“They shall take for you a red heifer, perfect.” (19:2)

Included in “perfect” is also the requirement that also the color should be perfect without any hairs of a different color. Here we see the possibility of understanding this mystifying procedure of the purification by the Parah Adumah. This heifer, with a beautiful coat of red hair without a blemish even in the perfection of its color, was therefore a rarity, and it was so expensive that its owner became wealthy when he sold it to the public use. (Kiddushin 31A)

Yet despite its striking beauty, this enormously costly creature could accomplish nothing of the purification procedure while it was still in a state of its beauty. Only after slaughtering it and then burning it into ashes could it achieve the purpose of purifying the unclean person or object.

This symbolizes a vastly important parallel: The Israelite is to Hashem the most precious object in the world. Even one Israelite is more valuable to Hashem than the entire Universe (”For my sake the world was created” – Sanhedrin 37A). Yet throughout his life he is susceptible to sin or even to entire self-ruination, no matter how perfect he is. The most beautifully righteous man becomes truly purified only when he dies and is interred and his body turns to ashes, exactly like the Parah Adumah.

“Greater are the righteous after their death, more than in their lifetime” (Hullin 7B0 and the procedure of the Parah Adumah comes to emphasize the importance of the Afterlife as the culmination of all men’s efforts to gain true excellence in the eyes of Hashem. The righteous, that bask in the splendor of Hashem’s favor, perceive that their death and destruction of their bodies constituted the final purification.

The Israelite individual is the most precious object in the entire Universe while he is alive. Yet his ultimate and most sublime excellence is achieved when he becomes ashes in the earth.

Quoted from “Journey Into Greatness” by Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT’L

Shabbat Shalom

“This is the statute of the Torah.” (19:2)

The subject of Parah Adumah (the red heifer) is based on the fact of the Tum’ah of a dead body. This is the most severe form of uncleanliness and is called “the father of the fathers of Tum’ah.” One explanation for this severity of the uncleanliness of the dead is as follows: The Chovot Halevavot (Yichud Hamaaseh 5) declares that the first and most prevalent doubt concerning the principles of Torah is the doubt in the truth of Life after death (Olam Haba).

We can readily perceive the reason for the persistence of such a doubt, in the fact of death itself. When confronted by such catastrophic phenomenon as death actually is, it requires strength of character and of intelligence to overcome the powerful impression caused by the death of a person. In order to reinforce the confidence in the Existence after death, it is imperative that we have as little contact with the dead as possible, and also that the dead be buried immediately. To encourage these principles, the extreme restrictions of Tum’ah of the dead are especially effective.

Death is the greatest falsehood in the Universe, for the fact of death causes men to weaken in their belief of the most important truth of the universe (after the belief in Hashem) which is the belief of Life after death.

“This world is but a vestibule before the World to come. Prepare yourself in the vestibule in order to enter the banquet hall” (Abot 4:16). Because of this effect of Death upon the minds of men, it is the worst form of Tum’ah.

“When a man dies.” (19:4) Death is the greatest falsehood. When Hitler murdered six million innocents, and then he saw that he was losing the war and would face retribution, he thereupon swallowed a perfumed poison and thus painlessly left the world thinking he escaped the great punishment that awaited him. Thus the phenomenon of death is an enormous deception which conceals the True fate of the evil man in the Afterlife from men’s eyes. Such enormous deception requires a very great label to identify it.

The phenomenon of death can contaminate the mind with the materialistic attitude that death is the end. If life ends so completely, it loses its value. For why strive for excellence and virtue if it all ends in the grave? And therefore Hashem declares here that no Tum’ah is as severe as the uncleanliness of death.

Quoted from “Journey Into Greatness” by Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT”L

Shabbat Shalom

“This is the statute of the Torah.” (19:2)

The subject of Parah Adumah (the red heifer) is based on the fact of the Tum’ah of a dead body. This is the most severe form of uncleanliness and is called “the father of the fathers of Tum’ah.” One explanation for this severity of the uncleanliness of the dead is as follows: The Chovot Halevavot (Yichud Hamaaseh 5) declares that the first and most prevalent doubt concerning the principles of Torah is the doubt in the truth of Life after death (Olam Haba).

We can readily perceive the reason for the persistence of such a doubt, in the fact of death itself. When confronted by such catastrophic phenomenon as death actually is, it requires strength of character and of intelligence to overcome the powerful impression caused by the death of a person. In order to reinforce the confidence in the Existence after death, it is imperative that we have as little contact with the dead as possible, and also that the dead be buried immediately. To encourage these principles, the extreme restrictions of Tum’ah of the dead are especially effective.

Death is the greatest falsehood in the Universe, for the fact of death causes men to weaken in their belief of the most important truth of the universe (after the belief in Hashem) which is the belief of Life after death.

“This world is but a vestibule before the World to come. Prepare yourself in the vestibule in order to enter the banquet hall.” (Abot 4:16) Because of this effect of Death upon the minds of men, it is the worst form of Tum’ah.

“When a man dies” (19:4) Death is the greatest falsehood. When Hitler murdered 6 million innocents, and then he saw that he was losing the war and would face retribution, he thereupon swallowed a perfumed poison and thus painlessly left the world thinking he escaped the great punishment that awaited him. Thus the phenomenon of death is an enormous deception which conceals the True fate of the evil man in the Afterlife from men’s eyes. Such enormous deception requires a very great label to identify it. The phenomenon of death can contaminate the mind with the materialistic attitude that death is the end. If life ends so completely, it loses its value. For why strive for excellence and virtue if it all ends in the grave? And therefore Hashem declares here that no Tum’ah is as severe as the uncleanliness of death.

Quoted from “Journey Into Greatness” by Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT”L

Shabbat Shalom