## Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat

###### Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat 5:1
[Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat 5:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma/s/Chukat/r/5:1)

**רַבִּי** חַנִּין בֶּן פָּזִי פָּתַח קְרָא בְּפָרָשַׁת פָּרָה, שֶׁיֵּשׁ בָּהּ מִשִּׁבְעָה שִׁבְעָה. שֶׁבַע פָּרוֹת, שִׁבְעָה שְׂרֵפוֹת, שִׁבְעָה הַזָּאוֹת, שִׁבְעָה כִּבּוּסִין, שִׁבְעָה טְמֵאִין, שִׁבְעָה טְהוֹרִין, שִׁבְעָה כֹּהֲנִים. אִם יֹאמַר לְךָ אָדָם, חֲסֵרִים הֵן. אֱמֹר לוֹ: מֹשֶׁה בִּכְלָל הָיָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: וַיְדַבֵּר ה' אֶל מֹשֶׁה וְאֶל אַהֲרֹן זֹאת חֻקַּת הַתּוֹרָה.

**Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu, trans. Samuel A. Berman:**
R. Hanan bar Pazzi opened [his discourse] with the verse in [the context of] the *parashah* of the [red] heifer, which contains seven [references to] seven things:⁵⁷ 4:2; *PR* 14:6. seven [references to] heifers,⁵⁸ 14:6, n. 21, following n. 31 in the Friedmann edition, notes that the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan does contain seven mentions of the heifer, with the extra references in vss. 7 9. Braude and Kapstein in their translation of *PRK* 4:2, n. 31, allude to the tradition of only seven red heifers having been so offered since the days of Moses. See *Parah* 3:5. seven [items for] burning,⁵⁹ seven sprinklings,⁶⁰ 3:1, 9. seven [instances of] laundering [clothes],⁶¹ seven [ways of becoming] unclean,⁶² seven [people or things who become] clean,⁶³ and seven priests. If someone should say to you, ‘[The number of priests] is lacking,’ say to him, ‘Moses was [included] in the total, where it is stated (in Numb. 19:1-2), “Then the Lord spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, ‘This is the statute of the Torah.’”’”

footnotes:
⁵⁷ Numb. R. 19:2, cont.; PRK
⁵⁸ Numb. 19:2, 5, 6, 9, 10 account for five. Braude in his translation of PR
⁵⁹ Vss. 5-6 mention the burning of skin, flesh, blood, dung, cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson stuff.
⁶⁰ So vs. 4; see Parah
⁶¹ Numb. 19:7, 8, 10, 19, 21. Braude and Kapstein, n. 34, suggest that Numb. 19:7, requires three launderings, one after each of the three stages in the rite, i.e., in vss. 3, 4, 6.
⁶² Vss. 14-16 mention entering a tent where someone has died, being in that tent, being an open vessel there, touching one killed in the open, touching one who died naturally, touching a human bone, or touching a grave.
⁶³ Vss. 18f. explain how to cleanse the categories of uncleanness mentioned in the previous note.