The Rabbi Who Put His Head Down Parah AdumahNefilat Apayim

This morning's Breakfast & a Class explores one of the Torah's greatest mysteries by connecting two practices that, at first glance, seem to have nothing to do with one another. Why does the Kohen who prepares the ashes of the Parah Adumah—the very medicine that restores purity to others—become impure himself? And why was Rabbi Yaakov Kassin, the revered Chief Rabbi of the Syrian Jewish community in America, known for lowering his head during Nefilat Apayim when almost no one else in his community did the same?

Drawing upon Chazal, Midrash, Kabbalah, and a cherished communal trad...