PARASHAT CHUKAT – PARAH ADUMAH
Welcome Chaverim to this double Torah Portion of Chukat – Balak – the reason these two portions are joined is because this is not a Leap year.
Lets us first understand the meaning of the word CHOK ((חק it simply is translated as STATUTE – which needs no explanations or expounding – unlike the Mitzvah which we are able to at least get grasp on the how – and why they need to be performed.
זֹ֚את חֻקַּ֣ת הַתּוֹרָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֥ה יְהוָ֖ה לֵאמֹ֑ר דַּבֵּ֣ר
To translate the above Pasukh 2 “This
is the instructions of the Statute to be done as commanded by the Lord who
spoke about these things” you know even
the Jewish Sages with all their wisdom or for the matter of fact Shlomo
HaMelech could not understand the ritual behind the Parah Adumah (Red Heifer).
It seems like there has been only 8 Red Heifers since Moses (3500 years)
because the animal had to be perfectly RED, not even a hair of another color,
young female cow that has never been used for any kind of Work especially the
yoke for ploughing on its back.
God in his eternal wisdom decreed
this ritual for the Jewish Nation which has a complexity beyond the Human
comprehension – just as Tumah and Taharah are spiritual effects that are not
tangible within the Human cognitive perception so is the ritual of the Parah
Adumah which cannot be seen with the physical eyes.
Possibly a probable explanation we
can draw is because the Children of Israel lived in camps around the Mishkan
and there were always mortalities on a daily basis – the dead were constantly
being ritually cremated in the desert which could have had an effect on the
level of Purity in the Israel camp, and so HaShem had to deal with the issue.
This also could have been because HaShem told them that they will all perish
and die and not enter the land so the older generation was being moved out of
the way.
A second possible explanation we can
think of – is why does this have to come immediately after we read about the
Sin of Korach in the last Parashat where in the plague (14,950) were killed including
250 from Korach, Aviram and Dathan’s camp. The entire encampment of the
children of Israel was filled with Dead bodies and must have been like a
pandemic. So probably HaShem would have had to do something for purity on a
spiritual level.
Thirdly I would infer that since the sin
of Korach effected the Tribes of Levi – who officiated within the Temple
sanctorium it directly effected the Purity of the Mishkan and the Avodah to
God, so it was given for purifying the people who were given the responsibility
of officiating thus Numbers 19:20
וְאִ֤ישׁ אֲשֶׁר־יִטְמָא֙ וְלֹ֣א יִתְחַטָּ֔א וְנִכְרְתָ֛ה הַנֶּ֥פֶשׁ הַהִ֖וא מִתּ֣וֹךְ הַקָּהָ֑ל כִּי֩ אֶת־מִקְדַּ֨שׁ
יְהוָ֜ה טִמֵּ֗א מֵ֥י נִדָּ֛ה לֹא־זֹרַ֥ק
עָלָ֖יו טָמֵ֥א הֽוּא׃
talks about them defiling the
sanctuary of God – now this is very interesting if we want to look at it in
Time perspective it makes sense about 3500 years ago – but what about now – Rav
Shaul says in 1 Cor 3: 16-17 Do you not know that you are a
temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the
temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is
what you are.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18 Do not be bound
together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and
lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has
Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or
what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the
living God;
1 Peter 2:5 You also, as living
stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer
up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
All this refers back in corresponding
relevance to this Torah Portion – now the question we need to ask ourselves is
this : what do we understand of this thing called DEATH – what really is it all
about, the human mind has accepted death into our very nature so it seems a
natural process, but in truth it is not what God created us to experience in
the first place.
The separation of the vessel from the
Essence inside has to be relooked at a microscopic level to at least gain a
little bit of understanding of LIFE !!! this is very interesting to understand
Death we have to talk about Life !!!!! wish I had a smiley here. But much
earlier on during the shiur series we had spoken and learnt about the creation
of the Human Soul and the many levels of transcendence we are made in. so in
brief I want to say that out of the 5 levels of the Human being that is namely
– Nefesh – Ruach – Neshemah – Chayah – Yechidah it is only the Nefesh or the
earthly vessel that dwells in the sphere of Space and Time – the rest of the 4
all exist outside the parameters of Space and Time – Now God created us as a
combined being a bouquet of 5 levels of transcendent existence – the Nefesh
that is the earthly vessel started separating from the eternal part of us once
sin entered the world – it took Adam almost 900 years to be able to finally
destroy himself – therefore the ancients lived long live until sin caught up
with their physical beings. What did sin do? it separated the Earthly from the
Spiritual, an anomaly what should not have happened – therefore HaShem had to
make special arrangements for the Eternal part of a Human that was returning
back to Him because of the separation of Body and Soul. Now the Nefesh (The
Earthly Vessel) at the point of death and separation will start to corrupt and deteriorate
because the actual physical effect has started due to Tameh (impurity) in the
spiritual realm first.
The dead and decomposing ORGANIC body
is the most Impure substance in all of creation – therefore when we read the
book of Leviticus – its stresses majorly on the impurities contracted by a Dead
person. The rottenness and the decomposition has its roots in the impurities of
spiritual origin – this is TAMEH (Impurity) – God created us for Life not in
Spiritual only BUT a beautiful blend of Spiritual inside the Physical – but the
separation was an unnecessary situation that God had to take care for a season
– until the rectification of things will
happens in time to come. We will all be brought back and be given a new Body,
clean and glorious.
What we read in the Parashat is God
dealing with the children of Israel to keep them atleast at a certain level of
Purity so that he could live inside of them There are three broad categories of
Tumah sources. The most well-known causes of Tumah are those associated with
death. The most potent source of Tumah is a human corpse (Bamidbar 19:11).
Other death-related sources include dead kosher animals (Vayikra 11:39-40),
dead non-kosher animals (Vayikra 11:24-28), and dead kosher birds (Vayikra
17:15; A second source is certain bodily emissions. The third category, called Tumot
kedushot is tumah associated with sacrificial rites, one of which is the parah
adumah. In this last category, one finds, for example, that the one who burns
the bull and goat sacrifices of the Yom Kippur service becomes tamei, as does
the one who leads the Yom Kippur scapegoat to its death in the desert (Parah
8:3)
The Lubavitcher Rebbe said something
noteworthy to jews spread out over the far reaches of the globe that because
they are involved in purifying their fellow Jews, they and their families will
remain pure, no matter how isolated they are. Indeed, the fact that a
kohen must be willing to defile himself in order to help remove a form of
impurity from others conveys an important message about what it means to be a
spiritual leader of Klal Yisrael. Now just think what he says although
he is mainstream Judaism, it parallels exactly what Yeshua has done for us
believers. All of those involved in the preparation of the ritual become tamei,
except for the one who sprinkles the ash water, This includes the shochet as
well as those who collect the blood, sprinkle the blood, burn the cow, throw in
the ezov, turn over the meat while it is burning, collect the ashes, et cetera.
In summary, anyone involved in the preparation becomes tamei and remains so
until he immerses in a mikvah and waits until sunset. Furthermore, the clothing
he is wearing and any utensil he touches while engaged in the activity become
tamei too.
Whenever I see and read the New
Testament – its is fascinating to look and see the Torah all over the place,
nothing has really changed except that Yeshua has made himself the perfect
substitution for everything. If we put into perspective what Rav Shaul keeps
saying about us being a temple of the Lord and keeping ourselves Holy and pure
– its no different than what Moses was trying to do in the desert 3500 years
ago with the children of Israel – except that they never had the Physical
Yeshua to accomplish the impossible for them – They had him in the spiritual
realm assisting them in all ways and it did not really accomplish much at all.
It left no alternative than for Him to come down into the physical realm to
accomplish and perfect the way for us.
On a personal note – I think the
church for 2000 years has really left the concepts of Tumah and Taharah by the
wayside and neglected the power and its effects on our daily lives, Personally
I think it is very much active even till today all the more because we have the
Messiah Yeshua to enable us to come to perfection and Purity because he has
perfected the way for us. The problem I see is that we throw much dependence on
Yeshua for the things that must be initiated and accomplished by us – therefore
having lives that do not reflect the perfection of what Yeshua and the Father
would like us to live.
Let me end on this note – the Alter
Rebbe in his treatise of TANYA has given a fabulous midrash on Tohorot and Tamei
in which he says that when ones impurity reaches levels of no return or too
much for rectification – the cleansing of that soul is done via the way of
suffering and pain, sickness and finally death, this is a cleansing ordained by
God to remove impurities form our NEFESH. Inevitably death of separation has
been ordained for all because our levels of impurity cannot be rectified in 1
Lifetime – therefore we must bury our DEAD, but let me say this – it is still
Hashem’s divine will to remove impurity of a soul in a second – like he has
done over the ages for a few of his chosen – not everyone. We have the perfect
master who has shown us the way – enables us to work out impurities in the
flesh so we can balance out our tamei and tahorot – whether little or more, by
way of suffering and pain or whatever way He choses for us – All praise and
Glory and Honor to Yeshua our Lord and perfector of our faith
Blessed be the God of Israel – God of
Avraham, of Yitzak and Ja’acov
Barukh Hashem
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