The Circle of Life: The Red Heifer

One of the enigmas that's received the most attention regarding the red heifer is the fact that its ashes purify those who are impure, whilst impurifying those who are pure. 

I've heard some say that herein there is an important lesson in kiruv, bringing Jews closer to Hashem; sometimes, to help a fellow Jew, you have to sink temporarily to a lower level so that you can bring him closer. 

I don't think that that's the message here. 

It would seem, on an overly simplistic level, that the very essence of the red heifer is to teach us about the circle of life. That what's impure can become pure, and vice versa. That given that life is temporal - "From dust you have come and to dust you will return" - it is still part of an eternal cycle. Though man may have sinned and his life has tragically become truncated, at the same time, even on an ecological level, life is reborn. Bodies disintegrate and become new life. Metaphorically, that is true all the more so. When a loved one passes away, as tragic as it may be, Hashem always shows us the way to recreate our own lives so we can move and incorporate the void that has been created.  

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