Why Does Purim Precede Parshas Para?

Why is it that Purim preceeds Parshas Para this year? Perhaps one reason is that Parshas Para speaks about the Para Aduma, the mitzvah of the Red Heiffer, the paradigmatic "chok," mitzvah whose reasons remain a mystery to us. One can only fully embrace this mitzvah if one is prepared to let go of his own da'as, likfotz me'al hasechel, if he can trust Hashem and let go of his own need to intellectually understand everything.

That's why it has to be preceeded by Purim, where one mitzvas hayom, one mitzvah of the day is to reach a level of "lo yada bein arur haman l'baruch Mordechai," to a level where knowledge of the truths of this world are left behind. Only on that level, where one has abandoned the illusion that we can understand everything in the universe, can he embrase the mitzvah of Para Aduma, the decree whose reason is beyond our understanding.

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