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This is the mitzvah of parah adumah (red heifer). Contact with
a human corpse, or even being together with a corpse overshadowed by one cover,
renders a person ritually impure. The purification procedures for such a person
include his being sprinkled by the "waters of purification," which contain
the specially prepared ashes of a parah adumah. There is a profound link between the precept of parah adumah and the
principle of the Messianic redemption.
"This is the Torah's decree... have them bring you a completely red
heifer which has no blemish..."
-Chukat 19:2ff.
For the duration of the galut, until the coming of Moshiach, all Jews
are in a state of impurity caused by corpses. We no longer have ashes of a parah
adumah to purify us, and new ones can be prepared only in the presence of
the Sanctuary (Beit Hamikdash).
Our present impurity is not only a Halachic condition determined by legal
definitions. It is also a spiritual condition, for it is sin and spiritual
defilement that brought about the current state of galut-"Because of
our sins we were exiled from our land..."
Mitzvot signify life. To follow the Divine commandments means to attach
oneself to the Almighty who gave us the Torah and mitzvot, drawing unto
oneself spiritual vitality from the very Source of All Life. Thus it is written:
"You who cleave unto G-d, your G-d, you are all alive today" (Va'etchanan
4:4).
Sin signifies death. Sin means violating G-d's Will, rebelling against G-d.
It disrupts attachment to the Creator, clogging, as it were, the very channel
through which the spiritual life-force flows to man, individually and
collectively. Sin thus brings about the "impurity of death."
Both the "red heifer" and the Messianic redemption effect purification.
The ashes of the "red heifer" are used for removing a legal state of
impurity. The redemption will purify the entire people of Israel (including
those who halachically are pure) from any trace of deficiency in the bond with
our Father in Heaven. One of the Messianic prophecies thus says of that time, in
terms analogous to the "waters of purification" of the "red heifer": "I
shall sprinkle pure waters upon you that you be purified. I will purify you from
all your impurities and from all your idols!" (Ezekiel 36:25)
Maimonides cites a Mishnah with the following words: "Nine ‘red
heifers' were prepared from the time this precept was ordained until the
Second Temple was destroyed: the first was prepared by Moses our Master, the
second Ezra prepared, and there were seven from Ezra to the destruction of the
Temple. The tenth will be prepared by King Moshiach-may he soon be revealed,
amen, may thus be (G-d's) Will!" (Hilchot Parah Adumah 3:4)
Our present mitzvot can make this happen momentarily!
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