The mysterious ceremony of the "Para Aduma," the Red Heifer, whose ashes mixed with water are able to purify one who came in contact with the dead, is the prototype "chok", a law not understandable by human intelligence. Even the wisest man that ever lived, King Shlomo, said, "I thought that I would become wise, but it remains far from me. What was is far away, deep, deep and who can find it (Kohelet 7:23-24)." The Midrash expands on this: I investigated and searched through the whole Torah, says, Shlomo, and found a reason for everything, until I got to the section of the Para Aduma. Then I said, 'I thought that I was wise, but it remains far from me. What was is far away. . . .'"

The expression, "What was is far away," needs explanation. A parable will help.

A man decided he wanted to go on a journey to the end of the world. He made all of his preparations, got a good carriage ready, got his assistant to join him, and set off. After a long day's trip they stopped off at an inn, and, along with the other guests at an inn, joined a conversation about everyone's travels. When he is asked, "Where are you travelling, near or far?" he replies, "My journey is a long, long one."

Let us take a close look at the traveler's reply. When he says his journey is a "long, long one," he really means that even though there is still a long journey before him, it is shorter than it was when the day began. For one who traveled a hundred miles during the day, his journey to the end of the world is hundred miles less than it was when the day began.

King Shlomo tells us that he wanted to travel to the end of the world - to understand even the deepest secrets of the Torah. "I thought I would become wise." The reason behind the Para Aduma still evades him, though, as he says, "It is still distant from me." However, one might have compared Shlomo Hamelekh's progress to that of the traveler in the parable. You might have thought that even though his goal is still distant, it is still not as far away as it was when he began his journey - he still made some headway into understanding the Para Aduma. Here they differ. Shlomo is still as far away from his goal as he was when he started investigating the Para Aduma. This is what he added by saying, "What was is far away." It is just as far away as it was when he began.

Often we say when learning about the reasons behind the mitzvot, "After all we have understood, we have only scratched the surface." With regards to understanding the Para Aduma, says the Dubno Maggid, we do not even scratch the surface.

[prepared by Eliezer Kwass]