Friday, September 17, 2010

The Red Heifer Ritual

Luke Ford writes:

In his 2001 lecture on Numbers 19, Dennis Prager says that he believes all the Torah’s laws are understandable, including the inscrutable ritual of the Red Heifer.

Every ritual conveys a value. A salt covenant represents an unbreakable covenant.

Your status is elevated by having obligations, not just rights. The poor person who receives and receives charity is demeaned. If you give, you are ennobled.

If you are in an impure state, you have to go through a ritual to get back to a pure state. This is the ritual with the red cow.

The red heifer ritual makes the impure pure and the pure impure.

Can you think of examples from real life that render society pure but the doers impure?

* How about police? They have a high rate of burnout. They keep society clean by getting dirty. They need this ritual every day.

 



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