The Red Heifer
From: Mitch
Dear Rabbi,
What is the significance of the red heifer? How was
it different from all the other sacrifices? What role
does it play in Messianic Times and the Third
Temple?
Dear Mitch,
As rare as it may be, the birth of a red heifer is a natural
event, not a metaphysical one. There is no source in Jewish
tradition that sees the birth of a red heifer as a sign of the
arrival of the Mashiach.
According to the Torah, someone who comes into contact
with a dead body becomes halachically “impure”. The
Torah describes a very specific process that enables a person
to purify himself. This process involves slaughtering a
heifer that is completely red, burning it and mixing its ashes
with water. Some of this “purifying water” is sprinkled on
the impure person twice, over a seven-day period.
This had great practical importance during Temple
times, because all participants in the Temple service needed
to be ritually pure, and the entire nation needed to purify
themselves for the Passover, Shavuot, and Succot festivals.
It will have practical significance again when the
Temple is rebuilt.
Maimonides writes that from the time of Moses until
the destruction of the Second Temple, only nine red
heifers have been used to prepare the “purifying waters”.
The tenth red heifer, says Maimonides, will be prepared by
the Mashiach.
This can easily be misunderstood. It does not mean that
there existed only nine red heifers in history, and that the
tenth and last one to be born will be used by the Mashiach.
It simply means that the ashes from each heifer lasted a
long time, and there was never a need to prepare more
than nine. The tenth red heifer process will take place in
the times of the Mashiach.
Some years ago, a red heifer born in Israel caused a flurry
of interest and speculation about its portending the
coming of Mashiach. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, a very great
halachic authority of the time, was not overly-impressed.
He reasoned, “One of the requirements of the red heifer
is that it be at least two years old. What if the Mashiach
were to come tomorrow? Would we have to wait two
years in order to become pure? No, rather, when Mashiach
comes, they’ll find a red heifer that’s two-years old!”
The reason underlying the commandment of the red
heifer is considered the deepest secret in the Torah. Even
King Solomon, the wisest scholar who ever lived, was
unable to fathom the full depth of its meaning. According
to the Midrash its meaning will be revealed in the era of the
Mashiach.
Sources:
• Bamidbar (Numbers) ch. 19
• Mishna Parah 3:5
• Rambam, ibid. 3:4
• Bamidbar Rabbah 19:4