“This is the statute of the Torah that the Lord commanded, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and they shall take to you an unflawed red heifer, in which there is no blemish, and upon which a yoke was not placed” (Numbers 19:2). “This is the statute of” – that is what the verse said: “Who can generate the pure from the impure? Is it not the One?” (Job 14:4), like Abraham from Teraḥ, Hezekiah from Aḥaz, Yoshiya from Amon, Mordekhai from Shimi, Israel from idolaters, the World to Come from this world.
Who did this? Who commanded this? Who decreed this? Is it not the One of the world?
There, we learned: If there is a bean-sized snow-white leprous mark on a person, he is impure. If it spread on all of him, he is pure. Who did this? Who commanded this?
Who decreed this? Is it not the One of the world? There, we learned: A woman whose fetus died in her womb and the midwife extended her hand and touched the fetus, the midwife is impure with seven-day impurity and the woman remains ritually pure until the offspring emerges.1Ḥullin 71a. As long as the corpse is in the house2The womb is referred to as “the house” of the fetus. the house is pure. When it emerges from within it, it is impure.3The mother becomes impure when the fetus comes out, because she touched it.
Who did this? Who commanded this? Who decreed this? Is it not the One of the world?
We learned there: Those dealing with the heifer, from beginning to end, impurify their garments,4Mishna Para 4:4. but it itself purifies garments. The Holy One Blessed be He said: ‘I instituted a statute, I issued a decree; you are not permitted to violate My decree.’