The Parsha of the Week: Parah
The Sacred Land and the Purifying Waters
Red heifer ashes purify a person from tuma′s meis (impurity from contact with a corpse). Tumas meis is the most grave impurity (so it is called the "father of fathers of impurity"), and all other impurities are the branches.
The need to be cleansed of tumas meis impurities just prior to the month of Nissan is to purify man, so he could make the Pesach sacrifice on time, and for a deeper reason- to enter the month of Nisan, the month in which Israel was saved from Egypt and in which we will be redeemed.
The water with red heifer ash that purifies a person from tumas meis reminds us of the pure water that Hashem sprinkles on Israel when they return to Israel: "For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be purified." (Yechezkel, 36, 24-25)
This means that just as a red heifer ashes purifies the person to ready for the month of Nisan, the month of redemption, the holiness of the Land of Israel has a unique ability to cleanse the Jewish nation from the impurities of exile and bring them back to their Father in Heaven, with complete teshuva (return). The purifying power of the Land of Israel is preparatory to the redemption with the revelation of Moshiach ben Dovid and the building of the Bais HaMikdosh.
Hence, we learn: One of the most important steps in the process of redemption and the revelation of Moshiach ben Dovid is inheriting and settling the land. Without the sanctity of the Divine Presence in Israel, one cannot really absorb the pure water that Hashem throws at Israel during this period. Only through "and (I) will bring you into your own land will we merit the fulfillment of the prophecy: "And I will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be purified." |
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