Shabbat Parah is one of four special readings that populate our calendar at this time of year. The ceremony of the red heifer is highly complex and self-contradictory, its great paradox lying in its mutually exclusive effects:
The ashes of the heifer were to be sprinkled over a ritually impure person. At the ceremony’s conclusion, two things occurred: the impure person became pure, whereas all of those involved in the ceremony who came into contact with the ashes became impure. In other words, Schrodinger’s Cow — an entity that somehow conveyed purity and impurity simultaneously.
This conundrum drove King Solomon himself to exasperation when he attempted to fathom the depths of the cryptic ceremony. “I resolved to become wise”, he declared, “but it remained distant from me!” (Ecclesiastes 7:23).
Why do we read about the red heifer on the Shabbat following Purim? Furthermore, what is the link between it and the main contents of our regular portion Ki Tissa: the drama and tragedy of the golden calf?
