397. I’ve Never Seen a Red Cow…: The obligation to carry out the procedure of the parah adumah

As we have discussed, there were a variety of types of ritual impurity, with differing rules depending on the type. The “great-granddaddy” of ritual impurity was impurity caused by contact with the deceased. (This phrase is similar to the Talmud’s term for a corpse, “avi avos hatumah,” “the father of the fathers of impurity.”) As a special, extreme form of ritual uncleanliness, corpse impurity called for an equally unique method of cleansing. This entailed the use of a parah adumah, the red heifer.

The parah adumah was a red cow – it couldn’t even have two black or white hairs – that had to be at least three years old and could never have worn a yoke. The red cow was burned and its ashes were used in the purification process.

The Torah portion dealing with the red heifer is called Chukas, from the word chok. (Rhymes with “choke” but starts with a guttural ch, as in “Bach.”) A chok is a law that does not have an obvious, logical human rationale. Not to kill or steal are logical laws that all societies adopt. Not to eat meat and milk combined is a chok. We do it because God told us to. After the fact, we look for the lessons we can derive from a chok, but they are not laws that humans would enact. The parah adumah is the preeminent example of a chok. As such, we will not attempt to dwell on its underlying reasons.

The great mystery of the parah adumah was that, while its ashes cleansed those who were afflicted with the most intense form of impurity, it simultaneously conveyed a degree of impurity to those who participated in the cleansing process. It is said that this confounded even King Solomon, the wisest of all men. In Ecclesiastes 7:23, he wrote, “I said I would acquire wisdom, but it is far from me.” This verse is said to refer to even Solomon’s inability to unravel the secrets of the parah adumah. (The great scholars have pointed out that many things in nature can have differing effects depending on what they’re applied to. Put an egg on the fire and it turns solid; put a block of ice on the fire and the result is quite different. Why is chocolate food for humans and poison for dogs? Of course, this only tells us that the phenomenon of the parah adumah is not unprecedented, not why it occurs.)

According to the Mishna in tractate Parah (3:5), there were a total of nine red heifers from the time Moses was commanded this mitzvah until the destruction of the second Temple.

This mitzvah applies in Israel, when the Temple service is in effect. In the Mishna, it is the subject of tractate Parah. It is codified in the Mishneh Torah in Hilchos Parah Adumah. This mitzvah is #113 of the 248 positive mitzvos in the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvos.