Our Rabbi's teach that a dead Jewish body is considered the father of fathers of all impurities. As the upper aspects of the soul exit the body – the latter becomes inhabited by the negative force ס״מ and his associates. It is crucial to appreciate that death is mystically associated with גבורות or spiritual judgment and severities.
When someone is exclusively attached to this pathway, he subjects and exposes himself to extreme negative forces. Severities are associated with selfishness and harshness. If not tempered they ultimately attract even negative forces associated with the מלאך המוות. Armed with this reality, we can begin to understand the process of Tikun associated with the פרה אדמה – It will take a total of seven days for this type of impurity to be cleansed from one who is טמא מת. Inherent in the death impurity are the harsh severities that need to be rectified.
Third and Seventh Day
The Torah teaches that it is pertinent for the waters to be sprinkled on the one who had been rendered impure by contact with death – on the third and seventh days. These represent spiritual stages that are opportune for the infected to be cleansed. We can compare this to the Torah itself which was and will be revealed as a purifying agent for this impure world.
Our Sages teach that the Torah was initially introduced into the world at the start of the Third Millennium. It will be completely revealed at the start of the Seventh Millennium. This of course is related to the third and seventh days in the purging from death impurity. In addition, these stages of day 3 and day 7 – also parallel the reduction of the power of death. As the Talmud (MK 27) and halakhic code (YD 380) teach concerning the days of mourning Shiva – that the first three are related to crying while the seven are strictly for lamenting. These represent the loosening of the force associated with death.
A Divine Decree
A non-Jew inquired of R. Yohanan Ben Zaccai regarding the efficacy of the ashes of the פרה אדמה. The Rabbi told him that one who is defiled by a corpse is possessed by a spirit of impurity. The sprinkling of the ashes mixed with the water removes it. His students approached him and asked “Now that you have pushed aside the non-Jew, what answer can you give us?”
He responded – The purifying power of the red cow is a decree of the holy one – a גזרת המקום – as it says חקה חקקתי גזרה גזרתי – I have issued an ordinance and enacted a decree. To this the Shelah writes that according to ספר יצירה – the totality of commandments reveals that they are divided into four categories. The upper two are referred to as חק and גזרה respectively.
To comprehend legislation in these categories, one must be of a very exalted nature. The real reason only exists in dimensions or regions beyond standard perception. On an exalted level – all laws are the same as Moshe taught (Dev 4:5) – I have taught you statutes and social laws. Namely, that all Torah and rabbinic laws reflect the spiritual rules or pathways in the regions above.
We can now understand R. Yohanan Ben Zaccai response to his students – that in truth all laws are גזרת המקום. The word גזרה should not be read as decree, but rather as "sections or pieces of the divine." The word גזר is used this way in Bereishit 15:17 as "A covenant between the pieces" and similarly in Tehillim 136:13. Namely that the Divine rules pass through or exist between the pieces or the divine – human soul.
The message to his students and ourselves is that the ordinances are all a reflection of the necessary tikun of the soul of man, which is nothing more or less than a גזרה המקום, a section or piece of the Divine.
