You've heard of Red Herrings? Red China? Red Flags and Mad Cow Disease?
How about Red Cow Syndrome?
The principle is based on the mysterious nature of the Parah Adumah ceremony in our sedra. This elaborate ritual, using a totally red heifer, had the power to make the impure person ritually pure, yet at the same time render the Kohen who administered the ashes of the Red Cow impure himself.
Sounds contradictory? Nonsensical? Well, it happens all the time.
Take death... er, re-phrase that, please. Look at what happens vis-a-vis death. Some people will lose faith in G-d and fall into deep depression when experiencing the death of a loved one. Yet, others will come closer to HaShem, develop a greater sense of spirituality, even decide to live life more fully and energetically, knowing that this world is not ours to inhabit forever.
Or the current situation we face over the kidnapping of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit - may he be returned safely to us. Some will focus on the hopelessness of living so closely to despicable enemies like the Palestinians. But others, as a result of this crisis, will unite with other Jews to strengthen our common bond with each other. I saw this first-hand, as more than 300 members of our community - religious and secular, young and old - gathered this week in a spontaneous assembly to recite Psalms for Shalit's release.
Tragic situations can bring out the best -and the worst - in people. Case in point: When I lived in Dallas, I was very close with a certain congregant. He had been a US Navy urologist, had contracted MS and slowly became paralyzed and blind. If he ever left his bed, he had to be carried by attendants, who fed and bathed him. He lived in a house that he had never seen, not even once. There was no concept of day or night to him; his whole world was dark. His only physical ability was to use the phone - by blowing into a specially-made tube that dialed the numbers for him.
Many people were either too uncomfortable, too busy or too insensitive to reach out to the doctor, to sense his needs and to react to them. But there were other people who responded heroically to his condition and did all they could to bring some light into his life. These people included several nameless, faceless telephone operators - who came to the gathering we held for his Shloshim - who spent hours on end talking to him late at night; he called them because he simply had no one else to talk to. I called these righteous ladies the "Angels of the Airwaves".
RCS (Red Cow Syndrome) means that G-d is continually testing us, placing us in situations that define and refine our character: Will our test results read "pure" or "impure"?
How about Red Cow Syndrome?
The principle is based on the mysterious nature of the Parah Adumah ceremony in our sedra. This elaborate ritual, using a totally red heifer, had the power to make the impure person ritually pure, yet at the same time render the Kohen who administered the ashes of the Red Cow impure himself.
Sounds contradictory? Nonsensical? Well, it happens all the time.
Take death... er, re-phrase that, please. Look at what happens vis-a-vis death. Some people will lose faith in G-d and fall into deep depression when experiencing the death of a loved one. Yet, others will come closer to HaShem, develop a greater sense of spirituality, even decide to live life more fully and energetically, knowing that this world is not ours to inhabit forever.
Or the current situation we face over the kidnapping of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit - may he be returned safely to us. Some will focus on the hopelessness of living so closely to despicable enemies like the Palestinians. But others, as a result of this crisis, will unite with other Jews to strengthen our common bond with each other. I saw this first-hand, as more than 300 members of our community - religious and secular, young and old - gathered this week in a spontaneous assembly to recite Psalms for Shalit's release.
Tragic situations can bring out the best -and the worst - in people. Case in point: When I lived in Dallas, I was very close with a certain congregant. He had been a US Navy urologist, had contracted MS and slowly became paralyzed and blind. If he ever left his bed, he had to be carried by attendants, who fed and bathed him. He lived in a house that he had never seen, not even once. There was no concept of day or night to him; his whole world was dark. His only physical ability was to use the phone - by blowing into a specially-made tube that dialed the numbers for him.
Many people were either too uncomfortable, too busy or too insensitive to reach out to the doctor, to sense his needs and to react to them. But there were other people who responded heroically to his condition and did all they could to bring some light into his life. These people included several nameless, faceless telephone operators - who came to the gathering we held for his Shloshim - who spent hours on end talking to him late at night; he called them because he simply had no one else to talk to. I called these righteous ladies the "Angels of the Airwaves".
RCS (Red Cow Syndrome) means that G-d is continually testing us, placing us in situations that define and refine our character: Will our test results read "pure" or "impure"?