Two Minute Torah Podcast

Hukkat 5768 by Rabbi David Goldberg Russo

This podcast was originally recorded in 2008.

My name is David Goldberg, a rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Welcome to KOACH’s Two Minute Torah, a project of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

If God said to you, when you touch a dead body, you need to be purified by the ashes of a red heifer... what would you think? Would you sprinkle yourself with the ashes of a red cow? What is this all about?

Our rabbis admit that the Parah Adumah, the Red Heifer mentioned in this week's parashah, is the classic case of a chok- a commandment with no real apparent reason behind it.

They relate, in various midrashim, that Solomon is the wisest person to have ever lived- that he even had the wisdom of all of the people Israel (Kohelet Rabbah 7:32). They then admit that even Solomon did not understand this principle of the Red Heifer (Bamidbar Rabbah 19:3). Even Solomon could not think of a reason for why we would need the ashes of a Red Heifer to purify us after touching a dead body.

If the wisest of all people, King Solomon, did not understand why we observe the Red Heifer, then why must we carry out the will of God with a red heifer?

In fact, one rabbi even went as far to say that while he tried to explain all of the mitzvot, at this one he ??? ????- he threw up his hands, not knowing how to explain the meaning of the Red Heifer (Sefer Hachinuch, Mitzvah 397).

Professor Abraham Joshua Heschel writes: “The Bible speaks not only of man’s search for God but also of God’s search for man... God [is] unwilling to be alone... Religion consists of God’s question and man’s answer.”

We need to realize that God poses certain questions in our daily lives, and we have to seek God for answers. So, how do we seek out God in our everyday lives?

Many of us have spent summers in various Jewish environments: Ramah camps, USY trips, and other Jewish summer experiences. It is in those places that we have the opportunity to pray, play, study, eat, and more... together. And the reason it is so amazing is because we take the time to make every moment special.

The Red Heifer, even though we do not observe it in our day, could be understood as an example of a healing ritual, a way to help someone after they have been emotionally scarred from being in touch with a dead body.

In The Chosen by Rabbi Chaim Potok, his character David Malter shares my sentiments: that life is about making every moment meaningful:

“A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives that span, he is something. He can fill that tiny span with meaning, so its quality is immeasurable though its quantity may be insignificant... It is hard work to fill one’s life with meaning...” (217).

We must live our lives by inserting meaning into every moment. Even Rabbi Heschel admits that it is not easy to add meaning to something like prayer every day! But, by praying, even when he does not feel up to it, he feels a sense of meaning in his life.

It is my hope and prayer that all of us, coming upon something as random as the ashes of a Red Heifer to a bush that is burning and not consumed – things we may not understand; that we would all see those moments opportunities to insert meaning in our lives.

Shabbat Shalom