Israel's Red Heifer

The Roman Catholic diocese of Dallas settled a landmark sexual abuse case on Friday by agreeing to pay a record $30.9 million to 12 former altar boys who were repeatedly assaulted by a priest on church property.

We read of the red heifer, para aduma, whose healing ashes-with-water have the ability to purify even from contact with death.

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SHABBAT SHALOM: The path to freedom

By RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN

(March 13) "These are the accounts of the Sanctuary, the Sanctuary of the Testimony, as they were counted according to the commandment of Moses, for the work of the Levites by the hand of Itamar the son of Aaron the priest." (Ex. 3:21)

THIS week's portion of Pekudei, along with last week's Vayakhel, seems to be a repetition of Truma and Tetzaveh, read just three and four weeks ago respectively. At the start of Truma, God says to Moses: "And let them make me a Sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them" (Ex. 25:8). For the rest of this portion, as well as the next one, the Torah describes the Sanctuary and its contents, leaving virtually nothing to the imagination. Then comes the "interruption" of the portion of Ki Tisa, with its recording of the sin of the golden calf, only to be followed by Vayakhel and Pekudei which represent a return to the details of the Sanctuary.

After we remember the dangers of religious laxity and intermarriage, the next special Sabbath suggests the possibility of purification. We read of the red heifer, para aduma, whose healing ashes-with-water have the ability to purify even from contact with death.

Numbers 19:

Hebrews 9: 11

And the Lord spoke to the children of Israel.

Approximately three thousand years ago, King David conquered the city of Jerusalem from the Jebusites, and claimed it his capital. Here, Solomon, David's successor built the First Temple, making Jerusalem the spiritual center of the Jewish people. Jews were barred from the city for nearly six centuries beginning with the exile to Babylon in 586 BCE*, after the destruction of the Second Temple by the Roman, Titus in 70 CE**, and again by the Christians during the period of the Crusaders in the 12th century.

While in exile the Jews longed for their Jerusalem.

* BCE stands for "Before Common Era," also referred to as BC or "Before Christ."

** CE stands for "Common Era," also referred to AD or "Anno Domini."

Jerusalem became the birthplace of Christianity in the first century CE**, one thousand years after David. As the location of both the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Jerusalem is also referred to as the Holy City of this faith. While Constantine spread Christianity throughout the Roman Empire in the 4th century, the Christian desire to reclaim the Holy Land from the infidels arose a millennium after the Crucifixion, when the Crusaders slaughtered and exiled both Muslims and Jews. Christian reign of the city lasted approximately 100 years until the Muslims led by Saladin finally recaptured Jerusalem, permitting the return of those exiled.

Ruling the city for over one thousand years, the Muslims have also had a very strong spiritual attachment to the city, revering it as the "Furthest Shrine" from which the Prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven. Jerusalem is the site of the holiest Muslim shrine, The Dome of the Rock. In prayer, worshippers first turned to it before they turned to Mecca. Yet, despite this fact, the city was never considered a Muslim capital, having been ruled from the distant cities of Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo, and Constantinople.

1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:

2 "This is a requirement of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke.

3 Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

4 Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting.

5 While he watches, the heifer is to be burned--its hide, flesh, blood and offal.

6 The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer.

7 After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening.

8 The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.

9 "A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They shall be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin.

10 The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the aliens living among them.

11 "Whoever touches the dead body of anyone will be unclean for seven days.

12 He must purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean.

13 Whoever touches the dead body of anyone and fails to purify himself defiles the Lord's tabernacle. That person must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, he is unclean; his uncleanness remains on him.

14 "This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days,

15 and every open container without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.

16 "Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

17 "For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them.

18 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or someone who has been killed or someone who has died a natural death.

19 The man who is clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify him. The person being cleansed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and that evening he will be clean.

20 But if a person who is unclean does not purify himself, he must be cut off from the community, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, and he is unclean.

21 This is a lasting ordinance for them. "The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening.

22 Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening."