Yoma 43 - A checkerboard of logic

The laws of red heifer include multiple double exclusions, where one phrase excludes something, while the next one excludes part of the exclusion and, thus, includes a new law. For example, when the Torah said, "And you shall give it (the heifer) to Elazar the Kohen," this means that only "it" - the heifer in the time of Moses - is given to Elazar, but subsequent cows need not be given to Elazar (who was deputy High Priest). Rather, the service is done by the High Priest himself. Others say that rather it means that the cow is given to a regular Kohen.

It is easy to understand those who claim that "not Elazar" means a regular Kohen. But how can it be "not Elazar but the High Priest himself?" What is the logic here? - It is based on the same word "the law" used both in the description of Yom Kippur, where all the service is done by the High Priest and in the description of the service of the red heifer.

The Talmud goes through the subsequent fifteen phrases of the red heifer service, showing the exclusions and multiple opinions. When Rabbi Yochanan and Resh Lakish studied this area of law, they could never come up with a consistent set of rules, but sometimes the next phrase would negate the previous, and sometimes not. Thus, they said that they were like foxes in a grain field, which can only take away the dust on its feet.

Art: Watering cows by Willem Roefols

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