Chasidut for Parah 1:1
רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר אוֹמֵר, עֶגְלָה, בַּת שְׁנָתָהּ. וּפָרָה, בַּת שְׁתַּיִם. וַחֲכָמִים אוֹמְרִים, עֶגְלָה, בַּת שְׁתַּיִם. וּפָרָה, בַּת שָׁלשׁ אוֹ בַת אַרְבַּע. רַבִּי מֵאִיר אוֹמֵר, אַף בַּת חָמֵשׁ. כְּשֵׁרָה הַזְּקֵנָה, אֶלָּא שֶׁאֵין מַמְתִּינִין לָהּ, שֶׁמָּא תַשְׁחִיר, שֶׁלֹּא תִפָּסֵל. אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, לֹא שָׁמַעְתִּי אֶלָּא שְׁלָשִׁית. אָמְרוּ לוֹ, מַה הַלָּשׁוֹן שְׁלָשִׁית. אָמַר לָהֶם, כָּךְ שָׁמַעְתִּי סְתָם. אָמַר בֶּן עַזַּאי, אֲנִי אֲפָרֵשׁ. אִם אוֹמֵר אַתָּה, שְׁלִישִׁית, לַאֲחֵרוֹת בְּמִנְיָן. וּכְשֶׁאַתָּה אוֹמֵר, שְׁלָשִׁית, בַּת שָׁלשׁ שָׁנִים. כַּיּוֹצֵא בוֹ אָמְרוּ, כֶּרֶם רְבָעִי. אָמְרוּ לוֹ, מַה הַלָּשׁוֹן רְבָעִי. אָמַר לָהֶם, כָּךְ שָׁמַעְתִּי סְתָם. אָמַר בֶּן עַזַּאי, אֲנִי אֲפָרֵשׁ. אִם אוֹמֵר אַתָּה, רְבִיעִי, לַאֲחֵרִים בְּמִנְיָן. וּכְשֶׁאַתָּה אוֹמֵר, רְבָעִי, בֶּן אַרְבַּע שָׁנִים. כַּיּוֹצֵא בוֹ אָמְרוּ, הָאוֹכֵל בְּבַיִת הַמְנֻגָּע פְּרָס, מִשָּׁלשׁ לְקָב. אָמְרוּ לוֹ, אֱמֹר מִשְּׁמֹנֶה עֶשְׂרֵה לִסְאָה. אָמַר לָהֶם, כָּךְ שָׁמַעְתִּי סְתָם. אָמַר בֶּן עַזַּאי, אֲנִי אֲפָרֵשׁ. אִם אוֹמֵר אַתָּה מִשָּׁלשׁ לְקָב, אֵין בּוֹ חַלָּה. וּכְשֶׁאַתָּה אוֹמֵר, מִשְּׁמֹנֶה עֶשְׂרֵה לִסְאָה, מִעֲטַתּוּ חַלָּתוֹ:
Rabbi Eliezer says: A calf [as referred to in the Torah] is a year old, and a cow is two years old. And the Sages say: a calf is two year old, and a cow is three or four. Rabbi Meir says: Even a five year old, an elderly one, is valid [for use in the purification ritual of the red heifer] but we don't wait for it [to age] lest it develop black hairs, so it does not become invalid. Rabbi Yehoshua says: I have only heard about a <i>shelashit</i> [i.e. three years old]. They said to him: What is the meaning of the language <i>shelashit</i>? He said to them: So I heard it, unelaborated. Ben Azzai said: I shall explain. If the language was <i>shelishit</i> [literally: third], then [it means] the third in number [i.e. the third calf born]; but since the language was <i>shelashit</i>, then [it means] three years old. They spoke similarly regarding a <i>rivaii</i> vineyard [a vineyard in its fourth year whose fruits are sanctified]. They said to him: What is the language of <i>rivaii</i>? He said to them: So I heard it, unelaborated. Ben Azzai said: I shall explain. If the language was <i>rivaii</i> [literally: fourth], then [it means] the fourth relative to others in number [i.e. the fourth vineyard which a man owns]; but since the language is <i>rivaii</i>, then [it means] four years old. Similarly they said: One [becomes impure] if he eats in a blighted house half a loaf, when there are three [loaves] to a kav [a certain volume of flour]. They said to him: [Instead] say 'when there are eighteen [loaves] to a se'ah'! [note: six kavs are equal to a se'ah.] He said to them: So I heard it, unelaborated. Ben Azzai said: I shall explain. If you say 'when there are three [loaves] to a kav,' that is without its challah [having been separated; challah is a portion of dough which must be removed from breads and given to a priest, but a loaf that small would not be obligated in challah]. But when you say 'when there are eighteen [loaves] to a se'ah', that is with its challah deducted.
Kedushat Levi
At that point G’d told Avram not to be afraid, אל תירא אברם, as he would continue to act as his shield, אנכי מגן לך. G’d reassured Avram that the fact that he was now serving Him by performing מצות, i.e. under the auspices of the יש instead of the auspices of the אין, that this was not a lowering of the standards that he was used to, but that on the contrary, he was in line for a great reward, שכרך הרבה מאד.
As long as the Torah had not yet been given, fulfilling the “commandments” while in Eretz Yisrael was quite different from nowadays when the Torah has been given, and fulfilling the parts of it that are capable of being fulfilled in the Diaspora, is deserving of recognition. When Avram served G’d outside the land of Israel, concentrating on the aspect known as מסירת נפש, wholehearted physical and mental devotion to the Lord, he thereby “repaired” the reputation of G’d amongst mankind, which had sustained considerable damage due to the sins of mankind which had apparently been ignored by the Creator, thus giving the impression that He either did not care or was unable to deal with.
Tanchuma 8 on Parshat Chukat, relates in the name of Rabbi Yossi bar Chaninah, that at the time when Moses ascended to the celestial regions He found G’d preoccupied with the details of the rules pertaining to the red heifer. He overheard G’d saying that the correct ruling concerning the age of the red heifer when it is to be burnt is according to “my son Rabbi Eliezer,” i.e. when it is one year old. Anyone reading this Midrash must surely ask how G’d had been able to say something like that, seeing that Rabbi Eliezer was born more than 1000 years after Moses died. We have a tradition that man is not programmed, can make his own decisions, so that it is impossible to foretell who will say what tomorrow, never mind 1000 years hence?
In answering this justified question, we must consider that the domain we called אין, the totally spiritual domains of the universe, included within it all the aspects of wisdom as something potential. While this potential had not yet assumed definitive proportions until someone possessed of both body and soul was able to formulate it, its very existence in “embryonic” form, so to speak, makes it possible for a human being when the time comes to draw upon this “wisdom” and make use of it in the material world of the יש. The example of the “red heifer” discussed in the Tanchuma is merely an illustration of the principle that nothing “new” or “original” is produced in the realm of the physical world, the world known as the יש in kabbalistic parlance, or “olam hazeh”, in what we are used to refer to when speaking of what goes on the planet we live on. The acquisition of such חכמה, wisdom, as is necessary to arrive at the conclusion that the red heifer must be two years old when it is to be burnt, is largely a matter of the will of the individual grappling with this halachic problem. The “freedom of choice,” as we call it, means that we are free to decide if we want to make the effort to acquire such wisdom or not. It is not withheld from anyone who truly labours to acquire it by willing it with all his being. While he was in the celestial regions, Moses heard that there would in due course be a scholar by the name of Rabbi Eliezer who would have attained that particular piece of wisdom enabling him to correctly rule on the problem that was under discussion in the heavenly spheres at that time. Ed.]
G’d has two options when dealing with man’s aspirations. He can either decide to grant man’s request in accordance with that person’s expressed wish, or He can decide to be guided by what the overall situation in His universe requires for its good at the time, [as frequently, if not most of the time, the desires of an individual do not correspond to, or coincide with what is in the best interests of the world as seen by its Creator.