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parah adumah

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Parasha Vayakhel-Pekudei | Shabbat Parah: Purified for Passover

Jewish men pray at the Western (Wailing) Wall in Jerusalem.

When Moses assembles the people together, he underscores the fact that the message he is conveying to them is not his own, but Adonai’s. That message includes a set of instructions for living a Godly lifestyle. The Israelites, who entered into covenant with the God of Israel to do what He commanded, were not expected to only listen to the message—they were expected to follow through with it, applying it to their owns lives, turning from their former ways. Likewise, we are not just to be hearers of the Word of God but also do what He has commanded us.

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The Jerusalem Temple, the Divine Call, and Baseless Hatred and Love

Model Second Temple.

In the 25th year of the Babylonian exile, Ezekiel (Yechezkal) prophesied that the Holy Temple would be rebuilt. And while chapters 40–48 of Ezekiel describe that Temple in great detail, when the Second Temple was built, it did not follow the specifications set forth by Ezekiel. Jewish commentators argue that Ezekiel’s Temple was not built because it was intended to be an everlasting edifice connected with everlasting redemption.

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Parasha Chukat (Statute or Decree): The Mystery of the Red Heifer

Heifer-Parah Adumah

Although chukim (ordinances) are laws that seem to have no rational explanation, and remain undecipherable to our limited human understanding, we can trust that God has good reason for instituting them. Just like children do not always understand why their parents lay down certain rules, we don’t always understand our Heavenly Father’s intentions or reasons.

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Parasha Chukat (Statute or Decree): Humble Origins, Grand Destinies, and Rash Vows

Torah-Sefer-Shabbat-yad

In today's Sedra (also called Parasha or weekly Torah portion), Moses is given the law of the Parah Adumah (Red Heifer), the ashes of which purify those who have sinned or become ritually impure (tamei) through contact with a dead body (tumat met). The Israelites also arrive in the wilderness of Zin, after journeying in the desert for 38 or 40 years (depending upon rabbinic interpretation). There, Moses strikes the rock to bring forth water for the thirsty Israelites, instead of speaking to the rock as God had commanded him.

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The Red Heifer and the Third Temple in End-Time Prophecy

Lubavitcher-Jews-Shabbat-Tefillin

Throughout almost 1900 years of exile, the Jewish people yearned to return to Israel, rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem and restore the Temple service. Three times a day, observant Jews pray, "May the Holy Temple be rebuilt speedily and in our day." Although Jewish people have always lived in the Holy Land, after the Holocaust the Jews began returning to Israel en masse. In 1948, the Jewish nation was prophetically reborn (Isaiah 66:7–8 ) as the State of Israel, and ever since Jews have been streaming back to the Land from all four corners of the earth.

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