Making Sense of the Red Heifer

 Chukat

Num. 19:1 - 22:1

 

Précis: The parasha begins with a discussion of the Red Heifer, used for ritual purification after one comes into contact with a dead body. The story then shifts to the death of Miriam, and the mourning by the entire people for her. With her death, the well of water which had accompanied their travels disappears, and Moses strikes a rock to provide water to the People. Soon thereafter, Aaron also dies, and the Israelites engage in a series of battles which conclude the parasha.

 

Num.19:2 “This is the statute of law which Adonai commanded….”

 

We are faced with the riddle of the Red Heifer. It is paradoxical. God states that those who prepare the ashes of the Red Heifer become impure.  Nevertheless, the ashes are used to purify others.  How can we reconcile this seeming contradiction?

            Perhaps we can find a hint: by using something impure, we acknowledge that we have something which must be remedied.  

            To be more specific, we all engage in actions we wished we did not do. For some, such actions are self-destructive and life-threatening. Those with knowledge or experience of addiction know that behaviors can really change only when the sufferer hits the bottom and sees that fact.  Knowing that one is helpless to rectify an addiction, but also knowing that there is a “Higher Power” which can help one change, is at the heart of 12 step programs. Truly negative behavior, in this light, is seen as a way to stimulate change.

            The ashes of the red heifer ashes are impure, but give us a way to return to ritual purity. Our self-destructive actions, once we admit to them, can be a “first step” to a restoration of a life worth living. 

The wanna-be tyrant

Korach

Num. 16:1 - 18:32

 

Précis: Korach foments a rebellion, claiming that Moses and Aaron have taken too much power for themselves. Datan and Abiram also attack Moses’ leadership, claiming that Moses has brought them from a land of milk and honey (Egypt!) only to let them die in the wilderness. A test of fire offerings is arranged, and Korach and his followers are destroyed as the earth opens and swallows them. The People continue to complain, God threatens to destroy them once again, but Moses and Aaron intercede. A plague takes the lives of 14,000 people. A final test, that of staffs, is performed, and when Aaron’s staff miraculously blossoms on the following morning, it is clear that his status as High Priest is secure.

 

Num. 16:28-30 “By this you shall know that it was the Lord who sent me to do all these things; that they are not of my own devising: if these men die as all men do, if their lot be the common fate of all mankind, it was not the Lord who sent me. But if the Lord brings about something unheard of, so that the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, you shall know that these men have spurned the Lord.”

            Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (z’l), in his weekly commentary (6/21/17) that Korach’s rebellion was the most dangerous challenge to Moses’ leadership. He notes that the narrative is somewhat confusing, but it is clear that the insurrectionists were motivated with different reasons for resentment. Korach himself was a Levite, and was upset because he had a better claim than Aaron to the High Priesthood (according to Rashi). Abiram and Datan were of the tribe of Reuban (the first-born son of Jacob) and objected to Moses’ leadership because he (Moses) was a Levite, and of Moses' appointment of Joshua (of the tribe of Ephraim).

            They all pose as what today we would call democratic egalitarians (“All the community are holy, all of them . . . Why then do you raise yourself above the Lord’s congregation?”).

            As Sacks notes, the story of Korach is intensely realistic, and he is a symbol of a “coldly calculating man of ambition who foments discontent against a leader, accusing him of being a self-seeking tyrant. He opposes him in the name of freedom, but what he really wants is to become a tyrant himself.”

            Today in Israel (as has been and remains the case in the United States), an individual accuses the leader by fomenting dissent and discontent. Prime Minister Netanyahu has torn out the final pages of the Trump Handbook and now declares that the most recent election was a “fraud” and that the incoming “change coalition” government is illegitimate and a threat to the security and future of the State. Netanyahu is seeking to create another “Big Lie” for the purpose of keeping his leadership role of Israel at all costs, and thereby avoiding the possibility of his conviction on the criminal charges he now faces.

            Moses, on the other hand, does not create animosity, but states that the ills which have befallen the insurgents were at God’s command. He seeks healing and understanding, “falling on his face” before Korach as he seeks reconciliation. It is only when reconciliation has been refused that God takes up the power to end the rebellion. Those who rebel will never enter the land and never become a nation. We can only pray that in Israel and in the United States, a way can be found to find the reconciliation Moses sought, before we all suffer from the evil outcomes which we all face.