Bamidbar 19: Seeing Red

YINR 929: Tanach Yomi · Mar 8, 2026 · 4m

“This is a chok that God has commanded: Instruct the Israelite people to bring you a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid.” (verse 1 — זֹאת חֻקַּת ה' אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה ה' לֵאמֹר דַּבֵּר אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִקְחוּ אֵלֶיךָ פָרָה אֲדֻמָּה תְּמִימָה אֲשֶׁר אֵין־בָּהּ מוּם אֲשֶׁר לֹא־עָלָה עָלֶיהָ עֹל).

The rabbis instituted extraordinary safeguards to ensure absolute purity in the parah adumah ritual, including raising children from birth in specially built courtyards over hollowed rock to prevent any possibility of tum’at met (impurity from a…