; the generation that left Egypt has died, but things haven't improved. In fact, in this week's parasha Hukat, things go from bad to worse before Bnei Yisrael (finally) reach the banks of the Jordan. Miriam, Moses' sister and Aaron, Moses' brother both die, the congregation is without water, Moses hits the rock (instead of speaking to it) and the Israelites are attacked by Canaanites and then by snakes.
Before these narratives, though, our parasha begins with what has been called the most mysterious law in the Torah: the strange ritual of the "Parah Adumah- Red Heifer" whose ashes act like a toggle switch: they purify the impure, but make the pure impure. The rabbis couldn't understand this passage: how can ashes make the impure, pure. The rabbis divide mitzvot into those that we can understand rationally (like: do not murder) and those that we cannot (like: shaatnez- not mixing wool and linen). The latter are called 'hok' (plural: hukim) hence the name of this parasha. According to the Talmud, even King Solomon, wisest of all mortals, admitted that he did not understand the reason of this decree. The rabbis applied the words of Kohelet, identified with King Solomon, "I attempted to be wise, but it only moved further away from my understanding" (Ecclesiastes 7:23) to the mystery of the red heifer. In modern Hebrew, the phrase has come to mean an insoluble conundrum, like a zen koan. If you see some inexplicable behaviour, you could say mamash Parah Adumah, a real red heifer.
The rabbis too, were at a loss to explain this ceremonial burning of a reddish-brown cow, although they made many attempts. They connect the purification through a calf here with the sin of the Golden Calf. (Remember how the Golden Calf too was reduced to ashes). This ritual was seen as the antitode for the Israelites' sin of idolatory: "Let the mother come and repair the damage the offspring has caused" (Numbers Rabbah 19:8). This idea is reflected in the rabbinic understanding that to do teshuvah (repentance), we use the very thing that caused the sin to repair the sin. For example, Rabbi Justin Jaron Lewis teaches how there is some mitzvah specifically associated with the [unidentified] fruit that Adam and Eve sinned with. For example: in case the fruit was the grape -- we make kiddush over wine. According to some the fruit was the etrog (citron) -- so we hold and bless the etrog on Sukkot. There is a custom for women to bite off the tip of the etrog at the end of Sukkot, and there is an old Yiddish prayer in which the woman then says to God: "Eve couldn't wait to eat the etrog, but I've waited all through the holiday! So I don't deserve curses -- bless me!" In these various ways we turn around the significance of the fruit and redeem it from being a symbol of sin to being something holy. Rashi chooses the fig because Adam and Eve do something good with the tree they ate from: using its leaves to cover themselves. In Jewish tradition, clothing the naked is a mitzvah. As soon as they sinned, they did something by way of teshuvah, turning the bad into good.
Lessons for Today
The idea that we can use the very sin to correct itself is initially counter-intuitive. But it is true. Everything and every quality can be used for good or bad. Medicine that is (usually) beneficial often has a warning: "Caution. Improper use of this medicine can cause illness or death" (that's why most medicine is in childproof containers!). Even a gun can sometimes save lives. This is the lesson of the Parah Adumah. The ashes of the cow had the power to both defile and purify. Blood, too, is another substance that according to Torah defiles and sanctifies. In her first book, Rabbi Elyse Goldstein writes:
... in every potent symbol is the double quality, the twin potential of birth and decay, purity and impurity. Every aspect of the bodily experience has the potential to sanctify but also to pollute. That which value most has the power to both elevate and hurt us. Money, sex, power, all the things we desire, have the potential to act equally as sources of goodness or sources of evil. ReVisions
That which has the power to defile us also has the power to sanctify us. Let us hope and pray that in the coming weeks we use that power for a life of holiness.
Shabbat Shalom
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