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Read it, and read it again, and it still doesn't make sense!
The great sages of Israel consider the precept of the red heifer to be the deepest mystery of the Torah, for the following reason: although the ashes of the red heifer have the incredible power to make clean 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.'" (Ecclesiastes. 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. |
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