TABLE OF CONTENTS 
NUMBERS 19
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Introduction
In our own times, the commandment of the red heifer
takes on more and more significance. For without it, the Divine service of the Holy Temple cannot be
resumed. There is a spiritual renaissance today in Israel; after
almost 2,000 years, Israel is clearly moving towards the time when the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah -
the prophesied Third Temple - will be rebuilt.
More and more Jews are returning to the Torah, to the G-d of Israel and the ways of our fathers. And more
and more are beginning to realize that
the Holy Temple is the only solution for achieving the elusive peace we all desire to see: for the Creator
Himself, the Supreme Author of peace, has stated:
"The honor of this last house will be greater than that of the first, says the Lord of Hosts; and in this place
I will grant peace, says the Lord of Hosts"
(Hagai 2:9).
But the sages of Israel enigmatically stated that when the Messiah arrives, he will stand atop the roof of the
Holy Temple and cry out: "Humble ones! The time of
your redemption has arrived!" Thus: the Temple will be built before the Messiah arrives.
Yearning for the Temple
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we
remembered Zion. We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst
of it. For there those who carried us away captive required of us
a song. And those who plundered us required of us mirth, saying,
"Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
How shall we sing the Lord's
song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my
right hand forget her skill! If I do not remember you, let my
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth - if I do not exalt
Jerusalem above my chief joy.
(Psalm 137:1-6)
The 137th Psalm, a hymn of the exiles of Jerusalem during the Babylonian captivity, eloquently expresses
the yearnings of the Jewish people for their homeland,
their City and their Temple - then and now.
Jerusalem, Our Spiritual Source
Jerusalem, the city chosen by G-d, has always remained the focal point of the Jewish people and the object
of all their yearnings. The Jews have never had another
capital, and it has never been the capital of any other nation. The unique status the city holds for the people
of Israel is unparalleled. And the Holy Temple that
stood in Jerusalem is what gave the city its eternal meaning. It still continues to inspire its future hope.
The Temple was not only the soul of the city, but the
soul and conscience of the entire earth; the wonder of the world and focal point for the prayers of mankind... as it will be again. Through all their bitter wanderings,
Jews have prayed three times daily "may the Holy Temple be rebuilt speedily and in our day."
And when a Jew prays, wherever in the world he happens to be,
he stands and faces Jerusalem and the spot of the Holy Temple, just as Daniel did in Babylonian captivity.
The act of facing Jerusalem in prayer shows solidarity
with our spiritual source.
For a period spanning nearly 1,000 years, the Holy Temple functioned as the heart of the Jewish people.
It was the center of life for all that was considered of value i
n Israel: the kingdom, the spirit of prophecy, the Sanhedrin, and most importantly... the Divine service.
Here, in this house of prayer for both Israel and the nations,
the priests and levites attended to their sacred duties. From every corner of the ancient world, people
streamed to the Holy Temple to absorb something of the
holiness and the spirit of purity that resided in this place.
The Role of the Holy Temple
The Holy Temple was not just some magnificent building or synagogue rooted in Jerusalem's ancient
Biblical past; it was an arena of cosmic themes; a place
where man could meet with his Creator. This represents one of the most important concepts of Jewish
belief: that man has the capacity to engage in a direct,
constant, and fulfilling relationship with his Creator. It was the world's true spiritual center, and the
medium for that unfolding relationship.
It is the reality of the living memory of that relationship as it once was, and the dream of its renewal,
that keeps the fires of the Temple altar burning within
the collective heart of the nation of Israel, and the hearts of all those who cherish her G-d and His
message for humanity. The Holy Temple is the secret of the
Jewish people's survival; when it stands in the place chosen by the Creator, Israel is able to focus and
connect all of her energies and powers to a sense of
Divine purpose. This is the role of the Holy Temple in the life of man: to enable one to realign himself,
to dedicate one's whole self to G-d, to elevate every
aspect of the human experience to holiness and return the energy which He gives us to His service.
Rabban Yochanan and the Destruction
The Jewish people have never forgotten the Holy Temple; it has never left their collective consciousness,
not even for an instant. The great Jewish leader Rabban
Yochanan was an eye-witness to the Temple's destruction. Acting out of a firm belief that the Temple
would be rebuilt speedily, and concerned that its practices
and procedures should remain fresh in Israel's collective memory, Rabban Yochanan enacted a series of
measures which fully demonstrate the centrality of the
Holy Temple in the lives of the Jewish people... a centrality so vibrant and a force so powerful in her life,
that it remains not merely a memory, but a fire
which refuses to be extinguished. Truly, all other factors in Israel's national life are eclipsed by the
importance of the Holy Temple.
Rabban Yochanan's legislation includes, for example, the ruling that priests who can keep track of the
day on which their shift serves in the Temple service
should behave themselves on those days as if the Temple still stood - meaning, they should abstain from
drinking wine, so that they will remain in a state o
f readiness to resume their priestly duties.
Similarly, other customs were adopted by the majority of Israel which were designed to keep the
Temple's memory at the forefront of their awareness. For example,
the famed sage Hillel's custom of eating the matzah and bitter herb together in a sandwich on the seder
night, in the same manner that the Passover celebrants
ate in Jerusalem in the shadow of the Temple. Likewise, to paraphrase Psalms 137:6,"Jerusalem is to be
raised above our chiefest joy." Thus at the hour of a
man's chiefest joy, his wedding, he breaks a glass under his foot to symbolize the destruction of the
House of the Lord. The message is clear: Even this
great moment of joy, perhaps the greatest of his life, cannot be complete as long as the Temple still lies
in ruins.
In section 560 of Rabbi Joseph Caro's (1488 - 1575) monumental Code of Jewish Law, we find other
instances of these remembrances which were enacted
by the great sages living in the generation of the Second Temple's destruction. For example, when an
individual builds a home, he must leave a small
section of the wall opposite the entrance blank and unplastered.
The Red Heifer: The Missing Ingredient
What does a red heifer have to do with any of this? Perhaps it would be difficult for some to believe
that a cow could be so important. But in truth, the fate of the
entire world depends on the red heifer. For G-d has ordained that its ashes alone are the single missing
ingredient for the reinstatement of Biblical purity - and
thereafter, the rebuilding of the Holy Temple. And as we will discuss in these pages, the ashes of the
red heifer rectifies humanity's most basic flaw: despair.
The despair brought about by the loss of the Temple and the Divine Presence amongst us.
Purification with the red heifer reminds us that man has the potential to rise above his transitory physical
existence, with all its false sense of hopelessness
and misery... the "impurity" of death. This is the role of the Third Temple for all mankind, and this is the Messianic vision of the future: the call to live an
eternal life, liberated from the sham and unhappiness which is the sum total of the human condition for
so many people. The call for the true joy of living
life to the fullest - with the knowledge of G-d.
The Divine ordinance of the heifer, beyond the grasp of man's frail intellect, with all the details of its
preparation and ceremony, calls out to Israel and to all
who seek to cling to the living word of the G-d of Israel: "Purify yourselves! Shake off your despair!
Death is an illusion!" Thus it is written, "...but all of you
who cling to the Lord your G-d...you are all alive today" (Deut. 4:4)
The Mystery of the Heifer is Above Human Understanding
The great sages of Israel consider this precept to be the deepest mystery of the Torah. For a great,
enigmatic contradiction surrounds it: although the ashes of the
red heifer have the inexplicable power to cleanse all those who have been rendered unclean, contact
with the very same ashes for those who are pure has the opposite
effect... it makes them unclean!
King Solomon, who was the wisest of all human beings who ever lived, understood every aspect of
G-d's creation. Tradition relates that he even knew the languages
of all the animals. Yet he was not able to fathom the secret of the red heifer, and after contemplating
it, he declared "I said, 'I will become wise, but it is far from
me' (Ecc. 7:23)."
The commandment of the red heifer is one of those ordinances that belong to the category of chok
(plural, chukim). These are statutes that G-d decreed that cannot
be understood by human reasoning. Rather, He requires that we perform them on account of our love
and fear for Him. Although we can try to delve into the
explanation of these laws, and attempt to find some allusion or sense of the ideas conveyed, we know
that ultimately their true meaning is beyond our
intellectual grasp.
The Golden Calf
In this light, we are aware of an important tradition taught by the rabbis: there is a connection between
the concept of the red heifer and the sin of the Golden
Calf which Israel, under the influence of the Mixed Multitude, committed in the desert forty days after
the Revelation at Mount Sinai.
The consequences of this sin were enormous, for it was this single event which introduced the concept
of the impurity of death into the world. The rabbis
employ a parable to aid in our understanding of the cord that connects between the golden calf and the
red heifer:
"A handmaiden's son soiled the king's palace with his filth. The king commanded, 'Let the mother come,
and clean up the child's filth'."
In the same way, the red heifer serves to atone for the spiritual chaos brought into the world through
the golden calf.
Similarly, the prohibition against a yoke, as well as other aspects of this detailed commandment,
can be interpreted on a symbolic level. For example, the
heifer must not have harnessed a yoke, for it reminds us that at the fiasco of the golden calf, Israel
threw off the yoke of heaven. It must be red, on account of
the verse which promises "If your sins will be red as scarlet, they shall whiten as snow" for sin is
alluded to as red. But it must be "perfect" in its redness, fo
r Israel was faultless in her devotion to G-d before she sinned.
But it must be remembered that all of these comments are merely allegorical allusions, for we cannot
even scratch the surface of understanding the true nature
and essence of this commandment...
Moses Understood the Mystery
In the future world, when all men live on a higher plane of awareness, we shall be able to understand
the mystery of the red heifer. In the meantime, Moses was
the only human being to whom G-d ever granted the ability to understand. This is expressed by the
words of the verse, "Speak to the children of Israel and have
them bring you a red heifer." As the sages comment on these words, "G-d told Moses, 'To you I have
revealed its secret; but for everyone else, it shall remain
a chok - it must be adhered to without questioning."
The story of the red heifer has attracted the attention of thousands, the world over. In Jerusalem, we
continue to receive letters
from people hailing from many countries and all walks of life, always asking the same questions: "Is
there a red heifer yet?"
"Could you teach us about the red heifer?" Indeed, a cow can be very important, to many people!
Perhaps this unusual degree of global interest can best be illustrated by a story recorded in the Talmud,
almost 2,000 years
ago:
Once, a Jew became impoverished and was forced to sell his plowing heifer to a heathen. The heathen
used her to
plow for six days, and when the Sabbath arrived he took her out to plow as well, just as he had done on
every other
day. But on this day, the heifer seemed possessed. She struggled under the yoke, and refused to move.
The owner
kicked her and hit her, but the heifer would not budge from the spot.
The heathen went back and told the Jew, "take your heifer back; perhaps there is something wrong with
her. As much as I strike her, she
will not move." The Jew understood that the heifer was accustomed to resting on the Sabbath. He bent
down and whispered into the
animal's ear, "Heifer, heifer, I know that when you belonged to me, you would plow during the six work
days, and rest on the Sabbath.
But alas! I have had to sell you, and now this one possesses you. He does not recognize the sanctity of
this day. Please go and plow for
him."
The heifer began to plow immediately. The buyer stood spellbound at this sight, and when he sufficiently recovered from his shock he
grabbed hold of the Jew and demanded
"I asked you to take her back. Now I won't let you go from here, until you tell me what it is that you
did in her ear! I struggled with her and
hit her, and she wouldn't stand!
The Jew began to calm and appease him. "I did no magic or spell," he explained. "I just told her that
she must come to terms with the fact
that she must now work on the Sabbath... "
The man stood thunderstruck. Trembling with awe, he whispered "If this cow, who cannot speak and
has no understanding, recognizes its Creator....what of me, whom that same Creator made in His own
image, and bestowed with intelligence?! Should I not become aquainted
with Him?"
That man embraced the G-d of Israel, and eventually became a great and respected scholar.
G-d uses many devices to bring His children back to Him. And commenting on this anecdote,
the rabbis observed: "And if one
should wonder, how could a man turn his life around, and come close to G-d on account of a heifer?!
Do not wonder: For it is
through the heifer that all of Israel becomes pure.
We are now in the time foreseen by the prophet Hagai, and when we come together to hear about the
G-d of Israel and His plan
for the Redemption, the Holy One "shakes the heavens and the earth, the dry land and the sea, and the
finest things of all
nations" are drawn out, in search of ways to serve our Creator and to understand our obligations to Him.
Our prayer is that this teaching will reach the hands of those who are looking for it, those who identify
with its message:
The vision of purity, repentance, joy, and the time of prophetic fulfillment, when the prophet Zechariah
tells us that "G-d
and His name will be One."
"Behold, He stands behind our wall, watching from the windows, peeking out from the lattice-work...
"(Song of Songs 2:9).
Our Creator guides our lives, and the more sincerely we search for Him in our lives, the more He allows
us to sense
His presence in our affairs; the more He allows us a glimpse, however fleeting, of the awesome destiny
that beckons to us,
if we only have the courage to rise to meet it.
The question is often asked: Why is there such a sense of urgency to make ready the red heifer?
The answer is simple. To be a Jew is to be filled with a sense of urgency. The Jewish people were
chosen by G-d. But what
were we chosen for? To sanctify His Name by bearing witness to His existence, and to be the vehicle
by which G-d manifests
His will throughout the course of human history. If one is given a task to perform by the Almighty,
should it not be considered
urgent? The prophet also calls upon Israel to be "a light unto the nations." But one cannot be a light to
others if he himself
sits in the dark. The source of our light is the Divine Presence, which will again dwell in the Holy
Temple, as promised by
every prophet of Israel.
We are moving towards our destiny. For all those who wish to be alive in the truest sense - "And all
of you who cling to the
Lord your G-d, you are all alive today" - to be alive in these special times is an urgent matter. G-d
beckons to us to hasten
our own redemption, and nothing is by chance.
Posts
