The Red Heifer: The Power of Prayer to Save from the Evil Eye

THE DAILY CHIZZUK BY MOREINU HARAV ELIEZER BERLAND SHLIT”A – THE SECRET OF THE RED HEIFER: NULLIFYING THE EVIL EYE

MONDAY, 24 ADAR 5785

These are his holy words:

IN LESSON 55 (LIKUTEY MOHARAN), THE REBBE EXPLAINS THE SECRET OF THE RED HEIFER.  “I WAS A GRAVEDIGGER.”  WHAT DOES THIS MEAN, “I WAS A GRAVEDIGGER”?

That I buried the evil eye!  The evil eye is death; it’s dust and ashes!

In one place in Lesson 55, it is written “gravedigger,” and in another place, it is written that “I fell into the eye of Absalom.”  I sank into an eye and almost drowned there.

What?  Did Absalom have such a big eye that it was possible to drown in it?

YES, BECAUSE HIS EYE IS THE MOST EVIL EYE IN THE WORLD!  HE WANTED TO KILL HIS FATHER!

Later, Rabbeinu also speaks about the evil eye, about Og, King of the Bashan, who wanted to kill his rabbi.  Here, Og was a disciple of Avraham Avinu.  Avraham circumcised him, and he wanted to kill Avraham.

So Rabbeinu is talking about how to practically nullify the evil eye, that someone has an evil eye and wants to kill the Tzaddikim, to kill David.

The Rebbe mentions in Lesson 55 “burning” and “gathering,” which are said regarding the heifer.  These are about one praying with “kavanah” (focused intention).  A person needs to tear himself to pieces in prayer, to detach himself from all thoughts.  The Rebbe says that the red heifer is prayer with kavanah, and through prayer with kavanah, a person becomes dust and ashes.

A person can pray Maariv in two minutes, Minchah in a half-minute.  One can finish the whole Passover Hagadah in two minutes.  How long is the Hagadah?  The entire Hagadah is two minutes.  We read the Hagadah in five hours.  We begin the Hagadah at eight in the evening and finish at twelve at night, because we need until two to finish.  You need to finish the meal and the Afikomen until Chatzot.

So the red heifer is the Tzaddik.  Therefore, [this mitzvah] is written only at the end of forty years, only next to Miriam [because Miriam’s death is recording immediately after the section about the red heifer].  Because Miriam was the true Tzaddik.  Miriam said to Amram, “You are worse than Pharaoh.”  She was five years old.  Besides that, she was the older sister [of Moshe and Aharon].  Therefore, she was shocked when Moshe “died.”  She fainted.  “Moshe died.  What do you mean that Moshe died?!  It’s all falsehood, lies!!”

Can Moshe die?  Can the Tzaddik die?  Even if they saw Moshe’s bier [because the Satan showed them his funeral in order to confuse them], Moshe isn’t dead!

They said, “Look at the bier!  Watch the funeral!” (Shabbat 89a).  It doesn’t matter!  We saw Yaakov’s funeral.  There was a funeral, he was embalmed for seventy days, but it is not written that Yaakov died.  It is written, “Vayigva” (he breathed his last breath).  It is written, “He breathed his last breath and was gathered to his people” (Bereishit 49:33).  It is not written, “Met” (died).  The Torah doesn’t say “Met”!

The Tzaddik doesn’t die.  He cannot die!  Not Avraham, not Yitzchak, not Yaakov, not Aharon.  Tzaddikim do not die!  Tzaddikim live and endure!!  This is what the Torah comes to teach with the red heifer.  Even though they learned about the red heifer immediately after leaving Egypt, on the second Shabbat, Shabbat Marah.  Afterwards, they learned about the heifer in Parashat Naso, when they built the Tabernacles on the 1st of Nisan.  Then, they learned about the red heifer and burned the heifer.

The Rambam writes that it is enough for one drop of living waters, spring water [mixed with the ashes of the red heifer] to touch the person being purified to fulfill his obligation.  The Kohen pours a drop of the ashes into living waters, and a 100,000 people are standing below, in front of him, in groups of ten, and he sprinkles in their direction.  If it [falls] on the lip, it’s still fine.  This is considered “external.”  However, if the drop touches the tongue, one doesn’t fulfill his obligation!

One drop is enough.  The one being purified needs to lift up his sleeve a tiny bit, and the drop touches him, and then he becomes pure.  The Kohen sprinkles on the congregation until the water in the barrel is used up.  He can sprinkle for ten years from one barrel, but he shouldn’t move the vessel behind him.  Rather, he must sprinkle only when it is in front of him, because it is forbidden to divert his attention from the vessel.  If he diverts his attention from the vessel, everything becomes impure.

So the Rambam says that it is enough for a single drop to touch an exposed area – on the neck, the arm, or the hand.

All of this, we learn here in Hilchot Parah Adumah.

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