We are The Red Cow

This is the ritual law that ה׳ has commanded: Instruct the Israelite people to bring you a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid.

How is your beloved better than another, O fairest of women?
How is your beloved better than another That you adjure us so?

My beloved is clear-skinned and ruddy, Preeminent among ten thousand.

“This is the statute of the Torah.” (Bamidbar, 19:2)
(Concerning the ashes of the red heifer mixed in the purifying waters, used to purify one who has come in contact with a dead body,) it is written in the Midrash, “Since the other peoples of the world challenge us, saying, ‘what is this mitzvah and what is its meaning?’ Therefore God called it a Choq [a statute, an unexplainable, immutable law], ‘a Divine decree before Me, and you do not have the permission to wonder at its meaning.’” Concerning this, King Shlomo praised the life of Israel versus the life of the other nations, as it is written (Shir Hashirim Rabba, 5:9), “[the nations ask Israel,] what is your beloved from our beloved [how is your God any different from our gods?] … my Beloved is pure and ruddy …” In other words, God deals with Israel in a different way from that in which He deals with the other nations. There are three ways that evil does not reach the depth of the life of Israel. First, loss or death doesn’t really befall them, for death in Israel is not like death in the nations—with the nations death is like a vessel that is broken and cannot be fixed. With Israel death is like a vessel made in sections that is merely taken apart. *The Torah is called “a tree of life for those who hold on to it.” For the present consciousness, life is defined by connection to the Torah.

Second, Israel has never been under the “yoke” of a king or ruler at any time, because we understand that all is really in the hands of God. Third, King Shlomo praises the wisdom of Israel versus the nations, for no nation has an understanding of God as Israel does. Concerning these three things the nations are challenging us, for in them it seems on the surface that there is, God forbid, no difference between them. This is why it says (Bamidbar, 19:2), “they shall take unto you” (Rashi notes that “you” means to Moshe), that is, take unto the level of Moshe our teacher that exists in all of Israel. This is because Moshe Rabeynu is the source of wisdom for all of Israel, and to him alone the meaning of the red heifer became clear. *This is the same Choq of which Rashi said, “we may not contemplate its meaning.

Heifer, parah, in Hebrew, teaches of life that has gone through a process of purification.

*The root of cow, par, is also the root of fruitfulness, priya, hence life, as the Holy Isbitser mentions elsewhere.

“Red” teaches of strength. *Later the Isbitser adds to this “joy.”

“Whole,” in other words, whole in its redness, that no limb of the body should weaken and lose the power of this strength residing in it. *The body here is both physical and spiritual, the 248 limbs of the body associated with the 248 positive mitzvot.

“Having no imperfection,” that there shall be nothing lacking in its wisdom of Israel, only purified wisdom. “Which never carried a yoke on its back,” that Israel has never been subjugated to any form of slavery, for God rules over us alone. As the prophet Zechariah said (10:6), “and it will be as if I had never neglected them.”

This reality becomes clear in the story of Joseph and his brothers, for it seemed as if they were in great trouble, but afterwards it was made known to them that they were all the while before their own brother. Then it became clear that they were never in danger, and their trouble was only temporary (and even illusory). So it will be in the future, that God will make it clear that all suffering in Israel was temporary (an illusion of this world) and no soul in Israel was ever really in danger. *This is not to deny the great suffering in the world, which the author well knew, but rather the messianic time represents a time of complete clarity of understanding of all the events in the world and God’s intentions. See the second selection in Parshat Vayigash, “and Yehuda drew close to him.”

This is what King Shlomo said (Kohellet, 7:23), “I said I will be wise, and it is far from me.” Even though he understood all of this clearly, still, King Shlomo’s wisdom was in a form that was to be clear to everyone. That is why he said “I will be wise,” I will grant everyone the wisdom to understand this, and added, “and it is far from me.” (i.e., it is for others, not me.)

To Moshe it was said (Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat, 8), “to you I will reveal,” for the wisdom of Moshe Rabeynu was in order for him to understand but not to make another wise,

*On this, it may be asked, does it not say “the testimony of God is sure, making the simple wise”? Yet Pirkei Avot says that Moshe delivered the Torah to Yehoshua, and not directly to the elders. It could only be transmitted through Yehoshua.

and the kind of wisdom that Shlomo haMelech possessed was understood, but not in his (own) wisdom! For his wisdom was in order to cause others to understand, and this is why it says “for it is far from me,” meaning, “it is beyond the limit of my own wisdom.” The reason why the passage about the red heifer comes before the death of the “three shepherds” (Miriam, Aharon, Moshe) is in order to let Israel understand know that they should not be distraught (for there is no death, as it is usually understood). The sprinkling of the waters of purification (made from the ashes of the red heifer) hints that in the future all will return to them.

“They shall take unto you a perfect red heifer .…” (Bamidbar, 19:2)
In the future God will reveal His glory to Israel without any separation whatsoever, for now this (reality of) life exists in the depths of Israel, yet it is hidden and only revealed in “garments.” These garments are the Torah and mitzvot, for one may only enter into the depths of God’s will through the Torah and mitzvot. This is “they shall take unto you a heifer,” which stands for life, as is known, and at the present moment we are commanded that this life be clothed in garments, that is, the Torah and mitzvot. “Perfect red” means explicit strengths, without any separation or defect. “With no blemish in it” means that no foolishness would be found in any action. *As the Isbitser later mentions, just as a mentally deficient Cohen, once called a “fool,” is disqualified from service, so any action done in foolishness is deficient.

“Which never carried a yoke on its back” teaches that Israel (at the depths) never experienced helpless agonizing and effort. This is as it is said in Zechariah (4), “two olives” standing solid.

*Two olive trees stood on either side of his vision of the menorah, standing for the “anointed ones standing by the Master of all,” moshiach. Perhaps what the holy Isbitser is saying is that just as the two olives stand solidly and effortlessly, so will it be clear with the redemption that all the toil and strife was as nothing, that we were always receiving God’s providence

All of this is now hidden in the Torah and mitzvot, yet in the future God will show it to us without any separating “garments.” As it is said in the Midrash and in the Gemara (Nidda, 61b), “the mitzvot will be nullified in days to come [of the final redemption].” Then God will show us that we never really suffered under the “yoke” of a power in this world since He, may He be blessed, controls them all, yet all is in a state of concealment. This is the meaning of “that never had a yoke upon it.”

“… a perfectly red heifer, without blemish, which never carried a yoke.” (Bamidbar, 19:2)
“Heifer” represents the central point of life, which causes fruition and increase (the word for heifer, parah, is similar to the word for fruitfulness, priya). “Red” represents strength and joy. “Perfectly” meaning complete in its redness (in its strength and joy), without any folly in the actions of Israel, for “an imbecile is blemished.” “Which never carried a yoke” means freedom from any (earthly) yoke (kingdom, or enslavement, in any physical or spiritual form).