A Chet & a Chok: Dissecting Parshat Para
Parshat Ki Tisa & Parshat Para
I’m typing these words on Motza’ei Shabbat in my Mamad (safe room), which my wife and I have been in and out of most of the day. Sirens started at 8:15 this (Shabbat) morning and have sounded a good (bad?) number of times since then. It is very significant and symbolic that Israel attacked Iran on Shabbat Parshat Zachor, when we hear the command not just to remember what Amalek did and not to forget, but also the command of “Timcheh” – to wipe them out. Reports have confirmed the rumors that Khamenei and some of his inner circle were eliminated. We’ll find out more as the days unfold.
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Parshat Para is read on Shabbat Parshat Ki Tisa 41.81% of years. Para is paired with Parshat Vayak–hel 3.31% of the time (the rarest), with Vayak–hel–P’kudei 18.05%, with Tzav 16.3%, and with Sh’mini 20.51%.
When Ki Tisa is not partnered with Para, it is read on its own (58.19% of years).
When Ki Tisa and Para are read on the same Shabbat, there is a significant connection between them. In Ki Tisa, we read about the sin of the Golden Calf, Cheit Ha-Eigel. Parshat Para is about the mitzvah of the Red Heifer, the Para Aduma.
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When we look into a Chumash at this perek, we find a very unusual situation in Rashi. Usually, Rashi’s commentary is presented as words or small phrases that he comments upon. And that is what we expect and do find in Bamidbar 22. But then we find something quite unexpected, maybe even unique in Rashi’s commentary. At the end of the perek, Rashi reviews the text with a different set of commentaries. This “extra” commentary, says Rashi, is based on the Midrash, mostly on the drash of Rabi Moshe HaDarshan (early 11th cent. of the common era). Rashi then proceeds to comment on different points in Parshat Para, some of which are the following:
“V’yikchu eilecha” – And have them take for you: From their own [possessions]; just as they removed their own golden earrings for the [Golden] Calf, so shall they bring this [Cow] from their own [possessions] in atonement.
“Para Aduma” – A red cow: This can be compared to the son of a maidservant who soiled the king’s palace. They said, “Let his mother come and clean up the mess.” Similarly, let the Cow come and atone for the Calf.
“Aduma” – red: Alluding to [the verse], “If they [your sins] prove to be as red as crimson dye” (Yishayahu 1:18), for sin is described as [being] ‘red.’
“T’mima” – perfectly: An allusion to the Israelites, who were perfect, but became blemished. Let this come and atone for them so that they regain their perfection.
“Asher lo ala aleha ol” – And upon which no yoke was laid: Just as they cast off from themselves the yoke of Heaven.
“El Elazar HaKohen” – to Elazar the kohen: Just as they assembled against Aharon HaKohen to make the calf, but because Aharon made the calf, this service was not performed through him (but rather his son) for the prosecution cannot serve as the defense.
“V’saraf et haPara” – The Cow shall then be burned: Just as the Calf was burned.
“Eitz erez v’eizov v’tolaat hashani” – a piece of cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson wool: These three objects correspond to the 3,000 men who fell because of the [sin of the Golden] Calf. The cedar is the highest of all trees, and the hyssop is the lowest of them all. This symbolizes that the one of high standing who acts haughtily and sins should lower himself like a hyssop and a worm [for tolaat means “worm” as well as “crimson” – see Rashi on Yishayahu 1:18], and he will then gain atonement.
“L’mishmeret” – for a keepsake: Just as the transgression of the Calf is preserved throughout the generations for retribution, for there is no reckoning [punishment] which does not include a reckoning for the Calf, as it says, “But on the day I make an accounting [of sins upon them], I will bring their sin to account…” (Sh’mot 32:34). Just as the Calf defiled all those who were involved in it, so does the Cow render unclean all those involved with it. And just as they were cleansed through its ashes, as it says, “[he] scattered [the ashes of the burned calf] upon the surface of the water” (32:20), so [with the Cow], “They shall take for that unclean person from the ashes of the burnt purification offering…” (verse 17).
Overall, it is a well-done analogy that keeps emphasizing that the Para Aduma is an atonement and tikkun for the Eigel HaZahav. The mother is truly cleaning up the mess that her son made.
Except for one thing.
The Para Aduma potion is used to purify one who became tamei from contact with a dead body. A person who is tamei may not go into the Mikdash, may not eat sacred foods, and so on – but being t’mei meit is not a sin. In many cases it is even a mitzvah to become tamei. Think of the great mitzvah performed time and again by members of the Chevra Kadisha. Think of a child (of any age) becoming tamei as he lovingly prepares to bury his dear parent. Not a sin! So why are we speaking of Para Aduma as an atonement and repair (tikkun) for sin, when its function is the purification of the ritually defiled?
Despite the above perfect detailed analogy of Rashi, we need to connect tum’a to cheit (sin).
The answer might be linked to the question of why is a dead body Avi Avot HaTum’a – the super-source of defilement? The human body houses and is partnered with the soul during a person’s lifetime. Perhaps it can be compared to an orange peel and an orange or eggshell and an egg. While the fruit or egg is intact, the peel or shell has a purpose. On its own, after removal of the contents, its function is over and it is discarded. But it isn’t something negative. It isn’t spiritually poisonous. Why is the human body different?
The answer is sin. As mentioned earlier, the body not only houses the neshama – it also partners with it. And the function of the body and soul is to live a good, moral life. And for Jews, that means a life filled with Torah and mitzvot, Torah values and compliance with them, being faithful to G-d and good to each other. It is the body that unfortunately fails on occasion in its tasks and challenges. It is the body of a person that betrays the relationship that was formed at birth (or even earlier) and continues throughout his or her lifetime. To teach us that sin causes us to mistreat our neshama and to slacken off from our true purpose of life, the body – when the soul leaves it – is not merely neutral, but is halachically deemed the main source of defilement. The purification from that tum’a by the sprinkling of the Para Aduma potion on the third and seventh days (in addition to seven days and immersion in a mikveh) is truly an atonement for the specific sin of the Golden Calf and for sin in general.
May we be zoche to purification by the ashes of the Para Aduma, and by complete t’shuva that merits us the purifying waters of Hashem, which read we about in this week’s haftara.
All of the above can be said when Parshat Para is paired with any sedra. But with Para coming together with Parshat Ki Tisa and its account of the sin of the Golden Calf and its aftermath, the message is all the more poignant.
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Yes, I know – Torah by the Numbers. Forgive me for sharing that longish d’var Torah. So now let’s do some numbers.
Ki Tisa is the 21st of 54 sedras, the 9th of 11 in Sh’mot. It is written on 245.17 lines in a Sefer Torah (ranking 8th in that respect); has 139 p’sukim (ranking 10th), 2,002 words (5th), and 7,424 letters (8th) – putting it in first place in Sh’mot in all those categories. It is a large sedra in general and has relatively long p’sukim, which explains the jump in rank from 10th for p’sukim to 5th for words. Only 4 other sedras have more than 2,000 words.
Ki Tisa has nine mitzvot – four positives, five prohibitions. Nine doesn’t seem like very many mitzvot, but only 17 of the other 53 sedras have more mitzvot, putting Ki Tisa at the bottom of the top third of sedras, mitzvah-wise.
Parshat Para consists of 22 p’sukim from the beginning of Parshat Chukat. It is the longest of the four special haftarot that we read at this time of the year, and second longest of any maftir. Can you think of the longest maftir before I tell you? The answer can be found at the end of this article.
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Para Aduma and Har Sinai have the same gematria – 335. So does “Keves echad” – one lamb. So too, “Tzidkiyahu Melech Yehuda.” And what does all this mean? I don’t know. Probably nothing. I do a lot of searching for Gematria Matches (GMs). Sometimes I find something meaningful to say. Usually not.
But let me share with you a meaningful GM for Parshat Para.
“Zot Chukat HaTorah” – This is the statute of the Torah. This is what I call a Neat Partial Pasuk (NPP), a phrase that stands on its own. It is an identification of the mitzvah of Para Aduma as the epitome of a mitzvah that defies logic. We are to accept it as a command from G-d, without being able to understand all of its details. The gematria of this NPP is 1,532. A (computer-assisted) search of Tanach yields four p’sukim with the same gematria, including T’hilim 49:2 – “Shim-u zot…” Hear this, all you peoples; hearken, all you inhabitants of the earth. The significance of this GM is Rashi’s comment on “Zot Chukat HaTorah.”
He writes: “This is the ordinance of the Law – Because Satan and the nations of the world taunt Israel, saying, “What is this command and what reason is there for it,” on this account it [Scripture] writes [uses] the term chuka about it, implying: ‘It is an enactment from before Me; you have no right to criticize it’ (Yoma 67b; cf. Tanchuma Chukat 7).”
Many of our mitzvot are commonsense, logical, easily understandable. But not all of them. The ones we call chok (plural chukim) are enigmatic (or contain enigmatic aspects), and it is this kind of mitzvah that conveys the message to the world – and to our fellow Jews – as Rashi says and as the pasuk in T’hilim proclaims.
Hope you all had a meaningful and enjoyable Purim. The countdown (or count-up) to Pesach begins. Wishing us all here in Israel, as well as throughout the world, a quiet, peaceful Shabbat. Praying for a successful end to this war – and all wars.
[Here is the answer to the question above about the longest maftir: When Chanuka runs from Shabbat to Shabbat, the second Shabbat Chanuka is Parshat Mikeitz and the maftir for the 8th day of Chanuka is 40 p’sukim long. As if to compensate for the long maftir, the haftara of that Shabbat-Zot Chanuka is only 11 p’sukim. The last time we had the last day of Chanuka on Shabbat was in 5770/2009. It will happen again four times in the next five years!]