King Solomon, who according to our tradition was the wisest person who ever lived, was confounded by part of this week’s Torah portion Chukat. He said, “I succeeded in understanding the whole Torah, but, as soon as I reached this chapter about the Red Heifer, I searched, probed and questioned…[quoting Ecclesiastes, saying] ‘I will get wisdom, but it was far from me’”. (Yalkut Shimoni 759)

Indeed, much ink has been used throughout the generations to explain why the mitzvah of the Red Heifer is unexplainable. Although the meaning or reason for this and other decrees (chukkim) of the Torah may remain beyond the ability of our human minds to discern, our tradition insists that they must nevertheless be performed as commanded.

The most perplexing aspect of the entire Red Heifer business, however, is the fact that the priests who prepared and performed the Red Heifer ritual to purify the people themselves became impure in the process. The red heifer is a paradox in that it mitamah et hatihorim umitaheret et hat’mei’im: contaminates the pure and purifies the impure.

None of us are wiser than Solomon, and there is no point to add more words to the multitude of those that explain our inability to explain the unexplainable. Yet, even if we cannot understand the meaning or reason for God’s command we can – must – try to understand the peoples’ experience.

In the face of the confused, unfathomable tragedy of death, the priests acted on the bizarre command to take a red heifer and then perform this procedure of purification for those touched by death. Where words could not comfort, perhaps the mourners were helped on some level by the priests’ performance of the Red Heifer ritual.

In the face of all the confused, unfathomable tragedy of those who themselves undergo a sort-of-death when their human rights are violated, when their tzelem elohim is violated, reduced or demeaned, we too must act to try to help. It is the law of the Torah to somehow confront the confusing reality in which we live, to act directly to fix what’s broken in our society, to reach out to victims, to begin the process of purifying that which has been made impure.

The priests were willing to take up the Red Heifer and thus contaminate themselves in order to purify others. In our day we must all be willing to get our hands dirty if necessary to deal with the most challenging issues lurking in the darkest corners of our society. To confront the human rights violations against our fellow citizens and our neighbors the Palestinians day in and day out - violations committed in our own names as Israelis – requires an amazing willingness by staff and volunteers to contaminate themselves with the bitter reality of all that is done under the sun. They – we - do this work because it protects the dignity of each of us created b’tzelem elohim, in the Image of God.

We cannot understand the why and wherefore of the Red Heifer commandment. But just as Ben Azzai insisted that the mere fact of our being created in the Image of God is the most important ruling of the Torah, Samson Raphael Hirsch came to no less an emphatic insistence that the decrees (chukkim) of the Torah are intelligible after all. Just as chukei hateva – the laws of nature – can be described, so too, he says, “if you could put yourself so completely also in the place of other beings . . . then you would find it as easy to grasp the chukkim as it was for you to understand the mishpatim [laws that make rational sense]. They ask you to regard all living things as God’s property. Destroy none; abuse none; waste nothing; employ all things wisely…” (Nineteen Letters, ch. 11)

Upholding the laws of the Torah is what Rabbis for Human Rights try to do “in purity” even though, as a consequence, we touch “impurity” and are touched by it. Truly, this work mitamah et hatihorim. But it also mitaheret et hat’mei’im, purifies the impure: defending human rights brings some purity, some holiness, some justice back to the world.

When things go wrong in our society – and there is sadly no shortage of things that go wrong - we are all impure as a result. Doing the holy work of exposing the desecrations perpetrated among us, doing the Torah’s commands for justice where Torah is absent and injustice reigns, bringing Kiddush Hashem (“sanctifying God’s Name”) where others acting in the name of our same Torah have brought chilul H’ (desecrating God’s Name), we help to purify our society once again.

Recent Articles by Rabbi Michael J. Schwartz

• Huqqat: Human Rights and the Purification of Society - June 22nd, 2007
• Vayhi: Transgressions and unnecessary violence in securing the land are unacceptable - January 5th, 2007
• Bereshit: The ideal of Creation which is our responsibility to maintain - October 19th, 2006
• Shofetim: Human Rights as the secret of Jewish existence - August 25th, 2006
• Rabbi Michael J. Schwartz - June 24th, 2006

Categories: Huqqat
Tags: Bo, fen, human rights, Huqqat, order, palestinians, settlers