These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly portion: #1343 – Making a Mi’she’bairach for a Choleh on Shabbos – Is It Permitted? Good Shabbos!
How Does the “Mother Cow” Make Up for the Mess Made by Her “Child”?
The Medrash Tanchuma in Parshas Chukas (quoted by Rashi) discusses the Parah Adumah (Red Heifer). The only way a person can regain tahara (purity) after becoming tamei through contact with the dead is via the ritual of the Parah Adumah. Therefore, nowadays when we no longer have access to the ashes of the Parah Adumah, we all remain contaminated with tumas meis (death impurity).
The Medrash gives an analogy for the Parah Adumah: It can be compared to the child of the king’s handmaiden, who soiled the palace. The king will command, “Let the mother come and clean up the mess made by her child.” The Medrash means to say that the purpose of the Parah Adumah is for the “mother cow” to come and atone for the aveira (sin) of the Eigel Hazahav (Golden Calf).
The obvious question is that other than the fact that the parah is a cow and the eigel is a calf, which is the offspring of a cow, what is the connection between Parah Adumah, which is related to tumas meis and the purification therefrom, and the aveira of the Eigel Hazahav? The cheit ha’eigel (Sin of the Calf) was a form of Avodah Zarah, or at least an aveira bordering on Avodah Zarah. How is that related to tumas meis and the Parah Adumah?
I would like to give two interpretations of this Medrash:
The first is a beautiful Kli Yakar on the parsha. When Klal Yisrael stood at Har Sinai, the Gemara says they went through a spiritual purification process. Had we not sinned with the eigel, there would have been no such thing as tumas meis. That doesn’t mean that there would not be death in the world. No. People would still die, but they would die a different type of death. They would not die at the hands of the Malach Hamaves. They would die with what is called a misas neshika (death by a ‘kiss’). Somehow, the Ribono shel Olam would ‘kiss them’ and their souls would leave them.
It is for this reason that some people say that the death of the righteous does not engender tumah, but rather the death of the righteous comes via a ‘kiss’. Death via a ‘kiss’ does not cause tumas meis.
This, says the Kil Yakar, is what Chazal mean when they say that the Parah Adumah atones for the aveira of the Eigel Hazahav. The caused a descent of the whole concept of death, such that from that point forward, death engendered tumas meis. Now we need a Parah Adumah to regain a state of tahara. Therefore, the Parah Adumah is an appropriate kapara for the aveira of the Eigel Hazahav.
I saw another understanding of why the Parah Adumah is a kapara for the cheit haeigel in the sefer Meorei Ohr. Rashi notes on the fact that the Parah Adumah must be temima (without blemish) that the symbolism represents Klal Yisrael, who were without blemish (prior to the aveira of the Eigel Hazahav) and then became ba’alei mumim (blemished). They were given the Parah Adumah to allow them to return to their blemish-free status.
What does this mean? The author notes that Rashi says in Chumash on the pasuk, “Tamim you shall be with Hashem your G-d” (Devorim 18:13) that a person should just accept what the Ribono shel Olam gives and not try to figure out what is happening or what will happen in the future. The Meorei Ohr states that when they did the cheit haeigel, they were guilty of this very thing that they were warned against in the pasuk “Tamim you shall be with Hashem your G-d.” They tried to “outsmart” the Ribono shel Olam or to be more pro-active than the Ribono shel Olam himself.
All the Rishonim say that when they made the Eigel Hazahav it was not literally an idol. They were desperate: “Here we are in the wilderness. Until now, Moshe Rabbeinu was taking care of everything. Now what are we going to do?” They decided they needed to take matters into their own hands. They made an Eigel Hazahav in the hope that this calf would be the medium through which Hashem would speak to them. What were they actually supposed to do? They were supposed to follow the dictum of “Tamim you shall be with Hashem your G-d.” They should have said, “If the Ribono shel Olam took us out of Mitzrayim and the Ribono shel Olam gave us the mann and the be’er (well), etc., then the Ribono shel Olam will figure this out Himself. It is not for us to try to figure out new ways to interact with the Ribono shel Olam.” That is the temimus that was required under those circumstances.
Parah Adumah is all about nullifying our sechel (intellect) to a Higher Authority. As we all know, Parah Adumah is the quintessential chok (unfathomable mitzvah). It is a paradox that makes no sense. While purifying the impure, it makes those who are pure impure. So then why do we do it? Because the Ribono shel Olam said so! We accept that. We have no questions. And we go further. Parah Adumah represents the antidote of what they did by the cheit haeigel. The unblemished (tamim) Parah Adumah represents this concept of temimus / innocence that they lacked when they made the Eigel Hazahav. That is why it is the “mother cow who comes and cleans up the mess made by her offspring (the calf).”
Mission Accomplished!
The pasuk in Parshas Chukas says, “And Hashem said to Moshe and to Aharon on Hor Hahor, on the boundary of the Land of Edom, saying: Let Aharon be gathered to his nation for he will not come into the land that I have given to the Children of Israel…” (Bamidbar 20:23-24) The time for the death of Aharon has arrived. The Gemara (Rosh Hashana 11a) says “Hashem sits and completes the lives of the righteous from day to day.” This means that a tzadik only dies when his time is up. He is allotted X number of years to his life, and when that time is up he leaves this world. However, because he is a tzadik, the Ribono shel Olam doesn’t take him away early. He lives his life to the full extent of the time he was granted at birth.
The Sefas Emes asks that the previously quoted pasuk seems to contradict the principle of a Gemara in Rosh Hashana. The pasuk implies that Aharon is not dying here because “his days are full and his time is up” but rather because he does not have permission to enter Eretz Yisrael with Bnei Yisrael (because of his involvement in the incident at Mei Merivah).
To answer this question, the Sefas Emes makes a beautiful observation: When it says that tzadikim live their full lives,” it does not mean in terms of days and years. It means in terms of purpose. Every person is put here on this world to fulfill a mission. When that mission is fulfilled, then the person leaves this world. With a tzadik, until he fulfills the mission that the Ribono shel Olam had in mind for him when He put his neshama on this earth, the tzadik won’t die.
The Sefas Emes elaborates: Had Aharon been allowed to enter Eretz Yisrael, there would have been more mission for him to accomplish. He would have done the avodah; he would serve as the Kohen Gadol; he would have been in charge of the avodah in the Mishkan. He would have what to do. But because of the aveira of Mei Merivah, he couldn’t go into the land and consequently, his mission had ended, so he had to die.
Transcribed by David Twersky; Jerusalem [email protected]
Edited by Dovid Hoffman; Baltimore, MD [email protected]
This week’s write-up is adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissochar Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly Torah portion. A listing of the halachic portions for Parshas Chukas is provided below:
- #018 – Rending Garments on Seeing Yerushalayim
- #063 – Intermarriage
- #107 – Rabbonim and Roshei Yeshiva — Do Sons Inherit?
- #152 – Halachic Considerations of Transplanted Organs
- #199 – Stam Yeinam: Non Kosher Wines
- #245 – Skin Grafts
- #335 – Postponing a Funeral
- #379 – The Jewish “Shabbos Goy”
- #423 – Tefilah of a Tzadik for a Choleh
- #467 – Detached Limbs and Tumah
- #511 – Autopsies and Insurance
- #555 – Women Fasting on 17th of Tamuz, Tisha B’Av and Yom Kippur
- #599 – Blended Whiskey
- #643 – Choshed Bekesherim and Daan L’kaf Z’chus
- #687 – Water, Coffee and Tea
- #731 – Shkia – 7:02: Mincha 7:00 A Problem?
- #775 – Wine At a Shul Kiddush
- #819 – Mayim Geluyim – Uncovered Water – Is There a Problem
- #863 – Shabbos In The Good ‘Ol Summertime
- #907 – Bracha Acharono on Coffee and Ice Cream
- #951 – The Body Works Exhibit
- #994 – Bilam and His Donkey: A Problem with Tzar Ba’alei Chaim?
- #1038 – Flowers At The Cemetery?
- #1082 – Should You Buy An Expensive Esrog Box?
- #1125 – Saying Kaddish For More Than One Person; Lo’aig Le’rash for Women?
- #1167 – “If Hashem Saves Me, I Make A Neder to…….” Good Idea or Not?
- #1210 – Postponing A Funeral Revisited
- #1255 – I keep 72 Minutes, You Keep 45 — Can I Drive Home With You After 45 Minutes?
- #1256 – The Last Day of Sheva Brachos Starting Before Sh’kia, Bentching After Tzais — Are There Sheva Brachos? And other such Shailos.
- #1299 – Can You Remove Your Yarmulka for a Job Interview?
- #1343 – Making a Mi’she’bairach for a Choleh on Shabbos – Is It Permitted?
- #1387 – May A Kohain Attend the Funeral of the Gadol HaDor
- #1431 – Reuven Has Yahrzeit for Father; Shimon Has Yahrzeit for Mother -Who Gets Maftir?
- #1475 – Can You Pay Someone to be a Shomer for a Mais? – Can You Use a Used Matzeiva?
- #1519 – What Does Hashem Prefer: Small Miracles or Big Miracles?
- #1561 – Does the Torah Care About Your Money?
- #1603 – Can You Use a Plastic Cup for Netilas Yadayim and Kiddush
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