TOSEFES BERACHA: Parshas Chukas

במדבר פרק יט, ב: וְיִקְחּו אֵּלֶיָך פָּרָּה אֲדֻּמָּה תְמִ ימָּה

“You should take for yourself a red heifer…” (19; 2). It is not exactly clear what the word(s) “for yourself” mean. I found in the Yalkut here the following drasha: G-d said to Moshe, “to you I will reveal the reason of the red heifer, but for everyone else it will be a statute.”

Perhaps, we can explain this based on the Gemara (Brachot 9b) on the verse in Parshas Shemos, “G-d said to Moshe ‘I Will Be that I Will Be’... one suffering at a time is enough for them". The Yalkut here says that the initial verse about the red heifer hints at all the future exiles coming in later times. The word ‘heifer’ hints at Egypt; ‘red’ refers to Bavel; ‘pure’ refers to Madai; ‘that has no blemish’ refers to Greece; ‘that has never had a yoke on it’ refers to Nevuchadnezzar.

Therefore, He said to him, ‘only to you will I reveal the reason, but for them it must remain a statute’ – so that they, the Jewish people, will not be pained by the knowledge of the future exiles.