Positive Mitzvah 108: The Purifying Water
Numbers 19:21 "And he that touches the water of sprinkling (purification water), shall be unclean"

A person purifying himself after contact with a dead body must follow certain procedures. One step of his purification process involves Niddah Water.

This is a mixture of natural spring water, combined with the ashes of the Parah Adumah - the red heifer (cow). (See Positive Mitzvah 113).

This water possesses special qualities and when used properly, it can purify. However, it could cause the opposite effect on a person who touches the water for other purposes.

Imagine yourself sitting around a bonfire, enjoying the warmth, pleasant glow and atmosphere. Those same flames which cause so much pleasure, can also burn and destroy if one is careless.

Similarly, this purifying water can cause a person who misuses them to become impure.

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No man can claim to have reached the ultimate truth as long as there is another who has not.

Ultimate truth is an unlimited light -- and if it is unlimited, how could it shine in one person's realm and not in another's?

From: Bringing Heaven Down to Earth by Tzvi Freeman - tzvif@aol.com