In this week’s Torah portion, we read about the Red Heifer, a young, female cow that has never had a calf herself, that holds within her incredible powers to purify and wash away all that is dangerous to humanity. Put simply, the Red Heifer was ancient Israel’s version of Purell. According to the Torah, in order to unleash the Red Heifer’s purifying powers, she had to be sacrificed according to ritual law. After the sacrifice, her ashes were collected for they contained the true power of the Red Heifer: the ability to purify those who came in contact with a dead body. Death remains something that frightens us. Our ancestors took comfort in the fact that the Red Heifer could cleanse them from the taboo of death should they come in direct contact with it. They did not want to be tainted by the sickness or negative energy of an accident that…