The Heifer Did It?

Deuteronomy 21:1-9

The unexplained murder... and who is to blame...
The ritual explained in this passage is difficult at best - and no reason is stated in the Torah. It was noted that the Gentiles have mocked the Jews about this ritual.

"If… a corpse is found lying in the open, the identity of the slayer not being known, your elders and magistrates shall go out and measure the distances from the corpse to the nearby towns. The elders of the town nearest to the corpse shall then take a heifer which has never been worked, which has never pulled in a yoke; and the elders of that town shall bring the heifer down to an overflowing wadi, which is not tilled or sown. There, in the wadi, they shall break the heifer's neck. …Then the elders of the town nearest to the corpse shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi. And they shall make this declaration: Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done." (Deuteronomy 21:1-4, 6-7)


Absolution from guilt? - Why should they feel guilty if they are not responsible?

An interesting commentary on this at My Jewish Learning

here is part of that commentary summarized:
How Can We Focus on Long-term Solutions?

Rabbinic commentary on a strange passage in Deuteronomy may provide some direction.

"How can a society deal with unexplained death? In our society, we make a tremendous effort to find the guilty party. But in Biblical society, the response was different. Although the elders proclaim that they "did not shed this blood," it is clear that the community felt some guilt; otherwise, why would there be such an elaborate ritual for expiating the sin?

The Mishnah explains the nature of the community's guilt: Rather than escape from responsibility or blaming the death on someone else, the elders of the town are commanded to acknowledge their own share of the guilt through their own acts of omission.

According to the Mishnah's reading of Deuteronomy, the elders took responsibility, but in truth, Deuteronomy has the elders claiming their innocence.

Occasionally, we need to focus on the horrific consequences of indifference and inaction. The bizarre ritual served the ancient world as the mass media does today. By highlighting a particular tragedy, society is sometimes spurred to action.

The Talmud also relates, however, that when murders increased, the ritual of the beheaded heifer ceased. "




There is another reference to Heifers in relation to dead people. In Book of Numbers(19:2): "Speak unto the Children of Israel that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke" This was used in a similar ritual to purify a person who has become ritually contaminated by contact with a corpse.


I hope that the connection is mentioned in the next Torah study...