Chukas: The Parah Aduma, the Phoenix, and the Great Paradox of Life

By Zachary Fish

Based on this shiur by Shammai Siskind

Parshas Chukas opens with one of the Torah's most perplexing laws: the Parah Aduma. This law contains a well-known paradox: those who handle the ashes of the Parah Aduma become tamei, while those who are sprinkled with the ashes become tahor. How can this be?

There is a Medrash Rabbah (Parsha 19) that sounds like a fairy tale, but can help us understand this paradox. The Medrash explains that the Eitz Hadaas was visually appealing, tasted good, and promised to increase wisdom. However, eating from it introduced death into the world. Chava not only gave the fruit to Adam but also to every animal, causing death to become a universal fate for humans and animals alike.

Yet, there was one bird, known as the Chol, that did not eat from the Eitz Hadaas. The Medrash recounts that the Chol lives for a thousand years. At the end of its lifespan, fire emerges from its nest, burning it to ashes, from which it regenerates and lives again. This bird is akin to the mythical Phoenix.

This story seems backwards. How can eating from a tree that expands one's consciousness results in death, while a bird that self-immolates is reborn and lives forever. The Medrash teaches us a profound lesson that the inflation of the self leads to collapse, while self-nullification, or anava, allows for rejuvenation. Thus, the self's inflation brings about death, and self-nullification brings life.

To connect this to the Parah Aduma, we must first understand the concept of tumah itself. Why are corpses a source of tumah? Doesn't the death of a tzadik elevate them to a holier state? Another puzzling source of tumah is sifrei kodesh. Chazal decreed that touching sifrei kodesh renders one tamei. How can we understand this on a deeper level? The Maharal addresses these questions in a hesped included in his commentary Gur Aryeh on Bamidbar.

The Maharal explains there are two types of tumah. The first is the classical tumah from interacting with something lowly, which is the common understanding of tumah. The second, higher level of tumah, occurs when one tries to interact with something so lofty that any attempt to engage with it leaves one in a state of spiritual confusion—tumah. This happens when one interacts with a corpse. The Maharal explains that tumaharises because there can be no connection between the living and the dead. Attempting to connect with something fundamentally beyond oneself creates a distance, resulting in tumah.

This principle applies to the Parah Aduma as well. Handling the ashes of the Parah Aduma means trying to interact with and control something extraordinarily spiritual, creating a separation that results in tumah. However, like the Phoenix, one who can nullify themselves  and be sprinkled with the fully burnt ashes can become rejuvenated.

The imagery of the Phoenix is inspiring on both individual and national levels. Individually, it highlights the problems with haughtiness and the importance of true anavah, as the only way to experience true life.

The imagery becomes even more powerful on a national level. The Jewish people, like the Phoenix, are eternal. Despite being repeatedly brought to the brink of destruction, they always rise from the ashes even stronger. We should not be dismayed by periods of destruction but recognize them as integral to our eternal resilience. May we be zoche to see our great rejuvenation soon.