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© 2015 John D. Brey.

Midrash Tanchuma Bereishis, lists six things God took away from Adam when he sinned:

(1) The radiance of his face, (2) his height, (3) his [eternal] life, (4) the fruits of the lands, (5) he was driven out of the Garden of Eden, and (6) the [light of the] sun and moon [was diminished]. . . How do we know [that he took away his eternal life] life? For had he merited it, he would have lived eternally.

Jewish ritual-uncleanness represents those who have no right to enter back into the Garden of Eden (the temple), while Jewish ritual-purity implies that a person has been made ritually clean, and can in ritual, return to the Garden of Eden (enter into the temple). . . All sacrifices and offerings other than the Red Heifer are dependent on the purification provided by the red heifer that’s sacrificed outside the temple. All other sacrifices and offerings are subsets of parah adumah: they cannot exist without the sacrifice of the red heifer.

Unlike “actual” death, associated with life outside the Garden of Eden, Para Adumah is a “ritual.” Nine red cows have been ritually slaughtered and no human being save one has overcome death or re-entered the Garden of Eden. The sages say Messiah will provide himself the tenth (and final) red cow. Similarly, Abraham told Isaac that God will provide himself the lamb for the sacrifice.

Adam's sin brought on the problem of "death." So it's ironic that he might be named for the Red Cow that atones for (purifies from) death.

Does the Hebrew letter alef represent a cow? If so, Adam (א–דם) is named after the adumah (red) parah (cow). Which is to say if alef is a cow then since dalet-mem (dam) spells blood, A-dam (א–דם) is named after the place of his atonement. The blood red alef/cow (adumah parah) is the place of Adam's atonement (where he's purified from the death he generates). In the same sense that some are called "Christians" by reason of the fact that they fancy themselves born-again of Christ's blood, Adam, is named "red-cow" (or "cow blood") because he's born-again (after contracting death) from the blood of a red heifer:

8. OF THE GROUND (ADAMAH), R. Berekiah and R. Belbo in the name of Samuel the Elder said: He was created from the place of his atonement, as you read, An altar of earth (adamah) thou shalt make unto me (Ex. xx,21). The Holy One, blessed be He, said: `Behold I will create him from the place of his atonement, and may he endure!"

Midrash Rabbah, Bereshith XIV.8.

The "ground" (not "earth") is red. It's red with the blood of the sacrifice. Adam's name is all about the sacrifice, and not the place of the sacrifice. To say that Adam will be created from the place of his atonement is to imply that the blood which covers the ground will be part and parcel of Adam's creation. He's created from the ground mixed with the blood present on the ground from the service affected at the altar. Why else mention the altar, if not to point to the blood shed there? His name, alef-dalet-mem is constructed of a sacrificial animal, the alef, and the blood of that animal, dalet-mem. His name is all about the sacrifice, and not about the place of the sacrifice.

In the passage in Midrash Rabbah dealing with the red heifer, we're treated to a story about God taking council with the ministering angels about the creation of man:

You find that when the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to create man, He took council with the ministering angels. He said to them: "Let us make man in our image" (Gen. i. 26). Said they to him: "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him" (Ps. viii, 5)? He answered them: "The man whom I desire to create will possess wisdom that shall exceed yours." What did He do then? Assembling all the cattle, beasts, fowl, He made them pass before them, and asked them: " What are the names of these?" They did not know. When, however, He created man and, making them pass before him, asked him what the names of these were, he replied: "This should fittingly be called an ox; that, a lion; that, a horse; that, an ass; that, a camel, and that, an eagle"; as may be inferred from the text, And the man gave names to all cattle, etc. (Gen. ii. 20). God then asks him: "And you, what shall be your name?" He answered: "Adam." "Why?" "Because I have been created from the ground (adumah)." The Holy One, blessed be He, asked him: "And I, what is My name?" Said he: "Lord." "Why?" "Because though art the Lord over all created beings."

Midrash Rabbah, Numbers (Chukkath XIX, 3).

The English translation/transliteration distorts precisely what's taking place. Adam names the first animal alef (ox). God asks Adam about his (Adam’s) name? Adam responds with alef-dalet-mem (Adam). When God asks why? Adam responds that his own name is "Adam" because he’s been made from "adumah." He’s made from the blood of the alef! . . . When God asks him what God's name is, he respond with alef-dalet-nun (Adon). 

The angels query God concerning why he bothers with man. God tells them the man He desires to create will possess wisdom which will exceed theirs. He then shows them that Adam has the wisdom to understand the relationship between the Hebrew letters, and God's creative act. Though the angels can’t name the animals, Adam shows great wisdom by calling the first and foremost animal that God brings him "alef" (ox). Adam has just linked the first animal with God who is first of all things.

. . . After Adam names the animals, God gives him a harder test. He asks him what he will call himself? Adam answers immediately: Alef-dalet-mem. God didn't bother to ask Adam why he named the animals the way he did. But having observed Adam's wisdom in naming the "first" animal "alef" (ox), i.e., the first letter in the alphabet, and a symbol of God, he wants to show off Adam's great insight to the elect angels. After Adam names himself Alef-dalet-mem, God asks him why he named himself Alef-dalet-mem?

Adam responds, "Because I was created from alef-dalet-mem." He has been created from the blood, dalet mem, of the ox, alef, which in type is the blood of God. He's named Alef-dalet-mem because he’s created from God's blood (Gen. 9:6), from the alef's blood, the ox's blood.

We know this is being implied since in Midrash Rabbah, Genesis, we're told that Adam is created from the place of his atonement, the blood on the altar of earth. We're told elsewhere that God asks to have an altar created where He will dwell (Ex. 20:24), and that wherever an altar is erected, His name will be there: the name Adam inherits from Him: Alef-dalet-mem. The blood of the sacrificial alef: God's blood.

God's name/person is said to dwell at the sacrificial altar. Adam is created from the place of his atonement, the sacrificial altar. The sacrificial altar is the place where the blood of the ox/alef resides: the sacrificial altar is where the alef's blood, dalet-mem resides. The first man names himself "ox blood" because he realizes that he’s created in the very image, or blood, of the sacrificial ox (he’s created in God’s image).

The pièce de résistance of the midrash occurs right after Adam explains that he named himself "Adam" because he was formed from the blood of the ox on the altar (i.e. he was created from the place of his atonement). God cuts to the chase: The Holy One, blessed be He, asked him: "And I, what is My name?" Said he: "Adon." "Why?" "Because Thou art the Adon over all created beings."

Those who realize that this whole midrash is a play on Hebrew letters and words can't help but notice that rather than calling God "Adam," suggesting that the man is named after his Father, God, and Redeemer, Adam changes one letter so that instead of "Adam" Alef-dalet-mem, he names God "Adon" Alef-dalet-nun. . . Rather than calling God the blood of the ox, Adam calls him the "judge" of the ox. Which is to say that if the ox, or alef, represents the God who is first and foremost, then by changing the mem in Adam to a nun, Adam has just revealed that the one who created him is the "judge" dalet-nun (din), or left hand, of God.

In the mystical strains of Judaism, which were far more informative to the Rabbis who lived before the modern transformation of Judaism into a world religion, the left hand of God was called "Din" or Gevurah, and represented God's attribute of "judgment" or "wrath." [Rashi is shocked that this attribute is associated with the creation –or restoration—in Genesis chapter one.]

In the midrash in question, God informs the elect angels that the man He desires to create will possess wisdom which goes far beyond theirs. So what does Adam do with this angel-transcending wisdom? He brilliantly and secretly manipulates the letters and words of creation, the Hebrew alphabet, to covertly reveal to his fellow man, those who also possess a wisdom greater than the elect angels, that his, our, physical creator is the angel who actually "judged" the living God, slaughtered the ox, and spilled His blood on the altar.

This is to say that the very angel of wrath (din) who makes mankind's redemption necessary, by causing sin, effects mankind's redemption, when he draws the blood of the ox in total ignorance (lack of wisdom) of what the ox he's slaughtering represents. Which is to say that Adam and God (and the Rabbis) are making a fool of this particular angel in a brilliant word play which lays out both the condemning hubris of the angel, who expects Adam to confuse him with the living God, alef, and secondarily the condemning action stemming from this angelic hubris, slaughtering the ox who is the first and foremost of all things.

In this interpretation of the midrash, a conflict is set up between the blood of God (א–דם) and the judgment of God (א–דן). We know God is the judge of the world, but the Rabbis are setting up a contrast between "judgment" (Din) and "mercy" (Hesed). Which segues back into the question about the red heifer.

If, as is the case in the midrash, Adam's first (original) sin leads to death for the entire human race (Adam's progeny), then God's judgment against Adam's sin means death for every single member of Adam's progeny. And it seems like that would be the end of the story except that the bible seems to offset the judgment of God with the mercy of God, God will redeem us from his judgment of death, so that we will live again. The red heifer (parah adumah) is central to this, since it's the sacrifice which purifies from "death" as represented by a corpse.

Since God's justice is perfect and righteous, it can’t be overruled within the courts of the heavenly judges, represented by the terrestrial city Jerusalem ----with the Jerusalem temple representing the highest court, and the most holy place, the very throne or seat of God's judgment. Therefore, the red heifer must be brought outside the gates of heaven. Redemption from death must be purchased outside of the heavenly courts. The high priest officiates the death of the sacrifice, but, since he's outside his jurisdiction, he cannot execute the sacrifice personally. A surrogate must execute the sacrifice with the judge/priest nodding approvingly.

All other sacrifice appeases the justice of God within the courts of his righteousness and justice. All other sacrifices purify a person to live out this life under the good graces of the justice of God, his left hand (Din). But the red heifer is different. It takes the very power which makes God's left hand powerful, away from God's left hand. It takes this power away and places it in God's right hand, Hesed, mercy.

In the passage immediately preceding the one being discussing, the Rabbis contemplate the fact that according to Jewish tradition, even Solomon, the wisest in all of Israel, was unable to untangle the mystery of the "Statute of the Torah." After a brief play on the word "adam" in which they suggest that Solomon was the wisest of all "adam" (men), they segue into the surpassing wisdom of Adam, the first adam/man.

It’s in this highly charged context, concerning the unique wisdom of Adam, as it's related to the Gordian knot of a chok, the Statute of the Torah (Num. 19), that the Rabbis embark on this incredible play on the Hebrew letters. . . . In other words, the Rabbis have set the whole thing up as an opportunity to show that not only was Adam wiser than Solomon, in that he understood the meaning of the Statute of the Torah (Parah Adumah) . . . but, secretly, hidden in the sod beneath the layman's feet, beneath the literal interpretation, the Rabbis hide the fact that they too are wiser than Solomon, that they too intuit the meaning of the “Statute of the Torah."

Without going into the permutation of the letters, suffice it to say that the Rabbis end up with Adam telling God that he named himself "Adam" because he was created from the bloody earth of the altar, where the alef/ox was sacrificed (and thus he is alef-dam, ox blood), and that he named God "Adon" because he appreciates the relationship between God and the ox (alef) who will be sacrificed to appease the left-handed angel of death and judgment -- Din – dalet-nun (and thus God is alef-din, the ox whose sacrifice will appease the judgment, Din, of God).

This picture painted by the Rabbis does nothing to define the "Statute of the Torah" (the great chok of the chukkim) until the old script is compared to the modern script. Without the modern Hebrew script, the Rabbis narrative makes no sense in a discussion of the "Statute of the Torah"?

On the other hand, when the modern script is inserted into the mix, the "ox head" in the old script, i.e. the alef, is a vav, or man, surrounded by thorns, the yod (in the new script). The insertion of the modern script creates the impetus to think of a Jewish man/vav purportedly born of a closed-mem, so that he cannot possess the y chromosome that would make him "male" in the strict sense of the word, a Jewish vav, who is a virgin at the time when he's crowned with yod, herded outside the gates of Jerusalem, blood red from the tip of his head to the crimson flow running off his Jewish toe . . . dragged by the rope around his neck ----as though he were a dumb ass or ox, dragged outside the gates of Jerusalem, up to the Mount of Olives, sacrificed with hyssop and cedar, a ruddy beast . . . whose blood was later taught to sanctify not just from a corpse, but from death itself, from the very power of Din --- the dalet-nun ----- whose ligature he's sacrificed on, the very symbol of death, the very symbol and name of the angel of death, the dalet-nun-formed "tav," which in the old time religious script was a bloody cross.

In Midrash Tanchuma, Vayeira 2, we read:

After Avrohom was circumcised, the Holy One, Blessed Is He, revealed Himself, in His glory, to visit him, as it is stated, "Hashem appeared to him." Rabbi Yitzchok Napacha began [his lecture and expounded the verse]: "You shall make for Me an Altar of earth, etc," and it states [in the same verse], "Wherever I allow My Name to be mentioned I will come to you and bless you." The Holy One, Blessed Is He said, "If I reveal Myself to someone who sacrifices a burnt-offering or peace-offering, to bless him, all the more so [will I reveal Myself to] Avrohom, who sacrificed himself before Me!" Therefore it is stated, "Hashem appeared to him" (Parenthesis appears in translation cited).

The sages, based on the authority of Exodus 20:21, and Leviticus, 9:3-6, claim that God will appear wherever sacrifices are made on the altar. His "appearance" and his "name" are treated conterminously in these, and most other passages. Midrash Rabbah, Genesis, 14:8 says that Adam, " . . . was created from the place of his atonement, as you read, An altar of earth (adamah) thou shalt make unto me (Ex. xx, 21). The Holy One, blessed be He, said: `Behold, I will create him from the place of his atonement, and may he endure!'"

Since it's easy enough to establish that God's name, and his presence, are one and the same in these passages, and since Adam is said to be created in the image and likeness of God, it's not hard to establish that since God claims his name and his presence are manifest wherever a sacrifice is made on an altar, that God's name and his person are manifest when an alef, or ox, has its blood, dalet-mem, shed on an altar.

If the blood shed on the altar is an image of God, a likeness of his name and person, as all these passages and sages seem to imply, then we can rest assured that in Numbers Rabbah, Chukkath, where the sages combine all these principles to show that they understand the meaning of the parah adumah, they’re indeed laying out the meaning of parah adumah for those who can get under the sod beneath their feet.

The fact that all these things are quite simply shown to be part and parcel of the whole concept of Adam being created in the image and likeness of God, who (God) says that his image and likeness is revealed wherever sacrificial blood is spilled on an altar, showing that the switch from the ancient script to the modern script, although bizarre, has in fact been guided by Hashem, since once it’s established that God's image is related to the name of Adam, the alef's blood, blood sprinkled on the altar, it’s relatively obvious that since the modern alef is constructed of a vav, the sixth letter, representing man (who was created on the sixth day), and since this "man" (vav) is surrounded by thorns, the yod, in the modern script, it’s pretty certain that God is seen face-to-face, when what’s seen is a man surrounded by, crowned with, thorns, bleeding out his blood on the earth beneath him.

Since all the above can be established beyond a reasonable doubt, it's fairly safe to say that if Adam is created from the bloody earth of a sacrificial altar, as the sages claim, and if the bloody earth of the sacrificial altar is the place where God's image and likeness reside, as Exodus and Leviticus claim . . . then it doesn't take much of a leap of faith to believe that Adam names himself "Alef-dalet-mem" precisely because he’s created from the blood "dalet-mem" of the sacrificial ox, the "alef."

Without beating a dead quadruped it’s still true that not only is the scripture explicit in saying that God creates Adam in his own image and likeness, and that that image and likeness is found where blood is spilled on an earthen altar, but, the very "ground" Adam is said to be created from, is called "adamah" in the Hebrew, which is the same word used for "red" as in ground reddened by the sacrificial blood, and also the same word used for the "red" in "red heifer." 

And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

Exodus 20:22-24.

Take ye a kid of the goats for a sin offering; and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, without blemish, for a burnt offering;  Also a bullock and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord; and a meat offering mingled with oil: for to day the Lord will appear unto you. And they brought that which Moses commanded before the tabernacle of the congregation: and all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord. And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commanded that ye should do: and the glory of the Lord shall appear unto you.

Lev. 9:3-6.

In the Exodus passage it states that rather than fashioning God out of silver and gold like the heathen do, instead, make an altar of earth, and sacrifice there, and that's where God's name will dwell. The Leviticus passage adds that the glory of the Lord, His presence, will appear at the same place, the altar of earth tinted red (adamah) with the blood of the sacrifice. The implication is undeniable that when the blood is mixed with the earthen altar, God's image and likeness will dwell there.

There can be little doubt that when in Numbers Rabbah, Chukat, the sages speak about Adam naming himself as he does, they're taking these two passages into account. . .  They're no doubt aware that the letters of Adam's name speak of alef-dam, but also the word "red," so that the dust of the earth, is made the Adamic soil of Adam's body when the dust of the ground is mingled with the breath of life, which the sages oddly enough equate with "blood," such that the ground turns red, adamah, and becomes Adam, a living soul.

THE BREATH OF LIFE. It has five names: nefesh,neshamah, hayyah, ruah, yehidah. Nefesh is the blood: For the blood is the nefesh -- E.V. "life" (Deut. XII, 23).

In this passage of Midrash Rabbah, immediately after noting that Adam is created from the place of his atonement, the earthen altar of sacrifice, the sages note that the "breath of life" nefesh, mixed with the dust of the earth to create Adam, is the "breath of blood," since nefesh, life, is blood. Adam is made a living soul when the altar of sacrifice, made of the dust of the earth, is combined with the breath of blood, the breath of nefesh, so that he becomes a living soul.

This is pretty heady stuff since it's set in the context of a discussion of the red heifer, which is the foundation upon which all the Torah rests. Which is to say that if Parah Adumah is the foundation of the Torah, then how ironic is it that in a discussion of Parah Adumah, Adam names God Alef-dalet-nun, since, if the modern tav is a ligature constructed of a dalet and a nun, then Adam names God Alef-tav, which represents the entire Hebrew alphabet, and also the entire Torah (according to the sages, alef-tav signifies the entire Torah).

. . . More than that, not only does this interpretation satisfy the Jewish sages and all the various points of Hebrew exegesis which they’re familiar with, but since there's no contesting the fact that the tav, which is now constructed of a dalet and a nun, was once represented by a cross, there’s the peculiar situation that by naming God Alef-dalet-nun, Alef-tav, Adam is calling God the ox sacrificed (or "judged," dalet-nun) on the cross (the tav), or better yet, since the modern alef is a vav surrounded by thorns, we have Adam naming God, the man (vav) sacrificed with a crown of thorns (the two yod surrounding the vav) on a cross (the ancient tav). . . This is actually the same as saying that the central letter of the Torah, which ironically happens to be a vav (the sages say a vav is the central letter in the Torah text), is the central character of the Torah, the vav/man, surrounded by thorns/yod, the alef, sacrificed on the cross, the tav, so that he can create mankind and share his blood with them, which blood is a living stream (alef-dalet) springing up into the womb (mem) of eternal life.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

John 6:53-57.