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.