[Avodah] Parshas Para

[Cantor Wolberg]

Simon Montagu asks a very good question:

I was going to say that in all these cases we read the pesukim  
themselves
from the Sefer Torah during the annual cycle.

But this prompts the inverse question: why do we need Parshat Zachor? We
read the same pesukim every year in Parashat Ki Tetze, why aren't we  
yotzei
from that?

IMHO chazal have extrapolated through majority interpretation that  
certain
pesukim require reinforcement, so to speak. We're back to eilu v'eilu.  
Just
because we don't understand certain takanot does not mean that it  
doesn't
make sense. Remember, too, that there still is a machlokes amongst the  
Poskim
whether the reading of Parshas Parah is a Torah obligation. So we're  
not the
only ones with these same questions and concerns.

To give a more scholarly answer:
When the Beis Hamikdosh stood in Yerushalayim, every Jew had to be in  
a state of tahora
in time for the bringing of the KP. Today, though, since we're unable  
to fulfill the Temple-related
rituals in practice, we fulfill them spiritually by studying their  
dinim in the Torah.
Thus, we study and read the section of Parah in preparation for the  
upcoming
festival of Pesach. This is probably why Parah was legislated a  
special Shabbos.

I remember as a kid I could never understand how when everyone
smoked on Yom Tov, someone would go over to someone else who was already
smoking (after shul) and take his cigarette and light it from the  
already lit cigarette.
This person couldn't care less if the first person was m'chalel yom  
tov by having
struck a match first. Even though this seemed hyprocritical, it was  
halachically
o.k.

I realize this is not relevant to the question at hand, but free  
association took over.

Shabbat shalom. Don't forget: Pashas Para tomorrow.

ri
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