What
colour was the פרה אדומה?
We
find in the Torah and Chazal , the colour “אדום” can be translated
a)
the actual red colour (red wine)
b) the red family,
colour (brown , orange etc.)
(Bereishis
25 : 30) הלעיטני נא מן האדום האדום הזה
It
is called red lentils, but its colour is brown.
(Zecharya 1:8)
איש רוכב על סוס אדום - סוסים אדומים –
(A man riding on a red horse-red horses)
There are
no red horses .There are brown horses.
(Succah
35b) An Esrog that was peeled and looks like
a red date.
Rashi
explains, "All peeled fruits נהפך לאדמימות" (turn red).
Peeled
or cut fruits turn brown not red.
(Bechoros
6a Rashi) סתם סוסים אדומים (horses
are usually red)
Never
heard of red horses
The colour of a פרה אדומה was not fire engine red
nor red wine red.
There are no red cows and probably never was
.
The cow was brown .The uniqueness of the Para Aduma
was not that it was red. It was
unique by being completely
brown, not
having two strands of hair in a different colour
other than
brown.(white-black)
One might argue and claim it stil needs to be a
certain shade
of brown (orange or light brown etc,) However we
don't
find in the Rambam qualifying what shade of אדום is
כשר.
If we assume אדומה is brown there is no reason to to insist it to
be a specific shade.
Therefore it wasn't a "red heifer" but a
"brown cow"
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