Sources and Reasoning :
“You shall give it to Elazar the kohen; he shall take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him” (Bamidbar 19:3).
On this verse, Rashi writes in explanation that specifically Elazar the kohen was to take it outside the camp and slaughter it, since its mitzvah is performed by the deputy Kohen Gadol.
On the other hand, Rashi on verse 19 there writes as follows:
“And he shall place it outside the camp”—he divided it into three portions: one was placed on the Mount of Anointing, one was distributed among all the watches, and one was placed in the Cheil. The portion for the watches was outside the Azarah, for the townspeople and all those who needed purification to take from it. From the portion on the Mount of Anointing, the Kohanim Gedolim who prepared other Red Heifers would sanctify themselves; and the portion in the Cheil was kept under guard by Scriptural decree, as it is stated: “And it shall be for the congregation of the Children of Israel as a safeguarding.”
Rashi’s words seemingly indicate that the Kohanim Gedolim, rather than the deputy Kohen Gadol, were involved in the mitzvah of the Red Heifer, and this appears to be a contradiction in Rashi’s words.
To resolve this difficulty, the Bartenura wrote in his commentary on Rashi as follows:
“And he shall place it outside the camp”—he divided it into three portions, etc., until: “the Kohanim Gedolim who prepare other Red Heifers sanctify themselves from it.” This means that when they wished to prepare the Red Heifer, they observed many extra safeguards concerning its purity, as stated in Masechet Parah. One of them was that the kohanim involved in it would sanctify themselves with the ashes of the previous Red Heifer, even though they did not require this, as stated there.
Although Rashi wrote above that its mitzvah is performed by the deputy Kohen Gadol, and here he wrote, “the Kohanim Gedolim who prepare other Red Heifers,” which indicates that the Kohanim Gedolim were involved in it, it may be said that this applies only to Moshe’s Red Heifer, whose mitzvah was performed by the deputy Kohen Gadol. Its service was not given to Aharon the Kohen Gadol because of the sin of the Golden Calf, as Rashi explains shortly thereafter. However, the Kohanim Gedolim were involved in the other Red Heifers.
There are versions in which “Gedolim” is not written; rather, they read “kohanim who prepare other Red Heifers.” Those versions maintain that all Red Heifers, like Moshe’s Red Heifer in the wilderness, have their mitzvah performed by the deputy Kohen Gadol. End quote.
The Bartenura’s words present two approaches to resolving the difficulty. In the first approach, he resolves it according to our version of Rashi, distinguishing between the Red Heifer in the time of Moshe Rabbeinu and the Red Heifers of subsequent generations, whose mitzvah was performed by the Kohanim Gedolim.
In the second approach, he resolves it based on other versions that do not state “Kohanim Gedolim,” but rather “kohanim who prepare other Red Heifers.” This may refer to the deputy Kohen Gadol rather than to the Kohanim Gedolim. The reason that the other Red Heifers differed from the Red Heifer in the time of Moshe Rabbeinu is that the Torah objected only to Aharon’s involvement in the Red Heifer because of the accusation arising from the sin of the Golden Calf, but not to other Kohanim Gedolim.
This response was translated automatically from Hebrew and has not yet been reviewed by a person. Therefore, it may contain inaccuracies and should not be considered a definitive reference.
