In Numbers 19:1-22, the Israelites are commanded to sacrifice a red heifer without blemish, burning it entirely outside the camp. Its ashes, mixed with water, are used for ceremonial cleansing. Anyone who touches a corpse becomes unclean for seven days and must undergo purification using this mixture of water and ashes from the red heifer.
The connection with Pesach is that the Talmud, in Pesachim, discusses the necessity of ritual purity before sharing in the Passover meal, emphasizing that those who are impure cannot eat the korban Pesach. Pesachim 92a -clarifies that someone who can become pure through the Parah Adumah (red heifer) ritual must do so in time to participate in the Passover meal.
In preparing for this dvar torah, I saw many opinions about this red heifer purity ritual from people far, far wiser than me. Starting with King Solomon the wisest of them all… Where King Solomon, traditionally the author of Kohellet says “All this have I tested in wisdom. I said, "I will be wise", but it was far from me. Yoma 14a teaches that he is referring specifically to the Red Heifer.
Rambam categorized this mitzvah as a chok—a divine decree beyond full human comprehension. He acknowledged its paradoxical nature: the ashes purified the impure but rendered the pure impure. It is the realm of the supra-rational. Rambam explains that a chok—a divine law without an apparent rational explanation—teaches humility. He says that while some commandments have clear reasons, others, like the Red Heifer ritual, transcend human understanding. Accepting chukim demonstrate that divine wisdom surpasses human intellect.
The anonymous author of Sefer haChinuch understood to be a student of Rambam says he provided an explanation for many commandments but with this one, ‘his hand are weak and mouth scared to utter a word, as the depth of this commandment is too deep and filled with secrecy’.
In Bamidbar Rabbah 19:3, a 12th- century midrashic commentary on the Book of Numbers teaches that even wise King Solomon, who investigated the matter, in the end could not fully grasp it. The Midrash says only Moses is told the rationale for the red Heifer by God, which Moses doesn’t share with us.
Jay Schlesinger drew my attention to Dr Joseph Weinstein, who notes that to make soap, one needs three components: an alkali, from ash, water and fat, and he wonders if soap-making was a trade secret of the Kohanim.
So many attempts to reconcile this strange Mitzvah…
Another response to this mitzvah is to walk away from it entirely. To see it as further evidence that our tradition is arcane and irrelevant. Those that don’t walk away, have tried over the centuries to find reasons for the place of this ritual in our lives, including it in our torah reading cycle, and even re-reading it again today.
Moshe Halberthal, in one of my favourite books, called People of the Book, looks at how interpretation works. In particular, he looks at canon and the principle of charity. Canon is when we seal a text and say we are not changing it anymore. Charity here is not charity as we usually think of it, by giving money. This view of charity is a way of looking at another’s statements as a way to shed some light on them, to see that they have light to shed. Uncharitable readings see the text in the service of an unjust cause. I’ve seen that approach around antisemitic, out-of-context quotes from the Talmud that demonstrate how wicked Judaism is. It breaks my heart.
Moshe Halberthal says that when it comes to our canonical texts like the Torah and the Mishnah and the Talmud, charitable readings are more generous in showing the work in the best light. I’m in the charitable camp.
So maybe that’s why the need to make sense of Parah Adumah doesn’t bother me at all. There is so much in our tradition and in our liturgy that rubs me the wrong way, that makes no sense to me, that’s a stone in my shoe. But I love it all, the good and the bad and the confusing. My love is unconditional. I love being Jewish and being part of a long and wide tradition that I swim in. I don’t need to understand it all, to reconcile it all or to explain it all. Even more so when I discovered Rambam, the Talmud and NNLS. I belong here and it belongs to me.
So, I don’t believe we should all believe the same thing, or that I should cancel you if you don’t believe the same thing as me, or that we should eliminate or change the parts of our prayers and rituals that don’t agree with my beliefs. I believe in showing up and helping out. I believe in finding your community and sustaining it. I believe we are stronger together with all our differences.
Shabbat Parah reminds us that our tradition is not always about understanding every detail. Sometimes it’s about showing up with humility, embracing the mystery, and connecting to something larger than ourselves. I love being part of this community, and I hope that we can all continue to find strength in our shared practices and diverse beliefs.