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Chukat: The Reason for the Red Cow

6/26/2011

 
Last week, I wrote about the question, "Why Pray?"  With this week's Torah portion, there is an even deeper question to answer: Why observe any of the commandments? It is a question that goes right to the heart of our ability to understand the world around us.

Parashat Chukat begins with one of the strangest of all the commandments in the Torah. Moses instructs the Israelites to slaughter and burn a cow that is entirely red and to save the ashes for a ritual to purify people who have come in contact with a dead body. If that's not odd enough, the passage also contains this paradox: the person who gathers the ashes of the Red Cow is rendered ritually unclean by the same ashes that are used to purify others (Number 19:9-10).

The paradox has been apparent since ancient times. In the midrash, wise King Solomon is said to have exclaimed, "I succeeded in understanding the whole Torah, but, as soon as I reach this chapter about the Red Cow, I searched, probed and questioned. 'I said I will get wisdom, but it was far from me.'" (Yalkut Shimoni 759; Ecclesiastes 7:23).

Ever since, there has been an argument in Judaism about how inexplicable laws in the Torah should be viewed. Some say that God's laws are beyond question and must be observed without question or explanation. According to this point of view, the mitzvot are their own justification—we fulfill them because God has asked us to do so. The more inscrutable a law is, the better it is to teach us this lesson.

This is the logic of the Vilna Gaon (Rabbeinu Eliyahu of Vilna), who taught that any attempt to explain a law would lead to the violation of the law. He says that once people begin coming up with reasons for observing a law, they begin looking for cases in which the reason does not apply and excuse themselves from observing the law in those cases. 

For example, if I believe that the reason for the prohibition on playing musical instruments on Shabbat is to prevent me from repairing an instrument that breaks on Shabbat, I might think that it is okay to play the instrument as long as I don't repair it. The rational explanation, argues the Vilna Gaon, actually leads to the law's violation. He says that it's better not to explain the laws and just to observe them without question.

If that seems like shaky reasoning to you, you are not alone. The Rambam (Rabbi Moses Maimonides) ridicules the Vilna Gaon's objection (five hundred years before the Vilna Gaon was born!). According to the Rambam, those who believe that it is impermissible to consider rational explanations for the commandments suffer from "a certain disease of the soul." He explains:

Those people imagine that if the laws appear to make any sense at all or to serve any purpose, others will assume that the laws must have come from human reason and not from God. It is only if the laws have no reason and serve no purpose that people will attribute them to God, since no human being could come up with something so inexplicable. According to this weak-minded theory, human beings are more perfect than our Creator! For we do things that have a purpose, while God's actions are different; God commands us to do what is of no use to us, and forbids us to do what is harmless. Far be it from so! On the contrary, the sole object of the Torah is to benefit us. (A Guide for the Perplexed, Section 3, Chapter 31)

So, then, how would the Rambam explain the law of the Red Cow whose ashes render the impure pure and the pure impure? The Rambam says that the laws of ritual purity serve to create awe and reverence for God and the Temple in the hearts of the Jewish people. He seems to suggest that the ashes behave the way they do simply because there needs to be a way to purify the ritually impure and it needs to be something miraculous. Red Cow ashes are as good at fulfilling those requirements as anything else might be.

Still not satisfied? Here's my take on inscrutable laws: the explanation is that there is no explanation. 

In the time of giving of the Torah, laws like that of the Red Cow made sense to people based on their traditions, customs and understanding of the world. There is no reason to assume that the Torah's first audience was more mystified by the ritual of the Red Cow than we are mystified by the pageantry of halftime at the Superbowl. On reflection, the ancient Israelites surely saw the strangeness of the law,  but they accepted it as "the way we've always done it." Even if they did ask, "What is the point of this?" the answer could only have been the same one we give about the Superbowl: "That's just the way it is."

The common cultural understandings for these laws disappeared millennia ago (long before the time of the rabbis of the Talmud and midrash), and we are left only with the mystery. But that's a good thing. Mystery is much more interesting than a cultural oddity. Our reflection on the Red Cow reminds us that there is so much about the world that we do not and cannot understand. We find that we don't really understand the past. We certainly don't understand the future. And, perhaps, we will learn at last that we don't really understand the present, either. 

The purpose of the Red Cow is to remind us that we submit ourselves to a universe and a God that is beyond our ken. We don't observe commandments just because we understand them, we observe them also because we wish to celebrate a world that we don't understand.
Reb Rachel link
6/27/2011 04:41:24 am

I love your Superbowl halftime comparison. And I really love this:

<em>Mystery is much more interesting than a cultural oddity. Our reflection on the Red Cow reminds us that there is so much about the world that we do not and cannot understand. </em>

The idea of celebrating Mystery -- that resonates for me tremendously. Yes!

Susan Le Gresley
6/27/2011 10:38:24 am

What an interesting topic. I wonder how many Red Cows there were about. This reminds me of the bit of genetic shenanegans Jacob got up to as well. We have a strong tradition of very specialised Jersey Cows where I live. Now recently we have a pure bred 'Supercow'. It's far bigger than a normal Jersey Cow. And if it proves to be exceptional at milk yeild it will start a whole new aspect to the breed. Now the Red Cow thing seems to me a bit of a 'maveric' cow. An oddity. Not the normal cow that you want to breed from, (or the genetic dominance will overtake the 'ideal'). There is also a shadow of the same idea of keeping a whole People genetically, spiritually and mentally uncomprimised). God's purpose... Now if you happen to get a Red Cow that you don't want to breed from, what better use than to make it 'Super Special for Ritual Sacrifice Cow', and 'ring fence' it to add value and special meaning to it. God is no man's debtor, and pretty well pragmatic about wasting a good Cow. The person who has Killed, and Sacrificed the Cow, would have to be made/classified 'unclean', by performing a ritual act on a perfectly good Cow that was fit for eating. (A sinful waste of a good eating Cow). However for those who need an outward ritual of cleansing to partake of an inward renewal or redemption, Red Cow ashes just went up 100 fold the original value of the Cow as food. (Don't tell me there wasn't an economy of Red Cow ashes...that's a bit cynical of me perhaps but... I would put a price on them if it was me that was made ritually unfit for let's say a month beacause I drew the short straw and had to do the ritual killing bit. What don't you get to do if you are ritually unclean? No pleasures, nice food, social contact? Lets say in the modern vernacular the Red cow ashes suddenly get 'added value. They are realy quite precious then, in an ancient world where rituals have deep significance. Very costly then, Red Cow ashes, hard to come by, so probably a very good reason not to need them in the first place and get so ritually impure you would need to get some and do the making clean ritual with them?
Hope this isn't offensive to anyone, I just like little puzzles to work out.

Susan Le Gresley
6/27/2011 12:16:48 pm

) forgot to close a bracket. Can't re-edit post's. So.. I'm unable to leave something badly punctuated. I think it's a relative of OCD, which I don't have. Bracket close should be after ... the ritual killing bit). Well I suppose the buck has to stop somewhere. Was it the guy who killed the Red Cow ritually... The Guy who burned it ritually, no the buck stopped at the guy who had to clean the grate. Seems like a 'no blame, no gain', deal to me. I just want to add three things. I asked to make up my Mother's face for Her lying asleep in Her coffin. So that everyone who came to see Her recognised Her, and smelt the face cream and make-up she wore. I think this is the most personal thing I have done. So that She had dignty. I found it remarkable that so much was said in this silence. My Father had been terribly ill for months before He died. He was laid out beautifully, considering how little physically there was left of Him. I laid my hand on his chest, He seemed like an empty shell of skin and bones under His suit. He had eventually starved to death. There felt no substance to His body at all. I put my hand over my dog Jasmin's muzzle, as I had to make the decision for the Vet to administer euthanasia. She had a burst spleen the day afer my Father died. In all three times I felt something enter into me that has never left. I found touching someone close to me, in their death, made me very aware of my own mortality. I understand, albeit from a christian perspective, reading and looking at the Torah how important the concept of being dedicated to God as an individual person, and as a people, was so closely tied to the reality of the immortal and Mysterious God, dwelling in the midst of His Chosen people. The whole Bible points Humanity to sharing in God's immortality. To overly identify with mortality is not 'Being with God'. I can understand this ritual, It would have been something to help me find my way through this grief that has taken so long to express. A Ritual is a moment in time that gives meaning to 'ordinary' time, and 'ordinary' living. A hinge for the door between the 'real' which is Spiritual, and the forgetfulness we experience in the mundane. The purpose perhaps of prayer in a ritual sense during the day is to stay focused, so that the day has a significant meaning.

Susan Le Gresley
6/30/2011 10:02:24 am

I have been thinking about not playing musical instruments on Shabbat.As playing an instrument invites dancing,and dancing invites parties,and parties invite a memory of the Golden Calf episode when they get out of hand,is this the kernel of the Nut?Also I think there is an element of setting aside things we like to do,so that they become more'special'.Not to have music,or pleasures that are realy quite addictive just one day a week is a good discipline,so that full licence dosen't overtake us.Allowing ourselves to have limits of behaviour,shows both respect for the pleasures we enjoy,the God who gave us these wonderful pleasures,and self respect,because we can contain our hard wired instinct for full licence. In this modern age,nothing is'prohibited' for a christian. It's as though licentiousness is the norm,and to abstain from anything'Old School'.However the paradox there,is that the moment anyone wants to take a 'pop' at you,the usual thing is;'Call yourself a Christian'.Such double standards!Fun though,because I always think the other person is saying more about themselves and their relationship with God,than they are saying about me.


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