Red and White – Chukat
זֹאת חֻקַּת הַתּוֹרָה אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה לֵאמֹר דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִקְחוּ אֵלֶיךָ פָרָה אֲדֻמָּה תְּמִימָה אֲשֶׁר אֵין בָּהּ מוּם אֲשֶׁר לֹא עָלָה עָלֶיהָ עֹל (במדבר יט, ב).
What do the following have in common - Chava, Sarah, Rivka, Eisav, Rachel, the Shulchan Lechem Hapanim, David Hamelech and the פרה אדומה? They all have something to do with the colors red and white (and I am not referring to the Arsenal football team).
Have you ever wondered why it has to be a RED heifer? What is wrong with a plain white Hereford? Or a black spotted Longhorn?
Shlomo Hamelech tried (unsuccessfully) to understand the ins and outs of the פרה אדומה, how its sprinkled ashes purify the impure and at the same time make the sprinkler himself impure אָמַרְתִּי אֶחְכָּמָה וְהִיא רְחוֹקָה מִמֶּנִּי (קהלת ז, כג). This, in essence, is what a חק is – a precept that cannot be understood logically, but rather something that we have to accept even though we do not understand it.
In this shiur I will not attempt to fully understand the פרה אדומה, but rather focus on one small aspect of it, the colors red and white. It is not incidental that all the references in the above listing have some connection to the colors red and white. We will examine each in turn and in the end tie everything beautifully together.
Let's examine that list in order, beginning with Chava.
Adam Harishon was the pinnacle of Creation. The Midrash Tanchuma (פקודי, סימן ג') says that Adam was such a magnificent creature that when the angels first saw him, they mistook him for G-d and bowed down to him. Adam corrected them saying "Let us praise the true G-d" and proceeded to sing the שיר של יום for יום ששי – "ה' מלך גאות לבש (תהילים צג, א)". If that is so, then it is a safe bet that when HKB"H created Chava from Adam's "rib", that she too was beauty beyond compare.
What physical features of Chava made her beautiful? The Gemara (Brachot 61a) says that HKB"H first presented Chava to Adam under a chuppah, as it were, and that He braided Chava's hair to make her beautiful to Adam. How does braiding the hair make a woman more beautiful? The Mefarshim explain that minimizing the exposure of a woman's hair, by braiding and gathering it up, is a sign of צניעות and that the beauty was a - spiritual beauty. Minimized hair symbolizes beauty while "wild", exposed hair symbolizes קלון. When the Kohen wanted to shame the Sotah, he undid the braiding of her hair (Rashi, Bamidbar 5, 18). In last week's parsha, Korach, we read of the wife of On ben Pelet who saved her husband by sitting outside her tent, with her hair unbraided. Korach and his followers sent to fetch On ben Pelet may have been "no goodniks", but even they would not stoop to the level of interacting with a married woman with her hair unbraided. The Gemara in Brachot above, incidentally, is the source for כיסוי ראש and also for the custom of braiding challot on Shabbat (The Jewish Bread Bible).
But it was not just the hair. Chava also had a specific complexion in her skin, as it says in Shir Hashirim (5, 10) דּוֹדִי צַח וְאָדוֹם, a combination of white and red, perhaps white cheeks with a reddish blush? This is not a lesson in cosmetology, it is referring to a spiritual concept, as the Alsheich says on that passuk - שמתייחס אל צחות הוא פעולת רחמים, ומתייחס אל אודם הוא דין, יהיו יחד בו יתברך. That the color white is symbolic of מידת הרחמים while the color red is symbolic of מידת הדין, which correspond to the sfirot חסד and גבורה in the Ten Sfirot.
This was Chava before the sin of the עץ הדעת. Chazal say that as a result of her sin, Chava introduced blood into the equation, twice – דם בתולין ודם נידה. That was her punishment. After the sin, her hair became unbraided and red became the dominant color (perhaps blushing from shame) and therefore upset the delicate balance of דין and רחמים resulting in only דין. By sinning and causing Adam Harishon to also sin, Chava introduced death to the world. Before the sin Adam and Chava were immortal.
The Imahot were the tikkun for Chava's sin.
First up is Sarah Imeinu. When Avram took his wife Sarai with him down to Egypt because of the famine in Eretz Canaan, the passuk says וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר הִקְרִיב לָבוֹא מִצְרָיְמָה וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל שָׂרַי אִשְׁתּוֹ הִנֵּה נָא יָדַעְתִּי כִּי אִשָּׁה יְפַת מַרְאֶה אָתְּ (בראשית יב, יא). The Mefarshim do not expound on Sarai's beauty here, they focus more on the fact that this was the first time that Avram noticed her beauty. Only then did Avram (not yet Avraham) notice that his wife was beautiful. They had been married many years and only now he noticed? Doesn't sound like a good recipe for shalom bayit! The Mefarshim say that the proximity to Egypt, ערות הארץ, the land of עריות, suddenly propelled the physicality into the forefront and this is why Avram suddenly became aware of it. The Mefarshim there do not amplify what exactly it was about Sarai (not yet Sarah) that made her יְפַת מַרְאֶה. In order to discover this, we need to wait until we get to Rivka and Rachel and what the Mefarshim say about both of them.
We do know that Sarai was very צנועה, she was "in the tent" when the angels visited, and it is a safe bet (although not mentioned specifically) that her hair was braided, like Chava before the sin.
Let's move on to Rivka, to get a better idea of what יְפַת מַרְאֶה means. When Eliezer goes to find a wife for his master's son Yitzchak, he sees Rivka at the well. The passuk says וְהַנַּעֲרָ טֹבַת מַרְאֶה מְאֹד (בראשית כד, טז) and the gematriya of טֹבַת מַרְאֶה is "שש ואדום", white like linen (בגדי שש) and red – a balanced combination of the two. Yitzchak, after marrying Rivka repeats this sentiment - פֶּן יַהַרְגֻנִי אַנְשֵׁי הַמָּקוֹם עַל רִבְקָה כִּי טוֹבַת מַרְאֶה הִוא (בראשית כו, ז).
While the description of Rivka gives us a hint to what Sarai's יְפַת מַרְאֶה description meant, יְפַת מַרְאֶה is not exactly the same description as טֹבַת מַרְאֶה. To put the matter to rest though, we skip forward to Rachel where the explicit phrase יְפַת מַרְאֶה is used, like with Sarai.
The Torah describes the physical appearance of Rachel and Leah - וְעֵינֵי לֵאָה רַכּוֹת וְרָחֵל הָיְתָה יְפַת תֹּאַר וִיפַת מַרְאֶה (בראשית כט, יז). Here we have the same יְפַת מַרְאֶה description of Rachel as for Sarai previously. The Mefarshim here are definitive what יְפַת מַרְאֶה means. The Rashbam says לבן ואדמדם and the Sforno says בצבע העור שהיה צח ואדום.
So there we have it. All of the Imahot had a special complexion in their skin, a balanced combination of red and white (although Leah is described as having "soft eyes", meaning her eyelashes had fallen out from constant weeping, her skin complexion was probably similar to Rachel's). Whether this means that their physical skin had that specific color combination or it is referring to the higher, spiritual nuances of צח ואדום, the attributes of רחמים and דין, described previously with Chava, or both together, the physical and the spiritual ..…. is not important. What is important for the purposes of this shiur is the premise of the combination of the red and white.
Now we move on to our next protagonist. Rivka gives birth to twins. The first to emerge is afforded extensive physical description in the psukkim (his twin brother is not described physically in the same measure). וַיֵּצֵא הָרִאשׁוֹן אַדְמוֹנִי כֻּלּוֹ כְּאַדֶּרֶת שֵׂעָר וַיִּקְרְאוּ שְׁמוֹ עֵשָׂו (בראשית כה, כה). Eisav's complexion was red! Not a combination of red and white, just red. In addition, he was very hairy. Notice the focus on the same two attributes of Chava's beauty – the color of the skin and the hair. Unlike Chava before the sin however, whose skin was a mixture of white and red and her hair was braided, Eisav resembles Chava after the sin – red skin and unruly hair.
The Torah says nothing about Yaakov's appearance and if Yaakov himself would not have given us a clue in the psukkim, we would not know. וַיֹּאמֶר יַעֲקֹב אֶל רִבְקָה אִמּוֹ הֵן עֵשָׂו אָחִי אִישׁ שָׂעִר וְאָנֹכִי אִישׁ חָלָק (בראשית כז, יא). That's all the Torah tells us about how Yaakov looked, that he was not hairy like his brother. The Gemara fills in the blanks in Bava Batra 58a, שופריה דיעקב אבינו מעין שופריה דאדם הראשון, that Yaakov's physical appearance resembled Adam Harishon's before the sin. The Gemara above relates that R' Bana'ah used to mark out caves where there were dead bodies, to cordon them off so people would not unwittingly approach and become טמא. R' Bana'ah entered מערת המכפלה but was only allowed to go as far as the Avot. When he tried to enter the section where Adam Harishon is buried, a Bat Kol from Heaven called out saying "You saw the likeness of My Image (Yaakov Avinu) do not gaze upon My Image (Adam)". We know that Yaakov's face is the fourth leg in the מרכבה, the כסא הכבוד.
Getting back to Eisav, the Mefarshim say that Eisav's red complexion indicated that he was going to be a murderer, but it is not as simple as that. The passuk says אַדְמוֹנִי כֻּלּוֹ כְּאַדֶּרֶת שֵׂעָר, the gematriya of which is רָאִיתִי כְּמַרְאֵה אֵשׁ וְנֹגַהּ לוֹ סָבִיב (יחזקאל א, כז), from Yechezkel's description of the מעשה מרכבה. It is understandable that Yaakov is a part of the כסא הכבוד, but here we have a hint that Eisav הרשע is also part of the כסא הכבוד. What is Eisav doing in the כסא הכבוד?
The Malbim on that passuk in Yechezkel teaches us a fundamentally important principle. Eisav was not one person, he was divided into two people - one part of him from the head up and the second part of him from below the head down. From below the head down, Eisav was red, מידת הדין. The Malbim says that the purpose of מידת הדין is to enlighten and forgive להאיר ולרחם. Therefore, from the head down Eisav was אֵשׁ וְנֹגַהּ לוֹ סָבִיב, that even the evil in the world, ultimately has a good purpose. However, from the head up, Eisav was white זֹהַר וְהַכֹּל טוֹב. This is why when חושים בן דן killed (decapitated) Eisav, Eisav's head rolled into מערת המכפלה and came to rest in Yitzchak's lap (Sotah 13a).
Eisav, also called אדום, is evil, but evil ultimately has a good purpose. Eisav is likened to a חזיר. The purpose of the seemingly endless גלות אדום is to להחזיר את המלכות למלך מלכי המלכים, to re-anoint HKB"H as the King of kings.
Moving right along to the Shulchan Lechem Hapanim. While transporting the כלי המשכן in the Midbar, they were each covered in a series of different coverings. The Shulchan is unique in that it is the only one that has a red covering וּפָרְשׂוּ עֲלֵיהֶם בֶּגֶד תּוֹלַעַת שָׁנִי (במדבר ד, ח). This is a cloth covering that is colored with the red dye of an insect. The prevailing opinion (from a recent study by Prof. Zohar Amar) is that it is the insect called Kermes that grows on oak trees.
The concept of תּוֹלַעַת שָׁנִי in Tanach is reminiscent of sin. אִם יִהְיוּ חֲטָאֵיכֶם כַּשָּׁנִים כַּשֶּׁלֶג יַלְבִּינוּ אִם יַאְדִּימוּ כַתּוֹלָע כַּצֶּמֶר יִהְיוּ (ישעיהו א, יח). In sefer Meir Panim I bring the principle that a primary purpose of the Shulchan Lechem Hapanim is to atone for the sin of Adam and Chava. If that is the case, it is clear why this specific vessel required a red covering. That is one component of it, but it is not the only covering. Underneath the red covering there is also a covering of בֶּגֶד תְּכֵלֶת. The purpose of Techelet, like the white in צַח וְאָדוֹם, is להמתיק את הדין, in other words מידת הרחמים. Therefore, the Shulchan Lechem Hapanim too has this balance of complexion.
When Shmuel Hanavi saw David for the first time, he was fearful. The passuk says וְהוּא אַדְמוֹנִי עִם יְפֵה עֵינַיִם וְטוֹב רֹאִי (שמואל א טז, יב) that David Hamelech was אַדְמוֹנִי, like Eisav and Shmuel feared that this physical character trait may resemble that of Eisav's. However, the second part of the passuk says יְפֵה עֵינַיִם, referring to the clear/white part of the eye. David Hamelech too had this delicate balance, that is required to bring about the tikkun.
We now reach the final item on the list, the פרה אדומה.
The purpose of the ashes of the פרה אדומה are to purify someone who is טמא מת, someone who has come into contact with a dead body. The origin of death in the world was the result of Adam and Chava's sin. They upset the balance of "complexion" and made everything red. To fix that, you need a cow that is completely red. If that is not enough, you need to add even more red to the concoction. In preparing the ashes, you must add a bundle of אזוב (a herb). Why אזוב? This same bundle of herbs was used in Egypt to paint the doorposts red with the blood of the Korban Pesach. Add to this a piece of cloth dyed red with the תּוֹלַעַת שָׁנִי. That makes three counts of "red".
From this it would appear that everything related to the פרה אדומה is red. However, there is one last component – עץ ארץ, a stick of cedar wood. In Meir Panim I bring the principle that the עץ החיים was in fact an עץ ארז, that was later used in Noah's Ark, in the wood Avraham chopped for the Akeida and in the beams of the Mishkan. This is the "white" component of the פרה אדומה, symbolizing the Torah and מידת הרחמים.
After we have spent all this time establishing this principle, I won't burden you with the opinion that says the RED heifer was not red at all, but brown! It doesn't really matter what shade of red/brown it is - the principle remains.
This motif of red and white repeats over and over. I will bring another example from the Lechem Hapanim. Another primary purpose of the Lechem Hapanim is to teach us the principle of איזהו עשיר השמח בחלקו and the importance of living our lives and serving HKB"H with simcha (Meir Panim). A large portion of sefer Meir Panim deals with the physical action of smiling, something that is reflected in the shape of the Lechem Hapanim. We learn the importance of smiling from the passuk חַכְלִילִי עֵינַיִם מִיָּיִן וּלְבֶן שִׁנַּיִם מֵחָלָב (בראשית מט, יב). This is part of Yaakov's blessing to Yehuda (ancestor of David Hamelech). Rashi explains חַכְלִילִי as red – someone who drinks wine, their eyes turn red. The second part of the passuk is explained in the Gemara (Ketubot 111b) אל תקרי לְבֶן שינים אלא לִבוּן שינים, referring the white of the teeth. A smile is a combination of eyes/red and mouth/white (teeth).
It is a beautiful message, that everything in HKB"H's world has purpose and balance. It shows how boundless HKB"H's mercy is, that He even gives reshaim like Eisav the chance to make amends. For us על אחת כמה וכמה. The yetzer harah is constantly trying to sow ייאוש, trying to make us believe that there is no hope. There is always hope!
The way to tikkun olam is through preserving that hope, and we do it with simcha, with smiles, with a balance between the red and white.
To end off, here are some incredible gematriyot –
The gematriya of פָרָה אֲדֻמָּה תְּמִימָה is נַעֲרָה אַדְמֹנִית and נְקוֹם נִקְמַת דָּם
The gematriya of יְפַת מַרְאֶה is שָׂטָן נָחָשׁ חַוָּה
The gematriya of טֹבַת מַרְאֶה is חֵטְא עֵץ הַדַּעַת and הַבָּעַת פָּנִים
