Who Brings the Pure From the Impure and the Decree of the Heifer

The Red Heifer. "Who can bring a pure thing out of an impure? Not one" (Job 14:4). For example, Abraham from Terah, Hezekiah from Ahaz, Mordecai from Shimei, Israel from the nations, the World to Come from this world. Who did this? Who commanded this? Who decreed this? "Not one" [lo echad]: was it not the Only One [yechido] of the world? There we learned: a bright spot the size of a split bean is impure; if it spread over the whole body, it is pure. Who did this? Who commanded this? Who decreed this? Was it not the Only One of the world? There we learned: a woman whose child died within her womb, and the midwife reached in her hand and touched it, the midwife contracts seven-day impurity, while the woman remains pure until the child emerges. A corpse in a house: the house is pure; once it has left, it is impure. Who did this? Who commanded this? Who decreed this? "Not one": was it not the Only One of the world? And we learned there: all who are occupied with the heifer from beginning to end render their garments impure, yet it itself purifies the impure. Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, said: A statute I have engraved, a decree I have decreed, and you are not permitted to transgress My decree, "This is the statute of the Torah which the LORD commanded, saying" (Numbers 19:2).