The Torah verses convey profound messages that we can insightfully extract for our daily lives. Rabbi Shay Tahan, the Rosh Kollel of Shaarei Ezra in Brooklyn, NY, graciously opens the gates to understand them.
You must be living under a rock if you didn't come across one of the thousands of videos and articles published recently about the Red Heifer (Para Adumah). It seems like everyone is nervous about it. What scares people so much about the Red Heifer?
We are now in the month of Nissan, which was set as the month of the final redemption, as Chazal said(ראש השנה יא) : "In Nissan we were redeemed (from Mitzrayim) and in Nissan we will be redeemed when Mashiach comes." Proceeding to the month of Nissan, we read the four special Haftarot. Starting with Shekalim, continuing with Zachor, which is to remember what Amalek has done to us and reaffirm our obligation of wiping out the seed of Amalek. Then we read the parasha of the Red Cow (Parah Adumah), and finally end with the sanctifying of the new month of Nissan. Is there a connection that passes through all of them?
We are all familiar with the first Rashi in Parashat Chukat that says the red cow is named a chukah (a decree) since the nations harass us over it, saying, "What's the reason for such a mitzvah?" Therefore, the Torah says it's a chukah, meaning a mitzvah with a reason that isn't known to us. For many years, I asked a couple of questions. The first is that Rashi continues later and gives a reason for the mitzvah, that it's to atone for sin, what we call teshuva. Secondly, I asked that I never heard the nations ever harassing us over the red cow.
I always explained that the nation's harassment is over the concept of teshuva, as Christianity doesn't believe in doing teshuva, and thus they tease us by saying that since the cow represents teshuva, it's really false and has no meaning.
Although that is a beautiful explanation, recent events have given rise to a new explanation as suddenly many harass us over the red cow. Since the war started in Israel, there have been literally thousands of videos about the red cow, called in English the red heifer. It seems like the whole world is busy with the red heifer except the Jews. Even Hamas spokesmen Abu Obeida, who appears once in a while with his face covered with keffiyeh, warned about the Jews planning to bring the red heifer.
When Hamas spokesman spoke at the mark of the 100th day of the war, he explained to everyone's surprise that the reason Hamas opened the war was because the Jewish people are preparing to bring the Red Heifer. It is truly strange that someone as important as a spokesman would speak about "spiritual myths" instead of talking about concrete reasons such as what they claim to be a war over the occupied land.
But why is this happening, and why now?
In order to understand this correctly, we need to look at the reading of the Shabbat before reading about the Parah Adumah (Red Heifer), when we read about Amalek. In Bilaam's prophecy, he said (במדבר כד,כ): "Amalek is the first among nations [to declare war against the Jews], and in the end, [at the final war], he shall be destroyed," teaching that Israel's first war was with Amalek and also the last war before the arrival of the Mashiach. That means that we are facing today a war with the same Amalek. But who is Amalek today?
We are accustomed to thinking that only the Germans are the Aryan race, since the Nazis claimed to be the pure Aryan race. However, in reality, the original Aryan race is the Persian-Indo, showing an ethnic link between Germans and Iranians. Many are familiar with what many rabbis have said, that Germany is Amalek, apparently linked to Haman the Amalekite. Since Haman was Persian, we can see that the Persians, who are an Aryan race, are the same Amalek of Haman that continued to spread to Germany and Iran.
If so, we can understand that when the Torah speaks of remembering Amalek, it's pointing to the last war indicated by Bilaam that will take place with Persia. This is actually how the Gemara (עבודה זרה ב, ב) points out that the last war will be between the Christian power and Persia.
It's fascinating to see that the Gemara points out the nature of today's Persians, who are compared to a bear. They eat and drink copious amounts like a bear, they are fleshy like a bear, they grow their hair long like a bear, and they never rest, like a bear. The meaning of "eat and drink" is that they weren't directly involved in wars but rather let their many proxies fight for them while they sit comfortably in their towns, eating and drinking. This is also the meaning of growing hair; obviously, it doesn't mean they literally grow hair as it's Hashem who grows the hair on a person. Rather, it means that they grow their proxies on all sides and over the Middle East, much like hair grows all over. This is the reason they claim to have fought many wars and not rest, as they mean they armed and controlled all those proxies.
The Gemara continues to say that after Mashiach comes, Hashem will ask them, "With what did you occupy yourselves?" They will respond before Him: "Master of the Universe, we have built many bridges, we have conquered many cities, and we have fought many wars," Indeed, as they do today, they build, arm, and prepare many nations to fight their many battles.
The next Shabbat reading after Amalek is Parah because the Para Aduma (Red Heifer) is the only sacrifice brought outside the Beit Hamikdash (The Ramban mentions that the nations are bothered by the fact that the Para Aduma is brought outside the Temple), and this drives the world crazy. But why? Because they know that the majority of Jews don’t go into the Temple Mount, what they call al-Aqsa, because they aren't pure. Purity will only come once we have a Red Heifer and undergo the process needed to purify ourselves from impurity. Then we can all enter the Temple Mount. The Muslims are very scared of that event because they know that redemption will then take place once Jews enter the Temple mount, and they will be forever doomed. Since they feel this event is very close, they are extremely nervous and scared.
This fear is sincerely based on the Rambam (הלכות פרה אדומה פ״ג ה״ד) , who fascinatingly records that there are 10 Red Heifers throughout time. The first was made by Moshe, the second by Ezra, seven others were made until the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash, and the last 10 will be done by Mashiach.
This is the reason for the thousands of videos and articles warning about the Red Heifer phenomenon. Moreover, this is the reason they started a war to prevent us from moving forward with the Red Heifer. This is evident in the name of the war - Tufan al-Aqsa, the al-Aqsa flood. The war is all about the Temple Mount.
We all know that this last war is a religious war between the evil forces of Iran, who we explained are Amalek, and Israel. This religious war remarkably is over the Temple Mount as they try to do everything to delay the coming of the Mashiach. But this doesn't help them, as symbolized by the reading of the Haftarah of Hachodesh HaZeh, which comes right after Parashat Parah. This symbolizes the new month, the month of redemption that comes with the victory of the Jewish nation over their enemies, after the purification done by the red cow and the destruction of Amalek.
This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel