 The Greatest Gift
On a symbolic level, one of the great secrets intimated by the process of the red heifer is the concept of repentance. Repentance is the greatest gift which God gave to man - so holy, so Godlike, so completely above all logic or comprehension. The sages teach that the concept of repentance is one of seven things which God "thought of" even before He created the world. Thus He created repentance before He created man; this means that the ability for man to repent existed well before sin... it even existed before the beginning of time. Repentance was one of the pillars of creation; before He created man, the Holy One already knew that "the impulse of man's heart is evil from his youth" (Gen. 7:21), and that it would be impossible for even the best of men not to sin and stumble. "There is no righteous man on earth who does only good, and does not sin" (Ecc. 7:20). God knows that this is an integral part of human nature, and it cannot be avoided. Angels are perfect, people make mistakes... yet it is the service of man which God desires. Without mistakes, there can be no growth.
Thus, in the words of the rabbis, "God created the cure even before the illness," and the concept of repentance was prepared in advance of man and built into the very fabric of creation, so that when one transgresses the will of his Creator, a path is left open for him to return.
Understanding the Nature of Sin
How do we understand sin? Judaism defines sin as a spiritual sickness, but it can be more precisely defined as a kind of temporary insanity. Indeed, if a person did not loose track momentarily of the priorities of life; if he did not suddenly and inadvertently suffer a brief disconnection with his Divine purpose, and a short "snap" of his bind with the Eternal Creator, then he would never sin! For when one sins, it is only because he forgets the spark of holiness within him for an instant; his perspective blurs. He simply forgets about God! For if he felt himself to be part of the whole, and connected with the Divine source of his soul from which he was hewn, he would never come to sin. As the sages advised, "Let a man remember three things and he will not come to sin: A seeing eye is above him, and an attentive ear, and all his deeds are written in a book."
In this light the rabbis further explained that "a person does not sin unless he was first seized by an insane impulse."
Both pure logic and experience tell us that this is certainly true. For let us consider what really happens when a human being sins. He cuts himself off totally from God, and even worse, he rejects the spark of life, the holiness, the Divine image in which he was created! How is this possible? How can anyone transgress the will of the Almighty? After all, every movement a man makes, every thought that goes through his head and every word he speaks, all come about through the power which God gives him. But God bestows this power in order for man to live a holy life, to seek Him out and serve him... "In all of your ways, know Him" (Proverbs 3:6).
Rebelling Against the Creator
Yet the sinner takes that very same power which God, in His infinite love, gave man for ultimate good - and he uses it against Him. He uses the very life energy within him to rebel against the Creator who breathed it into him in the first place, by directing that energy into an area which God does not desire! Can there be a greater, a more brazen audacity then this? Like an insult of the worst kind, it is as if the entire universe is moving in one direction, fulfilling the will of the Creator and thus sanctifying Him, but this one has separated himself and is moving in the opposite direction. It is as if he is handed a cup of wine by a benevolent benefactor, and in sheer ingratitude he throws it in the latter's face. By right, we would expect God's punishment against this offender to be swift and exacting. Yet God withstands this insult and waits patiently for the sinner to repent.
"... And you shall return to the Lord your God, and hearken to His voice." (Deut. 4:30) "Return, wayward sons, says the Lord. (Jer. 3:14) "... return, you children of men" (Psalms 90:3).
When any person repents, his sins are forgiven. The doors of repentance are open for every human being, Jew and Gentile alike. And repentance is effective for any sin, no matter how serious. Just as one can repent for an individual sin, he can repent for an entire lifestyle as well. The sages taught that repentance is so powerful, nothing can stand in its way. As the verse states, "If you return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice... God will then accept your repentance and have compassion on you" (Deut. 30:2 - 3).
By obeying God's commandments, we purify ourselves and attach ourselves to Him. Living according to the Creator's will brings man closer to Him. Sin has the opposite effect: it diminishes one's spiritual stature and makes it more difficult to reach perfection. Even worse, sin actually serves to separate a person from God, as it is written, "Only your sins have separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:2).
Thus repentence precedes sin; "God created the cure before the illness."
Which comes first, a mother or her child? The intrinsic necessity of a mother to precede her child is one way of understanding that cryptic parable, "let the mother come and clean up her child's filth:" Let the concept of repentance come and erase the sin.
How Does One Prepare for Repentance?
But no religious experience can come about without proper preparation. True religious experience is an imitation of the Divine; an infusion of Godly light. If a man does not prepare his vessel properly, it cannot contain this great light. Just as a prophet cannot receive Divine inspiration unless he follows the steps which lead to that exalted level, so too, the main preparation for repentance is the attribute of submission and humility. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (Psalms 51:19)."
"Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord."(Proverbs 16:5) How ironic it is that no individual is as far from God, as he who feels that he has already attained perfection, and has no need to search his deeds. By the same token, another type of person truly seeks to better himself, but on account of his own humility he is beset by feelings of inadequacy. Because he so much wants to improve, he feels that he will never be good enough, and consequently he feels rejected by God and unworthy. This is the man who is truly moving closer to God! And the further away he feels... the closer he really is. God desires that a person should recognize his own limitations and hold his fellows in higher esteem than himself. When one nullifies himself to the whole, he can then merit to repent in sincerity and purify himself.
This concept is a key to understanding one of the allegorical levels of that greatest of all mysteries - why the heifer's ashes "cleanse the impure and render the clean impure:"
Judging Others Favorably
In order to open one's heart to the way of true repentance, even though he may be aware of his own good qualities, he should not think highly of himself. Let him view himself as impure, being far worse spiritually than his own neighbor - let him "make the pure (himself) impure" - and then he may "purify the impure;" he can believe in his own heart that his friends are good and righteous when compared to him. When a man gives others the benefit of the doubt, and feels enough compassion to allow for others to make mistakes and make amends... when a man knows that his neighbor has sinned, and yet he still feels that by contrast to himself, in comparison to his own lowliness, the other one is pure... then he has merited one level of the heifer's ashes: true humility, upon which spirit the Divine Presence can rest.
When the true penitent can negate himself in this manner, he will merit holiness and purity. Thus Scripture states, "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one." (Job 14:4) This verse itself teaches us that one should view himself as impure, but his friend as pure. For "not one" in Hebrew can be read as a play on words; lo echad, if not for "the oneness!" What other way could bring a clean thing out of an unclean, if not for the oneness of Israel coming together! Through that union, each one is able to see his fellow's good points and his own shortcomings. The "gathering together" of Israel within the consciousness of each individual, is itself her purification.
The Greatest Secret of All
There is a well-known question: If we have received an explanation that the purification by the heifer's ashes is related to the golden calf episode, and "let the mother come and clean her child's filth," then why is the ordinance of the red heifer still considered a chok? Surely the element of mystery has been abated; it is simply a matter of rectifying the sin of the golden calf!
Yes, even if it is granted that the secret mechanism which powers the cleansing of these ashes is the power of repentance... but this itself is above the realm of comprehension! For even the greatest wisdom and understanding cannot fathom or explain the power of repentance, and how it works... only the Holy One Himself, in his infinite mercy, decreed that it should be so. Repentance is the most Godly secret of all!
Sensitivity to Others
Perhaps this is one way of understanding how the cleansing ashes serve to atone for the havoc wrought by the sin of the calf. That transgression was so severe that it left its impression on all generations to come, down through the ages. And the rectification is through studying the Torah, God's word, serving Him, and most of all, by bestowing kindness upon each other. But what is the single greatest act of kindness one can perform? To feel the next one's suffering and to participate in the sorrow of the entire nation. For when one sensitizes himself to others, he will be prevented from sinning - for he will then understand that when he transgresses, he causes others to suffer, even the entire world! For we are all connected. True unity is achieved when each of us can feel another's pain. The sages thus taught that "whoever has mercy for God's creations will himself receive mercy from heaven" because the same attribute that man deals with others is the one which God metes out to him.
The great Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (the "Master of the Good Name," c. 1700 - 1760; founder of the Hasidic movement) taught that whatever a man does to his fellow, he actually does to himself. If he gives charity or bestows kindness, he is giving himself charity - for God will act towards him in the same measure. But if he endeavors to cheat the next one, or steal from him, or bears him ill will... these will be visited against him from on high, and it is none other than his own doing.
When a man really understands this concept of unity, and he is able look beyond his own feelings and needs, to those of the entire whole, he will refrain from sinning sheerly out of the desire to have mercy on them. His main concern will be to not to cause another suffering on account of his sin. In turn, he will receive the ultimate heavenly mercy: his own sins will be atoned for, and he will merit the resting of the Divine Presence. When the people of Israel are truly united as one with peace reigning between them, God will rest among them. This is the secret of the verse, "And He was king in Yeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together" (Deut. 33:5).
In the Merit of Abraham
This is also a deeper level of meaning contained in the words of the verse, "And he that gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes." The "clothing," representing the physicality will be washed by he who gathers. The real cleansing, the highest level of purification, is through the "gathering" itself - the gathering together of the individual into the totality of the congregation of Israel. This is true humility; the humility of Abraham, the first Jew. The ashes of the heifer reflect the level of humility achieved by our forefather Abraham when he declared before God "I am but dust and ashes" (Gen. 18:24). Indeed, the sages record that God told Abraham: "In the merit of these words you have spoken - ÔI am but dust and ashes' - I will give your children a commandment they will perform through ashes, and by your life, they will receive atonement through it." (Similarly, on the verse which states "Who can count the dust of Jacob?" (Numbers 23:10), the sages reflected: "who can count the merits of the Divine commandments they fulfill with dust?")
Then the verse continues and instructs "And lay them outside the camp in a clean place:" This process of each one "gathering" himself into the congregation will even facilitate the return of those who are "outside the camp" - those who have not yet repented. For whoever is connected to one who is pure, will ultimately be influenced for the better, and be purified himself.
But why is it that "Satan and the nations of the world tease Israel" about this specific commandment, asking for its explanation - to which we answer, "it is a decree which God wrought." God says, "I have ordained it, and you have no permission to question it." What difference does it make to the other nations of the world, whether or not they could understand this? Why are they so curious; why is this the particular point of contention which they have latched on to...
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