The laws concerning the Red Heifer are considered the most strange and mysterious of all 613 Mitzvot. How can the same ashes of the Red Heifer purify one and defile the other simultaneously?

The Midrash explains with the following parable that the Red Heifer is a Tikun for the sin of the Golden Calf. "A maidservant in the king's palace on the day that she could not find a babysitter brought her child along, and the child soiled the palace with his excrement. The king said, 'Let the mother come and clean up her child's filth'."

This is the concept of atonement for the Golden Calf, for G-d said, "Let the Red Heifer which is the mother come and atone for the Golden Calf." The Midrash examines this concept of the Red Heifer and the Golden Calf and finds many striking parallels and connections as exemplified by the following 7 examples.

No. 1: Why must the Heifer be red? Scripture likens sin to the color red, because when a person sins he forfeits his blood. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be like red crimson, they shall be white as wool."(Yeshayahu 1:18). G-d says, "Since Israel sins are red, let the Heifer also be red, and when it is burned its' ashes are white."  Thus, the prophet assures us that G-d promises that our forgiven sins shall be white as snow.

No. 2: In order for the Red Heifer to be ritually fit, it must never have carried a yoke. This is an allusion to Israel who threw off the yoke of Heaven when they worshipped the Golden Calf.

No. 3: Why must the Heifer be given to Elazar, an assistant, and not to Aharon, the Kohen Gadol himself?  The answer is because Aharon built the Golden Calf, therefore it would not be proper for him to officiate at the ritual of the Red Heifer, a Tikun for the Golden Calf. The Talmud states the principle that, "The one who is a prosecutor cannot become a defense attorney."

No. 4: The Red Heifer is burned an allusion to the Golden Calf that was burned. "And he [Moshe] took the Calf, which they had made, and burned it in fire." (Shemot 32:20).

No. 5: The Red Heifer ritual uses 3 species, hyssop, cedar and scarlet wool which represent the 3,000 Jews who were executed for the sin of the Golden Calf. Why were these 3 species used? The cedar is the highest tree, and the hyssop is the lowest grass. Whoever is haughty, which is equal to the sin of idolatry, must become lowly like the worm from which the red dye is obtained for the scarlet wool. As King David stated, "I am a worm and not a man." (Tehillim 22:7). In order to gain atonement, a person must lower and humble himself.

No. 6: The Golden Calf rendered all those who participated in it impure, for idolatry causes impurity, as it says, "You shall cast idolatry away as an impure thing."(Yeshayahu 30:22). Thus, the Red Heifer, which is the Tikun for the Golden Calf,  renders all those who come into contact with it impure. 

No. 7: As Israel became pure when Moshe burned the Golden Calf, fire being the symbol of purging sins, so too Israel becomes pure through the burning of the Red Heifer.

The Midrash thus demonstrates that the purification, effected by the Red Heifer's ashes, is a Tikun for the sin of the Golden Calf by the parable, "Let the mother Cow come and clean up her child's filth."

If so, why is the Mitzvah of the Red Heifer called a CHOK? According to this Midrash, the mystery of the Red Heifer has been solved. It is simply a matter of rectifying the sin of the Golden Calf!

Why did King Solomon state regarding the Red Heifer, "I said,'I will acquire wisdom, but it [the Red Heifer] is beyond my understanding.' "(Kohelet 7:23).

Yes, even if we know that it is the secret mechanism of Teshuvah which powers the cleansing by these Red Heifer ashes, this power of Teshuvah is a mystery above and beyond our human comprehension.

How Teshuvah works, and why it works are the most mysterious G-dly secrets of all!