FROM THIS WEEK’S TORAH PORTION – CHUQQATH:

The Command:

“And YHWH spoke to Moshe and to Aharon, saying, This is a law of the Torah which YHWH has commanded, saying, Speak to the children of Yisra’el, that they bring you a red heifer, a perfect one, in which there is no blemish and on which a yoke has never come. And you shall give it to El’azar the priest, and he shall bring it outside the camp, and shall slay it before him. And El’azar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood seven times toward the front of the Tent of Appointment. And the heifer shall be burned before his eyes – he burns its hide, and its flesh, and its blood, and its dung. And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and throw them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer. The priest shall then wash his garments, and shall bathe his body in water, and afterward come into the camp, but the priest is unclean until evening. And he who is burning it washes his garments in water, and shall bathe his body in water, and is unclean until evening. And a clean man shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and shall place them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Yisra’el for the water for uncleanness, it is for cleansing from sin. And he who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his garments, and is unclean until evening. And it shall be a law forever to the children of Yisra’el and to the stranger who sojourns in their midst. He who touches the dead of any human being is unclean for seven days. He is to cleanse himself with the water on the third day, and on the seventh day he is clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day, then on the seventh day he is not clean. Anyone who touches the dead of a human being, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the Dwelling Place of YHWH. And that being shall be cut off from Yisra’el. He is unclean, for the water for uncleanness was not sprinkled on him, his uncleanness is still upon him.”

Why a red cow?

A person becomes unclean through contact with a human corpse. To be cleansed from this defilement, they must be sprinkled by a priest with water containing the ashes of a perfectly red heifer. If they aren’t, they must remain outside the camp of Yisrael and cannot enter the Tabernacle or Temple. Odd, you say? Even odder is that the person who slays the heifer becomes unclean, the person who processes the water and ashes becomes unclean, yet the person sprinkled with them becomes clean. What is the reason for all this oddity? There is none given in scripture. This is the nature of one of the four primary types of laws, and is called a Chuq (kook). Kooky, right? A chuq is a law which has no discernable explanation. In fact, it is believed we are not even supposed to know it. It is something of a test of us by YHWH – will we obey Him and keep it, even though it makes no apparent sense to us? Will you, if asked to do so by the Ruler of the Universes?

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares YHWH. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down, and the snow from the heavens, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so is My Word that goes forth from My mouth – it does not return to Me empty, but shall do what I please, and shall certainly accomplish what I sent it for. For with joy you go out, and with peace you are brought in – the mountains and the hills break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field clap the hands. Instead of the thorn the cypress comes up, and instead of the nettle the myrtle comes up. And it shall be to YHWH for a name, for an everlasting sign which is not cut off.”