Ki Tissa (Parshat Parah) - Holy Cows

A few years ago, there were two cows standing in a field in Surrey.

The first turns to the second one and says:

"What do you think of this mad cow disease, isn't it frightening?"

The second replies:

"Why should I be scared. I'm a chicken!"

I am reminded of this week when I look at this week parsha and the preoccupation that we seem to have with these bovine creatures. Firstly, we have the Egel Hazahav, the Golden Calf episode in Parshat Shemini and then we finish with a maftir that is literally called "Parshat Parah" - the Parsha about the Cow!

When we think of other faiths who venerate animals, our Hindu neighbours immediately come to mind, since they hold cows in such high esteem. This is due to their belief that the cow, in providing us with life-sustaining milk is representative of the divine bounty emanating from the earth. They also worship Ganesh, who takes the form of an elephant, as well as Vishnu, who takes the form of a boar.

Whilst we highly respect their belief system, as Jews, the idea of venerating an animal in such a manner does not feature at all in our religion, let alone history.

Although we are told to respect animals and the mitzvah of "tzaar baalei chayim - avoiding causing suffering to living creatures" is a key tenet of our religion, we need to remember that there is a huge difference between respecting the rights of animals and worshipping them - as witnessed in the sorry tale of the Golden Calf, described in this week's Parsha.

If that's not enough, the Maftir describes the process of sprinkling the ashes of a red heifer (an adult cow) as being the only way a person who has come into contact with a dead body can be ritually cleansed by a Cohen.

Both the episode of the Golden Calf and the Red Heifer seem to conflict with the notion that we don't elevate cows, or any other creatures to such an important level.

If this is the case, why does the Torah describe the use of cows in both parshiot, commencing with the creation and worship of a Golden Calf?

If we understand the reason for the first, we can start to comprehend the reason for the second.

Let's what happened at Sinai, from the ancient Midrash (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer)

The text uses the following description:

The Israelites had regressed to the state of idol-woshippers - but why use a cow of all animals?

Rabbi Avraham, the son of the Rambam tells us something fascinating:

"I have a tradition from my father and teacher of blessed memory that this was because they held fast to their astrological beliefs, being convinced that they had left Egypt under the Zodiacal sign of the Bull (Aries) or that their destiny was governed by some other superstitious, idolatrous astrological notion"

Indeed, if we look at Egyptian mythology, the Sacred Bull or 'Apis' which was seen in the constellation of Taurus, which follows on directly from Aries, was the embodiment of Ptah, the Egyptian creator god and by his will "thought the world into existence".

Is this starting to sound familiar - the idea of a god who has created the world?

The Exodus and Revelation at Sinai took place during these two zodiacal periods (from the middle of March to the middle of May).

We can now see a possible reason why they chose cow. A Golden Calf - one which would shine brightly in burnished gold.

Let's look at the second example of a cow in the Torah.

The maftir starts with the following pasuk:

Rashi says something fascinating here:

He is saying that the cow must be completely red, without blemish and without any sort of defect. Throughout the Bible, the colour red is associated with sin.

The Gemara (Avodah Zarah) 5a, further tells us the Israelites, at the receiving of the Torah, reached the state of Adam before he had eaten of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge and would henceforth not experience death.

The sin of the Calf was therefore comparable to the eating of this fruit for it brought death back into the world.

We can now see a definitive link between the red heifer, which removes the stain of death and the golden calf, which brought death back into the world, after the declaration of the Ten Commandments.

In Judaism, there are numerous parallels between negative events taking place and how they are matched over time through a Divinely ordained punishment.

For example, Jacob tricked his father Isaac over the birthright and was later deceived by this sons over the sale of Joseph.

The Egyptians drowned the Hebrew new born boys in the River Nile and they similarly met their fate through the deluge at the Sea of Reeds.

Here too, the only animal that could expiate the sin of the Golden Calf would be an adult version of the very same creature. What had been golden in appearance in its youth, was now red, a colour ingrained into its fibre through a sin.

The red heifer then squares the unholy circle initiated by the younger calf.

It makes sense that, for the sin of the Golden Calf to be forgiven, only a more adult version of the same creature can rectify the earlier sin (as per Rashi's understanding that the adult cow (aka Parah) cleans up the mess caused by the younger one (Egel).

We can therefore a striking link between the dual uses of cows in both parshiot and instead of viewing the red heifer as an anomaly, its usage makes perfect sense.

The cow that I referred to in my opening joke might have been a little confused about its identity, but if it knew how it might end up in Biblical (and please Gd, future) times, it might have preferred to have been a chicken.

Then again, chickens are not exactly safe when it comes to Jewish cuisine either!

Shabbat Shalom

NB: Some of the ideas for this drasha can be found at “Insight #21 (5769) Egel and Parah by Rabbi Benjamin Hecht

https://www.nishma.org/articles/insight/insight5769-21.htm”