Holy Cow- on the Golden Calf and the Red Heifer
March 30,2024
For the video presentation
https://youtu.be/zk10jskPjaQ?si=Nj-aDTVgnIl9Urn3
Last week- special Torah reading Ki Tisa- directed at fund-raising, in particular, the poll tax of half shekel per adult male. The intention to provide a fund, obviously, for the regular maintenance of the new Tabernacle, but also later, the Temple.
However, in the very same portion, which we
actually read 4 weeks ago, the main thrust is the story of the Golden Calf- egal
ha Zahav. Suffice it to say that the declaration of reconciliation between God
& Moses, becomes the core theme of Yom Kippur. Adonay, Adonay- The Lord,
The Lord, is a compassionate God.
One element of the reconciliation with the
people, is this strange ceremony:
Ex 32:20
וַיִּקַּ֞ח אֶת־הָעֵ֨גֶל אֲשֶׁ֤ר
עָשׂוּ֙ וַיִּשְׂרֹ֣ף בָּאֵ֔שׁ וַיִּטְחַ֖ן עַ֣ד אֲשֶׁר־דָּ֑ק וַיִּ֙זֶר֙
עַל־פְּנֵ֣י הַמַּ֔יִם וַיַּ֖שְׁקְ אֶת־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
He took the calf that they had made and burned
it; he ground it to powder and strewed it upon the water and so made the
Israelites drink it.
When else do we have ceremony involving
drinking something that is dissolved in the water?
Numbers 5:14
but a fit of jealousy comes over him and he is
wrought up about the wife who has defiled herself—or if a fit of jealousy comes
over him and he is wrought up about his wife although she has not defiled
herself
5:23
The priest shall put these curses down in
writing and rub it off into the water of bitterness.
He is to make the woman drink the water of
bitterness that induces the spell, so that the spell-inducing water may enter
into her to bring on bitterness.
If she is innocent, the waters do her no harm.
The upshot is that the husband and the
wife, now that the fit of jealousy has gone, can reconcile and continue to
build their lives together.
Can you see the parallel here:
The prophets saw the relation of the children
of Israel as that of two lovers:
Hosea, for example, takes a wife who is
unfaithful, and he then understands God’s problem with the people of Israel- an
unrequited love, but the goal is a reunion of the two lovers:
And I will espouse you forever:
I will espouse you with righteousness and justice,
And with goodness and mercy,
And I will espouse you with faithfulness;
Then you shall be devoted to GOD.
Hosea 2:21
This is what we say when we wrap the tefillin
around the hand:
אֵרַשְׂתִּ֥יךְ לִ֖י לְעוֹלָ֑ם
וְאֵרַשְׂתִּ֥יךְ לִי֙ בְּצֶ֣דֶק וּבְמִשְׁפָּ֔ט וּבְחֶ֖סֶד וּֽבְרַחֲמִֽים׃
וְאֵרַשְׂתִּ֥יךְ לִ֖י בֶּאֱמוּנָ֑ה
וְיָדַ֖עַתְּ אֶת־יְהֹוָֽה׃ {פ}
Erastich—is the term for a legal engagement,
essentially, a marriage.
So, we can see the burnt waters of the Golden
Calf as a test of loyalty of the beloved to the lover. An appropriate parallel.
Now, this Shabbat, we have a special additional
reading, Shabbat Parah- the Shabbat of the Heifer, specifically, the Red
Heifer. It appears only a few chapters after our ordeal of the jealous husband.
Numbers 19
זֹ֚את חֻקַּ֣ת הַתּוֹרָ֔ה
אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֥ה יְהוָ֖ה לֵאמֹ֑ר דַּבֵּ֣ר ׀ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל וְיִקְח֣וּ
אֵלֶיךָ֩ פָרָ֨ה אֲדֻמָּ֜ה תְּמִימָ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֤ר אֵֽין־בָּהּ֙ מ֔וּם אֲשֶׁ֛ר
לֹא־עָלָ֥ה עָלֶ֖יהָ עֹֽל׃
This is the ritual law that יהוה has commanded: Instruct the Israelite people to bring you a red
cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been
laid.
The red heifer is slaughtered, burned to ashes,
and the ashes then mixed with water and sprinkled on someone who has been
defiled , impure.
This leads into a question that disturbed the
Rabbis for centuries, but I will get to that next. For now= I have had a Golden
Calf, an ordeal of jealousy, and now ashes from a read heifer—all are actions
that are intended to lead to a reconciliation. The children of Israel look for
a physical tangible God in the golden calf so to say that their invisible lover
is not enough for them and by this ordeal of the dust of the golden calf in the
water they find some kind of reconciliation. In the case of the ordeal of
jealousy the water of bitterness into which the name of God has been dissolved
becomes a tool to bring the two closer together. And now with the red heifer
the dust of the red heifer becomes a tool to eliminate the alienation and
distancing from God that comes with feeling impure.
Why red heifer. Well we may want to ask first
about the golden calf, what color is gold? You know we have white gold are we
have rose gold and we have the old gold also sometimes called Mexican gold
which is a strong red tinge to it. So when we say a Red heifer we may mean a
cow that has a reddish tone to a blonde hair there, could be like a rose gold
or the red gold. Now maybe we have a connection?
Rashi comments from a Midrashic source:
Why this rite was performed with a cow may be
exemplified by a parable. It may be compared to the case of a handmaid’s child
that defiled the king’s palace. They said: Let the mother come and wipe up the
excrement. Similarly here: since they became defiled by a calf, let its mother
(a cow) come and atone for the calf (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat 8).
now you can see the connection that the red
heifer becomes a reminder that there's always a source for purification and
reconciliation when we have gone astray as happened at the golden calf, the
mother cleaning up the mess of the baby.
This in turn actually leads to a much more
complicated question and it perturbs the rabbis:
That the
whole element of a red heifer and the dust and ashes and purifying and impurifying
are a very odd and irrational command. One of the things the rabbis did not
like was irrationality. They wanted to believe that everything could be proved
logically from the clear language of the text without resorting to too much
invention. So all of the Bible in their thinking, all of the commands had to
have some grounding, some basis in actual fact ,in actual reality in practical
application , and that's how they interpreted the Torah's laws. As far as they
were concerned when it came to faith , faith was discovered out of an
experience with reality, an experience with history, and these were things that
could be proven and verified. It's a very different perspective from the
classic Christian perspective which puts everything on the concept of blind
faith or as one of the church fathers stated “I believe because it is absurd”.
We can agree or disagree if the Rabbi’s logic
was really correct ,really founded in fact but certainly that's what they were
looking for. Therefore this particular observance perturbed them very much. How
could you have a ruling that did not have an explanation to it, that has no
proof behind it or reason behind it.
The Rabbis commented that even King Solomon,
the wisest man, gave up trying to understand it.
So there
is this rabbinic discussion:
A certain stranger questioned Rabban Johanan
ben Zakkay, “These things which you do seem like a kind of sorcery. You bring a
heifer, burn it, pound it, and take its ashes. Then [when] one of you is
defiled by a corpse, they sprinkle two or three drops on him, and you say to
him, ‘You are clean.’”
He said
to him, “Have you ever had a bad spirit of madness enter you?” He told him,
“No.” He said to him, “Perhaps you have seen someone into whom a bad spirit has
entered?” He told him, “Yes.” He said to him,
“So what did you do for him?” He said to him,
“They bring roots and burn them beneath him. Then they sprinkle water on [the
spirit], and it flees.”
He said
to him, “Let your ears hear what you are uttering with your mouth. Similarly is
this spirit an unclean spirit. Thus it is stated (in Zech. 13:2), ‘and I will
also remove the ‘prophets’ and the unclean spirit from the land.’ They sprinkle
the purifying water upon him, and he flees.”
After the gentile had left, [R. Johanan's]
disciples said to him, “Our master, you repelled this one with a [mere] reed
[of an answer]. What have you to say to us?” He said to them, “By your lives, a
corpse does not defile, nor does a heifer purify, nor does water purify.
Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, has said, ‘I have enacted a statute for
you. I have issued a decree, [and] you are not allowed to transgress against my
decree.’” Thus it is written (in Numb. 19:2), “This is the statute of the Torah.”
The Hebrew word here is Hukkah—an ordinance, as
opposed to Mishpatim, judicial decisions. Mishpatim, like the law against
stealing or murder, are grounded in human logic and experience.
A Hok-or Hukkah- in Biblical Hebrew-is , we
might say, something axiomatic—a given, a foundation.
We might say, that as rational or analytical as
the Rabbis wanted to be, they express something here that is a deeper
philosophical issue, that is that there is a point beyond which pure logic can
not go, an event horizon. For example, pure logic, reiniges Vernunft, can
clarify our positions, but it can not tell us what is the value of a human
being. It cannot tell us what life means. It can not tell us what is our goal
for existence as a human being.
So, I think we can summarize that a Hukkah,
like the Red Heifer, helps us face those things for which we have no easy
answers. As Rabbi Ben Zakkai stated, its function is to remind us that our goal
is to carry out the demands of that which is greater than any one of us, alone,
or combined.
So what now, when there is no red heifer, no
Temple, and no sacrifice?
Christians claim that it was solved by Jesus (
a propos of Easter) as the ultimate Korban, replacing all others once and for
all.
But we have a better answer:
About this, from Midrash Tanchuma has this to
say about the portion:
“Israel said in front of the Holy One, blessed
be He, Master of the world, You command that we bring all of these sacrifices.
But now that the Temple was destroyed, where can we bring our sacrifices to
atone for our sins?”
So the Holy One, blessed be He, said to them,
“If you want that they should be atoned for you, keep my laws. How?
God said to them, “Keep my Torah. And how do we
know this?”
זֹ֣את הַתּוֹרָ֗ה
לָֽעֹלָה֙ לַמִּנְחָ֔ה וְלַֽחַטָּ֖את וְלָאָשָׁ֑ם וְלַ֨מִּלּוּאִ֔ים וּלְזֶ֖בַח
הַשְּׁלָמִֽים׃
Such are the rituals
of the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering,
the offering of ordination, and the sacrifice of well-being,
אֲשֶׁ֨ר צִוָּ֧ה
יְהֹוָ֛ה אֶת־מֹשֶׁ֖ה בְּהַ֣ר סִינָ֑י בְּי֨וֹם צַוֺּת֜וֹ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל
לְהַקְרִ֧יב אֶת־קׇרְבְּנֵיהֶ֛ם לַיהֹוָ֖ה בְּמִדְבַּ֥ר סִינָֽי׃ {פ}
with which יהוה charged Moses on Mount Sinai, when
commanding that the Israelites present their offerings to יהוה, in the wilderness of Sinai.
“This is the Torah of [the Hebrew letter used
here Is “La”-about-]- the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sin offering,
the guilt offering, the offering of ordination, and the sacrifice of
well-being,” do not read it ‘rather’ as such “ La” about, but “La” ‘not’(in
Aramaic the word לא is read like
the letters LA) these are the teachings (Torah): not the burnt offering, not
the meal offering, not the sin offering, not the guilt offering, not the
offering of ordination, and not the sacrifice of well-being. Rather you should
be busy learning Torah and it should be important to you more as if you were
making an offering equal to all of the offerings.” (Tanhuma, Tzav portion,
Siman (section)14 – Warsaw edition)
Finally, let’s keep in mind- the nature of the
Korban= to the most part, eaten by the worshipper in the presence of God—Who
eats together?
Not peasants and Lords, not ruler and ruled,
but only trusted close friends and family, as in the word “companion”- with
whom we share “pan”- our bread.
In the future, maybe we will have once again, a
Temple feast, human in the presence of God—and we can use lab grown meat for
the ox!
