Myśl Żydowska do Kapłańska 6:18

Our sages illustrate the function of the red heifer by means of a parable. The child of a slave woman had dirtied the king's palace. The king decrees that the mother has to atone for the child, since the accident occurred due to faulty upbringing of the child by its mother. This had lead to its misdemeanour. The sin of the golden calf is to be atoned for by the mother cow, the red heifer. She endeavours to rehabilitate her young. Whoever helps the mother cow in her labours, helps bring about the rehabilitation of the young. At the same time, whoever assists in the preparation of the ash of the red heifer, also helps to bear the guilt that the red heifer is trying to remove from earth. Once the source of evil has been dealt with, its emanations can dissipate. Concerning our opening premise that in order to be the cause of certain phenomena, the relevant ingredients must be present in the cause itself, the question that can be raised is that many blind parents sire children with perfect vision. However, we must distinguish between such causes as are really only channels, conduits for the achievement of certain results, and others that are ultimate causes. If one is only involved in converting raw materials, the qualities of the end product need not be present in the refiner of such raw materials. Since G'd has already created all raw materials, no one can be more than a refiner, a converter. We do not expect the anvil to possess the qualities of the needle, i.e. one of its end products. The reason this is so, is that the anvil does not impart a new quality to the needle. All of this is true when the creative activity is merely of a preparatory nature. When the creative activity however, involves the final phase of manufacture or craftsmanship, such as the final shape and finish of a porcelain vase, the artist surely possesses the qualities he wishes his masterpiece to reflect. Therefore, as we have said, a honeycake cannot be produced by a baker who does not himself embody some of the honey's sweetness. The Creator surely embodies all the qualities we observe in the sun, the moon, the planets etc. Were this not the case, how could He have fashioned them? On the other hand, natural phenomena, plants, animals etc. are merely the results of the functions of celestial bodies. Similarly, the parents' function when begetting children is like that of the sun in promoting the growth of plants. In the larger scheme of the cosmos, men and women are the tools that fashion human offspring, though they can hardly produce a specific personality. That, i.e. the specific mix of genes, is contributed by G'd. It was He, after all, who had said "let Us make man in Our image." It is true to say that G'd is the original father. (Deut. 32,6) "He is your father, He has acquired you, He has made you, He has established you firmly."