LEAD TIDBIT:
Pondering the Imponderable
The aspect of the Mitzva of Para Aduma and its potion that is used to purify one who is ritually defiled from contact with a dead body that is considered its most enigmatic feature is that it “Purifies the defiled and defiles the pure”. The author of the Sefer HaChinuch says that he has dared try to explain reasons for many mitzvot, but he throws his hands up in defeat when it comes to Para Aduma. This is the mitzva, he says, that Shlomo HaMelech was referring to when he said, “I said I’ll be wise, but it is distant from me”. This is the mitzva that G-d told Moshe that He would reveal its secrets and understanding to Moshe only, and not to anyone else.

Of the many aspects of the mitzva, the Chinuch says that it is the abovementioned seemingly paradoxical feature of Para Aduma that defies understanding and explanation.

Notwithstanding the implied warning of the Chinuch and other sources, we seem to have been exposed to a variety of bits and pieces in the explanation, understanding, insights, and analogy department, as far as Para Aduma is concerned. It’s almost as if the title of ZOT CHUKAT HATORAH serves as an invitation to try to understand, rather than being a warning sign not to try.

And, as long as we understand our human limits to understand things, it can be healthy to share the various insights gleaned through the length of the Chain of Tradition.

Here are two ideas to mull over:
There are some medications that do a wonderful job of curing one inflicted with a certain malady, but would make someone without that disease quite sick if the person took the medication. We know, for example, that the atropine injection that was included in our gas mask kits during the Gulf War, is highly dangerous for a normal person, but can save the life of one exposed to certain toxic agents. The potion of the ashes of the Para Aduma is used in the purifying process of a person who is T’MEI MEIT, but those who prepare the potion, collect the ashes, and perform some other tasks related to the Para Aduma, become TAMEI themselves. (The ritual impurity is not as severe as the 7-day defilement to a corpse, but the person does become one-day TAMEI.)

And this last parenthetical point, leads to the second idea to be shared.
A person who becomes Tamei other than from contact with a dead body, can see to his purification on his own. He goes to mikva and waits out the period of time of Tum’a. (Of course, when korbanot are required as part of a TAHARA process, others are needed to help the individual become TAHOR.) With T’MEI MEIT, other people are necessary for purification to be achieved. And some of those that help, become Tamei themselves. Ponder this: Sometimes, when you help someone out of a ditch, you are going to get dirty in the process. But you still are supposed to get involved. A Para Aduma message, perhaps?