ערלה א

But the Red Heifer is a still greater novelty — for all her actions are outside. All sacrifices come within, into the Temple where the illumination of the Countenance shines — and through this comes the essential rectification. But the Red Heifer's actions are outside: they merely look from afar at the Temple, for they slaughter her opposite the entrance of the Temple. For through the act of the Red Heifer, an intellect far higher and deeper is drawn — impossible to receive within ordinary consciousness, one that must illumine from afar — for this draws the light that reaches even those most completely outside the Temple of holiness. And this is the wondrous novelty of the Red Heifer — that even those who have contracted the most severe impurity, the impurity of the dead, can be purified through this most elevated and concealed light.

And this is the dimension of what is said in Parshas Parah: "this is the Torah: a man who dies in a tent" [Numbers 19:14]. And our Rabbis of blessed memory expounded: the Torah is only sustained by one who kills himself over it. And this is "who dies in a tent" — specifically "in a tent." This is the dimension of one who kills himself and gives his life so that he may remain in the tent of Torah — which is the tent of the true Tzaddik — in the dimension of: "but Yehoshua bin Nun, a youth, would not depart from within the tent" [Exodus 33:11]. For the essential way to draw the highest levels of divine intellect — the dimension of the Red Heifer — is through complete self-nullification and total devotion: "killing oneself" for the Torah, for the tzaddik, for the dimension of the divine Countenance. Only through this ultimate devotion can one draw the fiftieth gate — the most concealed illumination — and be purified even from the impurity of the dead.

And afterwards comes Parshas HaChodesh — which is the sanctification of the new month — the rectification and filling of the moon's blemish so that the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun. For the sun and moon are the dimension of the higher intellect and lower intellect mentioned above, as is known. And through the blemish of the moon, the intellect mentioned above is blemished and one cannot attain the perception of His divinity. And from there come all the blemishes — and through the commandment of sanctifying the new month, these blemishes are repaired and the moonlight is restored to its fullness. For Kiddush HaChodesh is the dimension of the Tzaddik who draws the highest light of the fiftieth gate to repair the blemish of the moon and restore the perfection of the Oral Torah, the dimension of the moon, the dimension of the lower Wisdom that receives from the higher.

And this is the dimension of the cedar-wood, hyssop, and crimson thread [shni tolaas] that are thrown into the burning of the Red Heifer. Cedar and hyssop are the dimension of the higher and lower intellect — for the cedar is the tallest of all trees, this being the dimension of the higher intellect, which is the dimension of the great Tzaddik's perception. For the Tzaddik is called "the cedar that is in Lebanon, etc." — "the righteous one shall flourish like the date-palm, grow tall like the cedar of Lebanon" [Psalms 92:13]. And hyssop is very low — this is the dimension of the small and very humble, whom the Tzaddik, through the immense depth of his great wisdom, contracts his intellect from the higher intellect to the lower intellect until he introduces into them as well the perception of Godliness — which is the essence of true life, eternal life of the World to Come and the resurrection of the dead — and from there one draws the essential purification from the Sitra di-Mosa [side of death], as mentioned above.