How Parah Adumah Atones

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah

We read Parshas Parah on the Shabbos before Rosh Chodesh Nissan, to declare that we must make ourselves tahor (spiritually pure) in order to partake of the korban Pesach. The Parsha we read explains how we take a Parah Adumah (a perfectly red cow), slaughter and burn it, and use its ashes as part of the purification process undergone by a Jew who had contact with a dead body. This was an essential part of the nation’s preparation for Pesach, in the times of the Beis Hamikdash.

Only, Rashi (Bamidbar 19:22) cites Rav Moshe Hadarshan, who teaches that the Parah Adumah serves as an atonement for the Sin of the Golden Calf, saying: “Let the mother come and clean up the mess its child made.”

How can this be understood? The verses state clearly that the Parah Adumah brings us purity, but atonement? It’s not a korban. How does this work?

Rav Shimshon Pinkus answers that what led Jews to the Sin of the Golden Calf was their need for a way to connect to Hashem. Until now, Moshe Rabbeinu had served as this connection. He had ascended to heaven to receive the Torah for them, and in his merit they received the manna. He said he would return in 40 days and here the 40 days had passed (according to their calculation). What would they do now?

They decided that without Moshe, they had no choice but to devise some other way to connect to Hashem. They had all experienced prophecy at the Red Sea, and we know that part of the vision the prophet Yechezkel saw of Hashem’s heavenly chariot is a bull. This was why they chose a calf — not to worship it, but that it would serve as a way of connecting them to Hashem.

If so, asks Rav Pinkus, why was this considered such a terrible sin?

Rav Pinkus answers that they used their own intelligence to devise ways of connecting to Hashem. This was a grave error. A Jew must do what Hashem says, and Hashem gave us ways to connect to Him — through His mitzvos. Beyond that, we have to be careful not to mix our own ideas into His avodah. When we mix in our own attitudes, we’re serving ourselves and not Hashem.

The Parah Adumah atones for this sin, because its halachos defy logic. The one who uses the ash of the cow to render others pure becomes himself impure in the process. The halachos of the Parah Adumah are referred to as chukim — statutes whose reasons are counter-intuitive. The Satan and the gentiles mock Yisrael for this, asking, what sense does this make? Hashem responds, as it were, that “these are decrees before Me, and you have no right to investigate into them” (Rashi, Bamidbar 19:2). Therefore, when Jews engage in this mitzvah, they declare that they rely not on their intelligence but only on Hashem’s command. This is an atonement for their unauthorized use of intelligence at the sin of the golden calf.

We too can make this sort of error. When a Jew decides on his own to give precedence to some matter that he views as a mitzvah, to the extent that he cannot daven with a minyan, or must cancel his learning seder, he must be extremely careful. Perhaps he is mixing in his own ideas, and is going against the Torah. One must always consult a Rav before making such decisions.

Another lesson of parah adumah is that we must nullify not only our intelligence to Hashem but also our desires. At the Sin of the Golden Calf, the erev rav began engaging in the most base desires. It states that after serving the Calf, the sinners “ate and drank and got up to play” (Shemos 32:6). Rashi explains that the word “play” alludes to bloodshed and immorality. Serving the calf led to the most evil desires of mankind. Parah Adumah atones for these sins, because a cow represents unbridled materialism, and a perfectly red cow represents the quintessence of materialism. This perfectly red cow was slaughtered and burned to ashes, which represented taking all of our materialism and nullifying it before Hashem.

For us, the lesson is — each of has desires, sometime even evil desires. Whatever our desires, we must subjugate them to Hashem’s will.

How can we begin subjugating our desires before Hashem?

The Slonimer Rebbe would advise people to make service of Hashem their main desire. If a person thinks to himself: What am I here for? Should I live just for the moment? Aren’t I here to serve Hashem and through this to build my olam haba? If you make this your main desire, then when other desires surface, you’ll make sure to deal with them in a way that does not go against the Torah (see Emuna Uvitachon of the Chazon Ish 4:1).

The Slonimer Rebbe offers a second way of subjugating desires before Hashem. In Sifrei (Devarim 14:21), it states that a Jew should sanctify himself with what is permitted to him. One should refrain from certain permitted pleasures in order to ensure that he keeps far away from forbidden pleasures. For example, we should cut back on luxuries. For wealthier people, it means being content with one’s house and cars, even though there may be more beautiful homes, and newer and more deluxe cars. For people of more modest incomes, it means not indulging in food, sleep, etc.

Also, once a day, as an exercise, try to hold yourself back from satisfying a certain desire, just to demonstrate to yourself that you can do this, that you have a will that is stronger than your physical desires. Abstain from a certain food, or buying some item, or the like.

By keeping permitted desires under control, we avoid the risk of engaging in forbidden desires, chalila (See Sha’arei Teshuva 1:32).

Similarly, the Chazon Ish used to advise people that if their material situation was sufficient, they should not think about how to improve it. Since a person naturally desires more than what he has, working on being content with what we have is a big exercise in subjugating our desires.

A living example in our generation of a man subjugating his entire being and all his desires to Hashem was Rav Aharon Yehuda Leib Steinman. All who saw him — and particularly those who saw the simplicity of his home, his diet, his aversion for honor or money — saw a man whose sole desire was to do Hashem’s will.

When his daughter suggested substituting a tastier yogurt for the plain one he usually ate, he refused, insisting that what he had been eating until now was perfectly fine and he had no intent of changing it. So too, when his wife suggested that they repaint their apartment. Rav Steinman countered, at first, that there was no need for this. When she pointed out that some of the walls were moldy, he agreed that these sections be fixed, but not to repaint everything.

May we subjugate our desires to Hashem!