ייִדישער מחשבֿה אויף משלי 5:19

From all this it seems clear, that if the red heifer contaminates all that it comes in contact with, surely the heifer itself must be the source of the contamination! The whole matter seems to defy our normal way of reasoning. Therefore, the use of the words "this is the statute of the Torah", at the beginning of this paragraph is to remind us that logic cannot be employed if we want to comprehend the meaning of this commandment. This is why our sages quote the wisest of men, Solomon, as admitting that comprehension of this mitzvah, or rather its mechanics, its halachic rulings, escapes him. People who try to philosophise about Torah, fall into two categories. Group one believes that everything written in the Torah needs to be understood at face value, literally. For instance, if the Torah refers to G'd "smelling the sweet fragrance of a sacrifice," they perceive G'd literally employing His sense of smell. Or, if the Torah reports G'd as descending on Mount Sinai, they understand this to have been a physical descent. The second group is aware that statements in the Torah are subject to interpretation. Some members of this group will interpret on the basis that the Torah employs human idiom in order to facilitate our understanding of certain concepts. This group will not interpret in a manner that conflicts with known Torah principles. A sub group of category number two, arrogates to itself the right to make its interpretations primary and Torah principles only secondary. This is done by most Christian and a few Jewish philosophers. Making one's own intellect supreme in the matter of exegesis is heretical, of course. Solomon refers to all three groups in Proverbs 14, 14-16. (1) The fool will believe anything. (2) The crafty one will understand in line with his principles. (3) The haughty fool will come to grief through exaggerated self confidence. The manner in which the Torah portrays the laws of the red heifer is a clear hint not to try and unravel that which is conceptually beyond the human intellect. The contradictions have been built into this legislation to warn us off trying to comprehend it.

Next, and third, we come to the blemishes on a person's head. These are due to a lack of faith and other shortcomings in a person's philosophical approach to life. When a person is deficient in these matters, which are after all, functions of his brain, the same midah keneged midah, punishment fitting the crime, will occur. There are two kinds of such blemishes that occur on the head. 1) Blemishes on areas normally covered by hair. 2) Blemishes on areas not subject to hair growth. The first is symbolic of covering up one's sins, i.e. someone who was not a believer having acted piously, devoutly, voicing only traditionally held beliefs. The other is the one who has the audacity to publicly proclaim his lack of belief etc., such as king Uzziah, who insisted on taking over the functions of a priest, though he belonged to the tribe of Yehudah. (Chronicles II, chapter 26.) His effrontery was punished by a blemish on the visible part of his forehead. The first category is too commonplace to require examples to be cited, as these people cover up their shortcomings being afraid of the reaction of the conservative society they live amongst. The four men outside the gates of Shomron, who had lost credibility due to their own testimony, is a further such example. (Kings II chapter 7.) Here too, the midah keneged midah, principle is seen in action, through the type of tzora-at they had been afflicted with. The sequence of the whole story, following the public scorn of the prophet displayed by the captain, suggests strongly that the four men in question had concurred with that captain's attitude. They repented, having seen what happened to their captain, and seeing the camp of Aram abandoned. Their main reason for wanting to be re-admitted to the city, was to await G'ds help which the prophet inside the city had already promised. This approach to that story provides the rationale for the otherwise apparent irrelevance in the verse about that day being a "day of good tidings." The third category of physical afflictions, nega-im, corresponds to the fifth venue, the one suggested by Rabbi Eleazar ben Arach, namely to let Torah illuminate our mind.

These are the eight garments which the most perfect human being wore. He did not wear them just for ornamental, visual effect, but to help him achieve the moral perfection of which they were to remind both him and others. From that point of view it is obvious that their physical absence in our time, does not make these garments less important, since we can absorb the lessons that they represented. Moreover, these lessons can be absorbed by every Jew, since we are a nation of priests. Isaiah 61, 10, exclaims " My soul will rejoice with G-d, for He has clothed me in garments of salvation draped over me a robe of righteousness, like a bridegroom adorned with splendour." The Talmud Sotah 44, exhorts man to perfect himself as much as possible before he proceeds to take a wife and build a home. A proper wife helps man achieve the moral standard represented by the eight priestly garments. The union of Adam and Eve in gan eden before the fall, unfortunately had not resulted in man being morally elevated through his wife. Ever since then, the slow and gradual ascent from the fall was punctuated by the acquisition of simple garments, till at the end of time Isaiah envisions the "garments of splendour" as the ultimate, symbolising our emancipation from the sin of the tree of knowledge. When Rabbi Meir's Torah scroll is reputed as having spelled the words “kotnot or” the garments which G-d had provided for Adam and Eve, with the letter “aleph" in the word or instead of the traditional “ayin" if the word was to mean leather, skin, he wanted to indicate the ultimate purpose of these garments. These garments, according to Rabbi Meir, serve a dual purpose. They are a physical covering. They are also to serve however, as an ongoing reminder to regain the or the light that we lost when we sinned in the garden of Eden. The garments then are are a spiritual endowment provided by G-d to help us along that road. Now we understand why the priestly garments were worn only after the tabernacle had been consecrated. The sons of Aaron had first brought some sacrifices to attain the moral stature that enabled them to wear these garments. The symbolic meaning of these offerings during the consecration ceremonies may be understood in the following way. The par, bull, represents the body that is to be dedicated to G-d. The two male rams represent the two spiritual forces in man, the theoretical, speculative, and the practical. A person who puts all three powers at the disposal of the Divine, may wear the precious priestly garments, each according to his status. Only a minute part of the bull's blood was used for sprinkling on the altar, i.e. sacrificial service. The remainder was burned, since only insignificant parts of our body can rise to such noble heights. Of the rams, the one which was offered in incense and had all its blood sprinkled on the altar, represents the theoretical speculative, spiritual power in man, seeing it is all holy. The second ram however, representing holiness in action, was only used partially in the sacrificial rites. Corresponding to the famous "we shall hear and we shall do," (Deut. 5,24) the ear and upper leg became part of the sacrificial service. The balance of the ram was consumed by the owners, since by means of holy deeds inspired by holy thoughts, the body becomes sanctified to the extent that this is possible. All of the foregoing teaches all of us the order in which we are to proceed to achieve the highest level in the service of G-d.