בס”ד

Parashat Chukat
The Rambam, while explaining the laws of the Red Heifer, introduces two fundamental changes in comparison to the source from where he learns the laws. By explaining the meaning of these two changes we discover a new law regarding the way we should be expecting Mashiach.
Based on Likkutei Sichot, vol. 28, p.131

The Rambam, the Red Heifer, and How We Learn to Wait for Moshiach

This week’s Torah readings include Chukat and Balak. Chukat opens with the laws of the red heifer (parah adumah), one of the most mysterious commandments in the Torah. Beyond the technical details of these laws, there is a profound teaching brought by the Rambam that opens a deeper window into how we understand redemption, exile, and the way we are meant to await Moshiach.

The Rambam and the Red Heifers in History

The Rambam explains, based on earlier sources, that throughout Jewish history there were nine red heifers prepared for purification purposes. The first was prepared by Moshe Rabbeinu in the wilderness. Another was prepared by Ezra the Kohen after the return from the Babylonian exile and the rebuilding of the Second Temple. Several others were prepared up until the destruction of the Second Temple.

The Rambam adds two striking points that are not explicitly found in the earlier Mishnah source:

  1. The tenth red heifer will be prepared by Moshiach himself.
  2. After mentioning this, the Rambam adds a prayer: that Moshiach should be revealed speedily in our days, and that it should be G-d’s will.

This raises an immediate question. The Rambam is known for his extreme precision and legal clarity. His work, the Mishneh Torah, is a book of law—not a book of prayers or personal expressions. Why, then, does he insert a prayer here at all? And even more puzzling: why here, in the laws of the red heifer, and not in the section where he discusses the laws of Moshiach?

A Structural Shift in the Rambam’s Teaching

To understand this, we need to notice a subtle but important shift between the Mishnah and the Rambam.

In the Mishnah, the discussion of the red heifer appears in the context of how the ashes were used to purify those who became ritually impure. As part of that discussion, the Mishnah lists how many red heifers existed throughout history.

The Rambam, however, places the historical listing of the red heifers in a different context. He is not focusing on the ritual of sprinkling purification water on the priests. Instead, he focuses on a different law: the requirement to preserve and store the ashes of the red heifer.

He explains that these ashes were not only used immediately, but were also carefully stored in three different locations for ongoing use:

From here, the Rambam derives a broader principle: there is a continuous mitzvah to preserve the ashes of the red heifer at all times.

Once this framework is established, he lists the nine red heifers of history to demonstrate that this commandment of preservation was consistently fulfilled throughout the generations.

Why Mention Moshiach Here?

Now we can understand why the Rambam adds that the tenth red heifer will be prepared by Moshiach. Since he is discussing a continuous historical and future obligation—something that spans from Moshe to the future redemption—it naturally includes the final stage of that process: the era of Moshiach.

But this still does not explain the prayer.

A Hidden Law: How to Wait for Redemption

The key insight is that the Rambam is not only teaching us about ritual law. He is also teaching us about a spiritual law: how a Jew is meant to wait for redemption.

Just as there is a constant requirement to preserve the ashes of the red heifer, there is also a constant requirement to “preserve” awareness of redemption—to keep it alive in our consciousness at all times.

Every time the subject of Moshiach is mentioned, it should awaken within a person a renewed longing: that it should happen quickly and in our days.

This is why the Rambam places a prayer here. It is not a personal expression, and it is not misplaced. It is itself part of the law. It teaches that anticipation of Moshiach is not passive belief—it is an active, ongoing state of yearning.

Why Here, in the Laws of Purity?

There is an even deeper reason why this teaching appears specifically in the laws of the red heifer, which deals with purification from contact with death.

Impurity from death represents spiritual exile—the concealment of divine life and presence in the world. Redemption, by contrast, is the revelation of that divine life.

Therefore, the process of purification from death becomes the perfect metaphor for exile and redemption. Just as a person must be purified from impurity caused by death, so too we are meant to be purified from the spiritual “distance” of exile.

The Core Message

The Rambam is teaching a powerful idea:

Waiting for Moshiach is not an occasional feeling reserved for special prayers or moments. It is meant to be constant, like the ongoing preservation of the ashes of the red heifer.

Even when discussing technical laws, the awareness of redemption must remain alive. It should surface naturally, repeatedly, and sincerely: a longing that it should happen “speedily in our days,” and that it should be G-d’s will.

In this way, the laws themselves become not only instructions for ritual practice, but also a guide for how to live in a state of ongoing hope, readiness, and expectation for redemption.

Good Shabbos.

Talk from Rabbi Tuvia Serber


The above is a representation of the spoken text converted to written text.

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