There is a popular misconception about the Parah Aduma (red heifer) that it makes the impure, pure, but also that it makes the pure, impure. This is actually true, and it is the reason that Shlomo HaMelech, the wisest of men, said, “I said to myself, ‘I will become wise,’ but it was beyond me.”
Indeed, the water mixed with the ashes of the Parah Aduma when sprinkled on an impure person made him pure, but one who carried or touched those waters when he was pure would become impure. So wherein lies the misconception?
The missing step is that though one who touched or carried the water with the ashes became impure, the pure person who sprinkled the water on the impure person did NOT become impure.
The logic is impeccable. When a person is involved in helping another, he gets Divine protection. This is alluded to by the fact that one who is busy purifying another remains so. Only when he is touching or moving the waters for his own reasons, or even preparing them for use, does he need to purify himself.
However, if he is actively involved in helping another, Hashem decrees that the waters have no negative effect on him.
NOW YOU KNOW!
The Gemara tells us that the furthest point in Israel from Yerushalayim was a distance of two weeks’ travel. If so, a resident there who was tamei (impure) would require a minimum of three weeks to arrive in Yerushalayim with sufficient time to go through the one-week process of the Parah Aduma purification enabling him to offer his Korban Pesach.
Therefore, Chazal ordained the reading of Parah on the week before the reading of Chodesh as a public reminder to those who are impure that they must immediately arrange to get to Yerushalayim so that they can purify themselves in time to bring the Korban Pesach.
