Red Heifer, The Mitzvah of

This is the parshah that deals with the Parah Adumah (Red Heifer). For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Parah Adumah, I’ll try very briefly to summarize the main points. In Yiddishkeit, spiritual purity is a desirable factor. This has nothing to ...

The mystical dimensions of the ego

Why is the red heifer called chukat haTorah, "the decree of the Torah"? It's as if the Torah is saying, "This is the crux of the whole Torah." We know that the essence of the whole Torah is love of one's fellow: There is the famous story of the sage ...

This parshah talks about a very strange commandment. I say "strange," because there are certain details of the commandment to remove defilement by sprinkling the ashes of the red heifer that are unlike any other commandment in the Torah. The commandment ...

Moses was baffled when G‑d described for him the impurity contracted through contact with a corpse. Why?

On the 2nd of Nissan, one day after the inauguration of the Tabernacle, Moses prepared the very first Red Heifer, in order to ritually purify the Jewish nation in preparation for the bringing of the Paschal Lamb in the newly erected Sanctuary. Link: The ...

Just because you are ready to completely sacrifice your own spiritual development in order to help others with theirs, that doesn’t mean that G‑d is ready to accept that sacrifice.

Why is the red heifer referred to as "the suprarational command of the Torah" ?

Moses could not fathom what procedure could possibly purify a person who had been ritually defiled by contact with death, until G‑d granted him a uniquely profound revelation. Although in exile the ritual of the Red Heifer cannot be performed, through ...