Parashat Chukkat

THIS IS THE RITUAL LAW THAT THE LORD HAS COMMANDED: INSTRUCT THE ISRAELITE PEOPLE TO BRING YOU A RED COW WITHOUT BLEMISH, IN WHICH THERE IS NO DEFECT AND ON WHICH NO YOKE HAS BEEN LAID.

(Bamidbar 19:2)

 

...Cow -this is Israel, [for it says] Israel has balked like a stubborn cow (Hoshea 4:16). Red, this is Israel, [for it says] Their limbs were ruddier than coral (Eikhah 4:7). Without blemish, this is Israel, [for it says] my dove, my perfect one (Shir HaShirim 5:2). In which there is no defect, this is Israel [for it says] Every part of you is fair, my darling, and there is no defect in you (4:7). On which no yoke has been laid, this is the generation of Jeremiah who refused to accept God's yoke. You shall give it to Eleazar the priest - that is Jeremiah, one of the priests at Anatot (Jeremiah 1:1). It shall be taken outside the camp [refers to] and exiled the people to Babylon (Ezra 5:12). And slaughtered in his presence -They slaughtered Zedekiah's sons before his eyes; then Zedekiah's eyes were put out. The cow shall be burned in his sight -He burned the House of the Lord and the king's palace (II Kings 25:9). Its hide, flesh, and blood shall be burned, its dung included - [this parallels] and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the great houses he burned down (II Kings 25:9). And why did he call it a great house? That was Rabbi Tohanan ben Zakkai's house of study, where they would speak of God's greatness. Shall take -that is Nebuchadnezzar. Cedar wood, hyssop and crimson stuff -these are Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. And throw them into the fire consuming the cow -a tongue of flame consumed the men (Daniel 3:22). Shall gather -that is God, for it is written, He will hold up a signal to the nations and gather the banished of Israel (Isaiah 11:12). A man -that is God, for it is written of Him, The Lord is a man of war (Shemot 15:3). Who is clean -that is God, for it is written of Him, You whose eyes are too pure to look upon evil (Habakkuk 1:13). The ashes of the cow -this is Israel's exiles. And deposit them outside the camp in a clean place -this is Jerusalem, which is clean. It shall be kept for the community of the Israelites -for in this world, Israel is made unclean and clean by a priest, but in the future God will make them clean. How do we know this? I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you will be clean (Ezekiel 36:25).

(Yalkut Shimoni Torah/Hukat/#759)

 

 

Hidden, Secret, Unsolved -This is the Ritual Law

Rami Pinchover

The author of Sefer HaHinukh has the following to say about the rationale for the commandment of Parah Adumah (the red cow): "My hands are too feeble and I fear opening my mouth regarding this commandment." Yitzhak Heinemann, in his book Ta'amei HaMitzvot BeSifrut Yisrael (beginning on pg.12) surveys the opinions opposing the attempt to find reasons for the commandments. He preferred the view of "many of our people's great men, who saw this endeavor as not merely permissible, but as required by the Torah."

Our parasha sets many paradoxes before its readers, yet above them all stands out what I would call the "halakhic paradox of Parah Adumah" (following my teacher, Prof. Ya'akov Milgrom, in his commentary to Bamidbar published by JPS, and in other places), i.e., that "all who deal with the cow, from beginning to end, become ritually unclean, while it [the cow] itself cleans the unclean" (Pesikta DeRav Kahana -PDRK -4:1)

There is a famous story about a gentile who asks Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai to explain the rationale of the Parah Adumah. The concluding sentence of that story appears in many different variations in Jewish literature, underscoring the Sages' difficulty in struggling with the issue.

One early version of the story¹ offers the formula: "A statute have I enacted, a decree have I made, and you are not at liberty to transgress my decree." A slightly later source gives us: "Do it honestly, do it innocently, do it faithfully, a decree have I made, a statute have I enacted, one should not wonder about it" (Midrash Tehillim 9:2, and, following it, Yalkut Shimoni Kohelet 989, and Rashi Bamidbar 19:2). However, a different version² appears in later sources: "I enacted them, and you have no permission to wonder about them" (Tanhuma Mishpatim 7, Yoma 67b).

Step by step. At first, the reason for the commandment is unknown and not understood, but it remains permissible to think about, to examine, and to analyze the commandment in depth while firmly believing in the duty to fulfill it. Next comes the intermediary stage in which doubt starts nibbling away and the suspicion arises that thought and study might damage the integrity, innocence, and faith in which the commandment is to be observed. Finally (due to the decline of the generations, apparently) the prohibition appears: "you have no permission" -you are not allowed to even think about the reasons for the commandment lest you not observe it at all. And thus devolved the secrets of the Torah, which were at first known to Rabbi Akiva and his friends (PDRK 4:7), until the time of the author of Sefer HaHinukh, who feared to "open his mouth" and discuss the reasons for this commandment.

However, this was not the opinion of "the greatest of the early liturgical poets, the keystone of Hebrew religious poetry through the ages" (according to Prof. Eliezer Fleischer in Tarbiz 50), i.e., Eliezer ben Kallir. In a series of wonderful poems written in connection with Parashat Parah (poems to be recited in the amidot of Shabbat, which are known as Shevatot,which have been edited and commented upon by Prof. Shlomit Elitzur in her books Shira Shel Parasha, beginning on page 239, BeTodah VeShir from page 79, and in Dr. Zeligman Baer's Siddur, Avodat Yisrael, starting on page 694) Rabbi Eliezer ben Kallir offers explanations for this commandment, some of which are based on known midrashim, while the sources of the rest remain unknown.

Kallir begins:

Do not think or speak about that which has been decreed

For it was given with a kiss [its reasons were given in secrecy]

And they are all present to he who understands

And the intelligent will understand all the others [commandments].

Except for the reasons for the [red] cow, which are not to be comprehended.

However, in the continuation, he relates to each details of the commandment as a tikkun [repair] for the sin of the golden calf, an idea which appears in the midrash: "The maidservant's son befouled the king's palace, [so] the king said, let his mother come and clean up his mess, so said God -let the cow come and atone for the calf (PDRK 4:8).

As Kallir put it:

They exchanged honor for the cow's son

Balking at Him like a cow (see Hosea 4:16)

Let his mother the cow come

And be atonement for the people.

His unprecedented midrash is even more surprising; it suggests that the cow did not come to atone for the calf. Rather, the cow came first to repair the "original sin" (the sin blamed on Eve throughout the generations by Jewish and Christian exegesis), for that sin brought death to the world, and in the end the cow brings final redemption to the world, a redemption which will be free of death, and which will fulfill the verse, He will destroy death forever. My Lord God will wipe the tears away from all faces, and will put an end to the reproach of His people over all the earth -for it is the Lord who has spoken (Isaiah 25:8).

Kallir begins with an apology:

I will request permission to expound

One among a thousand reasons

Which man has been allowed

To contemplate, understand, study and validate.

Later, he hints at the commandment's rationale:

What is the reason -She makes clean the uncleanness of death

Her sprinkling cleans mortals

As she [Eve] brought the taste of death to the generations

Pouring them the cup of death

And so one [the cow] takes the place of the other [death]

To clean the uncleanness of death.

And towards the poem's end:

And why are the dead [cow]'s ashes mixed with living water?

To hint that the dead will rise to life.

And so Kallir manages to touch upon what might be called "the great human paradox" of the parasha of Parah Adumah. This entire parasha is devoted to the technical details of the ritual uncleanness which is transmitted from the deceased to his family, relations, and home; an uncleanness known to us from other ancient cultures as the spirit of death and the fear of death, as we may learn from the episode involving the gentile and Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai. However, this commandment, which is described in greater detail than any other commandment or sacrifice, remains completely oblivious to emotion, to the mourning and sorrow for the death of a loved one. It transforms those emotions into strictly ritual acts, as do the exegetes and midrashim who ponder the commandment without really considering its rationale or touching upon the human side of death.

It seems to me that precisely this commandment points to the great danger brought by the refusal to deal with the reasons for the commandments. It is surprising and interesting that precisely the commandment whose performance is delineated in such exacting detail completely ignores the mourning and deep emotions that stand at the center of the very event -death - which has created the need for the water containing the cow's ashes. It seems to me that this parasha indicates to us that submersion in the technical performance of commandments can overshadow suffering and prevent preoccupation with death. However, it may also dull one's sensitivity, and cause thought and common sense to atrophy. Therefore, we must dig deeply to understand this wonderful parasha in the manner of that wonderful poet, who tries to touch upon the sorrow and agony which makes the Parah Adumah necessary, and to offer the mourners some bit of hope and comfort.

In the future, as Kallir hints³ (see BeTodah VeShir pp. 92-3 and PDRK 4:10, and the end of Pesikta Rabbati 14) there will be no more water of the Parah Adumah (and perhaps there will be no reason to concern ourselves with its rationale), rather God will take its function upon Himself, as the prophet Ezekiel says in the haftorah for Parashat Parah: I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and from all your fetishes. And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit into you: I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh; and I will put My spirit into you (Ezekiel 36:25-7).

Rami Pinchover is an engineer

 

1. A gentile asked Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, saying to him, "These rites that you carry out look like witchcraft. You bring a cow and slaughter it, burn it, crush the remains, take the dust, and if one of you contracts corpse uncleanness, you sprinkle on him two or three times and say to him, 'You are clean.'"

He said to him, "Has a wandering spirit never entered you?"

He said to him, "No."

He said to him, "And have you ever seen someone into whom a wandering spirit entered?"

He said to him, "Yes."

He said to him, "And what do you do?"

He said to him, "People bring roots and smoke them under him and sprinkle water on the spirit and it flees."

He said to him, "And should your ears not hear what your mouth speaks? So this spirit is the spirit of uncleanness, as it is written, I will cause prophets as well as the spirit of uncleanness to flee from the land (Zechariah 13:2)."

After the man had gone his way, his disciples said to him, "My lord, this one you have pushed of with a mere reed. To us what will you reply?"

He said to them, "By your lives! It is not the corpse that imparts uncleanness nor the water that affects cleanness. But it is the decree of the Holy One, blessed be He.

"Said the Holy One, blessed be He, 'A statute have I enacted, a decree have I made, and you are not at liberty to transgress my decree: This is the hok [statute] of the Torah (Bamidbar 19:12). (Pesikta deRav Kahana 4:7, Neusner translation)

2. Scripture says: My rules you shall observe (Vayikra 18:4). These are the ordinances which, if they were not enumerated in the Torah, ought to have been. Scripture is speaking here of idolatry and blasphemy. You shall keep my hukim, to walk therein (ibid.). These are the commandments against which the evil inclination contends, and against which the peoples of the earth rebel. These are: the wearing of garments made of wool and linen, the eating of pig, the spittle of the childless sister-in-law [yevamah], mixing seeds, stoning an ox for killing a human being, the heifer whose neck was broken, the bird sacrifice brought by a leper, a firstling of an ass, meat prepared in milk, and the goat that has been sent away (the scapegoat). You might maintain that these are unimportant prohibitions. Hence Scripture says: I am the Lord: I have decreed them, and you are not permitted to repudiate them. (Midrash Tanhuma Mishpatim 7, Berman translation)

3. It shall be kept for the community of the Israelites (Bamidbar 19:9), because in this world, Israel is made unclean and clean by a priest, but in the future it will not be so, rather, in the future, God will make them clean of all their sins and uncleanness, as it is written: I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and from all your fetishes (Ezekiel 36:25). (Pesikta Rabbati 14)

 

Sources for further study:

RaMBaN on Devarim 22:6.

Urbach: HaZaL Pirkei Emunot VeDeot from pg. 83, and from page 331, Sefer Pitaron Torah from page 170.

Prof. Yaakov Licht's commentary on Bamidbar.

Milgrom's JPS commentary on Vayikra, Beit Mikra 89-90, Encyclopedia Mikrait.

Hannah Kasher, MiPeirot HaIlan, pg. 445.

Shulamit Elitzur: Shira Shel Parashah, BeTodah VeShir, Piyutei R. Elazar BiRabbi Kalir.

R. Kolonymus Shapira (The Rebbe from Pisancheh): Aish Kodesh , from pg. 172.

Tzvi Adar: HaArakhim HaHinukhiyim shel HaTanakh from page 161.

 

Yiftah's Sin

And this was the mistake that Yiftah made with his daughter. He thought that just as a herem of the chief of Israel is valid and takes effect to put [certain] people to death, and [also] anyone who transgresses it is liable to the death-penalty, so [Yiftah thought] that if he uttered a vow at a time of war, to make an offering of a certain person or persons, the vow is valid; but he did not know that a herem declared by the king and Sanhedrin is valid [only] regarding the destruction of rebels, or against one who transgresses their decrees and ordinances. But that a vow should take effect to make a burnt-offering of something not appropriate for God, [as Yiftah thought] -Heaven forbid! Therefore the Rabbis have said in Bereishit Rabbah (60:3) that [Yiftah] was not even obliged to pay the price of her market-value to the Temple treasury [as his vow was totally invalid], and he was punished for her [innocent] blood!

(RaMBaN Vayikra 27:29, Chavell translation)

 

Yiftah should not be seen as a national hero, nor should we be impressed by his act as if it were a matter of greatness and sacrifice brought about by patriotic fervor. His deed was cruel and indefensible. The Sages considered him an empty-headed and reckless ignoramus. There is no guarantee that mere enthusiasm will be properly directed towards the good. Enthusiasm undirected by good conscious and which is not reigned in by the Torah is likely to spell disaster. As the Midrash Tanhuma (Behukotai 5) says, "What caused Yiftah to lose his daughter? That he did not read from the Torah".

(Prof. Nehama Leibowitz, z"l, Iyyunim BeSefer Bamidbar )

 

Let me pass through your land -Even though they had not been commanded to offer peace, they asked for peace.

(Rashi, Bamidbar 21:22)

 

Let me pass through your land -They did not say please let us pass (Bamidbar 20:17) as they did to the king of Edom, for here they did not come to make a request but rather to announce that it was necessary. They told him because if he so wished they would not fight him, for Moses did not want to conquer Transjordan first [before conquering Canaan], since it says in Sifrei parashat Eikev that God was angry with David for having captured Syria before [capturing] he Land of Israel, and also because of a secret reason: that it caused great evil for a later generation.

(The NeTziV MiVolozhin's HaAmek Davar on Bamidbar 21:22)

 

 

 

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