WhatsappThe red heifer was part of the Biblical commandment of the work of the Priest in the time of the Temple. It is a very difficult commandment to understand and grapple with. Some have even ascribed the commandment as the prototype of the commandment that is impossible to understand. King Solomon was known in his time as the wisest of all people and he also explained that the commandment of the Red Heifer is beyond his full understanding.
There are many aspects of our lives that are beyond our understanding. It is not only those aspects that pertain to religious service. But so many things that happen in our lives are beyond our ability to explain the “why” about there occurrence. For example, any attempt to understand the magnitude of the bloodshed in World War II and the Holocaust is simply impossible. One can find many causes and see a relationship between the rise of a madman in Germany, the evils of Communism, and the results that this led to. But, it will always boggle the mind that so many innocent people in Japan, China, Poland, Russia, and across Europe were killed in this conflict. For most people, the only way they can deal with it is to either argue that a Higher Power understands what we mortals cannot understand. Or, people can reach the conclusion that the world is chaotic and no forces truly run the world.
There is logic in both modes of thought. But, it is much more liberating, and actually more logical, to conclude that we simply don’t understand the whole world, and that powers beyond our abilities to perceive do indeed run the world.
