The Pshat Heard 'Round the World

This is the week where forty years passes in the blink of an eye. One minute we’ve been speaking of the rebellion of Korach – a rebellion which takes place not long after the investiture of the Levi’im, at Mt. Sinai – and the next thing we know, Miriam has passed away in the fortieth year of wandering. One generation is replacing its predecessor, and no one will be spared – including the other siblings, Aharon and Miriam. The demise of both is announced in this week’s parashah, Parah, in the wake of the incident at Mei Merivah. A sin at once so heinous that it brings on the death of the holiest of Am Yisrael, and on the other hand, is considered a sin of significance only for someone on the level of Moshe – but what is it? The Torah is silent. It is true that in several places the sin is referred to, but in each case, it is referred to in general terms: You did not sanctify Me before the people, you violated My instructions, etc. What, precisely, is it that they did? ...

Parashah Hukkat is somewhat of a Parah-dox (you knew it was coming, didn't you?). On one hand, it opens with the commandment to prepared the ashes of a perfectly Red Heifer (the name, spelled "redheffer", of my first-year calculus professor, I kid you not) for purposes of purifying anyone from the impurity conveyed through touching or certain types of proximity to a dead body. This passage is said to have been taught already back in Sefer Shmot, at Marah (Chap. 15), before coming to Mt. Sinai . At the very least, it must have been taught before the Mishkan was put into operational mode, and so, although placed here, it really belongs much early in the sequence of events. On the other hand, most of the Parashah deals with events that take place in the fortieth and final year of the desert trek. Commenting on the first verse of chapter 20 (the first verse after the passage dealing with the Parah ritual), which reads, "The people of Israel came, all of the assembl...