How much for that Red Cow over there, has it ever had a yoke on it- .BurntBiscuitRanch.com
The true and most important meaning of Parsha Chukas is not specifically about what has long puzzled scholars of Torah regarding some enigmatic qualities of the offering of the Red Cow. Rather it is about the nedderim that had been made to Hashem with his attribute of kindness and mercy which Israel in the Parsha makes a nedder (vow) (Numbers 21:2) about and which Yiftach in (Judeges 11:1-11:40) takes a vow to gain a victory in war.
Parsha Chukas Hashem’s Secret Weapon for Peace.
The usual, now mundane take, on the inner meaning of our Holy Torah, asks the question how can the ashes which serve to purify the one upon who it is sprinkled also serve to contaminate the one who is doing the sprinkling? I leave that question to others because I think it takes us too far either to the left or the right of the essential lesson of this Parsha (piece) of our Holy Torah.
It [ Torah ] is a tree of life for those who grasp it, and all who uphold it are blessed. Its ways are pleasant, and all its paths are peace.
So, then why does the Parsha speak of War?
The only Torah which I find worthwhile to write about is the portion of our Holy Torah which I can understand by reading it with a deep and spiritual eye towards trying to unravel the inner message which our loving and caring G-d, has left us.
I seek to understand how several thousand of years of history which our Torah preserves for us can possibly have any significance for us, living in the world today, which is plagued with problems on such a grand scale, so as to theoretically dwarf the eternal truth, which our infinitely kind and loving G-d has provided for us.
The deep and essential meaning which are the secrets which one can obtain, only by critically reading over the versus either in their original Hebrew, or from a faithful English translation.
These essential deep inner truth’s are clothed within a body of stories, which are done in this manner for a threefold purpose for which I will attempt now to discuss only two:
The Torah actually provides us with a key to help solve the problems which G-d in his infinite wisdom foresaw would be upon us.
Had this information been transmitted to us in any way other than the way it has been it still would have seemed incomprehensible to anyone. The method that one needs to use to engage his deepest abilities of analysis is exactly the kind of deep thinking and reasoning that G-d wants us to use, to continuously solve the problems that it appears mankind is eternally plagued with.
These essential truths are written in a code which is not necessarily so difficult to understand, however it is our own stubborn adhesion to old paradigms which continuously forces us to re-live the very troubles and sorrows which we witness that our forefathers have suffered within the narrative of our Holy Torah.
Many people talk of Moshiach, however I wonder how many people would choose to grasp the idea, that the concept which has been hinted at in our scripture is really also designed to implement a fundamental change in the way that we all live our lives.
As we navigate the troubled waters of our fleeting existence, with our disparate goals we sometimes believe that it is mere fate or random chance that has thrown us into competition for what we incorrectly believe to be limited resources. Often we might indeed confuse what we perceive to be human errors with what others might other might interpret to be some sort of divine intervention.
Something which to a student of truth might seem to be as plain as day, might seem to be endlessly concealed within layers of complexity. The words of Isaiah 1:18- 3:6 starts off with:” If your sins are like scarlet they will become white as snow; if they have become red like crimson, they will become [white] as wool.
In the six verses which precede this famous Isaiah verse, Isaiah goes on to explain how Hashem has no need for our worthless offerings, and the verse immediately before the one quoted above, which in the opinion of this author is an allusion to the Parah Adumah (The Red Heffer) described in Parsha Chukas, gets right to the heart of the matter of the day:
“Learn to do good, seek justice, vindicate the victim, render justice to the orphan, take up the grievance of the widow” (Isaiah 1:17)
As we struggle to put together some of the essential truths of our day, along with what seems to be prophetic accuracy in that we as Jewish people who constantly struggle to even be able to live in peace in our home land of Israel, must continuously ask ourselves the same question over and over again. What have I done to seek justice, and vindicate the victim?
Are the actions of our representatives in government for example doing the right thing. Are the 5 minute sound bites and the propaganda perpetuated by the sworn enemies of the Jewish people (and the entire peace loving people of the other nations of the free world) being heeded, placated, appeased and responded to by capitulation on our part? How much different was the siege of Jerusalem in Isaiah days different from the current siege on Jerusalem today?
When Isaiah discusses how G-d will remove the support of the wise, teachers, prophets, elders, heroes and in their place making “youngsters their leaders, and mockers will rule them. Hashem will even remove “every support of bread and every support of water” The people will be oppressed, man by man, and man by his fellow; they will domineer ., the youngster over the elder, and the base over the respectable [ Isaiah 3:1-5 Tanach Artscroll series, Stone Edition, Mesorah Publications ]
The Parsha Chukas contains the elements of our redemption from the all out attack that we the Jewish people are currently experiencing in our homeland. Antisemitism is indeed alive and well and it’s flames are being flamed by our enemies who we are given direct information about in our Holy Torah. The most recent onslaught took out 6-Million Jews who were murdered by our enemies. Yes Parsha Chukas speaks of war. However as we see elsewhere and throughout the Torah, the cure to our current plague is given to us before the curse.
The Mitzvah of the Parah Adumah (the completely red cow) was given to us in the beginning of the Parsha. Hashem Elokim understands that in most wars waged by man against man, there will be casualties on both sides. Our G-d is merciful and does not expect us to lay down our lives for some unjust cause. Therefore if it is required that Jews engage in warfare to save to prevent their destruction Hashem has considered the possibilities and given us the cure in advance.
When the Jewish people do not have the Holy Temple, because our enemy has inherited our gate, we are still able to slaughter the Red Cow, according to the proper Halacha because our all kind and loving G-d has foreseen a time when the Jewish people would not be able to enter the Holy temple, when our enemies have claimed it as their own. The enigmatic and poorly understood mitzvah of the red heffer is a able to return the Jewish people from the collective impurity which we have endured from things which make as impure namely contact with dead people.
The rest of the Parsha Chukas explains, amongst many other things, how there were two distinctly different situations which the Jewish people encountered when they were finally ready to ascend into the promised land of Israel.
In one situation with Edom, Moshe sent an emissary to explain in great detail the situation of Israel, however the Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through it’s land. The negotiations on the part of Israel persisted however Edom remained strong and refused to allow Israel to enter the land under the threat of the sword. Then after the death of Aharon the Canaanite King made a preemptive strike against Israel in anticipation of there movement “warred against Israel and took a captive from it.”
Finally we hear from the growing nation of Israel the seeds of their upcoming redemption when they make a vow to Hashem that “If you will deliver this people into my hand, I will consecrate their cities” (Bamidbar/Numbers 21:2 Stone Chumash pg 894).
The prophetic vision of our all kind and loving G-d exercises both his element of Judgement and loving kindness to his chosen people, the Jewish nation. We are clearly given principles regarding how when negotiations fail we may turn and not fight, however we will not tolerate a nation which takes captives from us. We prayed to Hashem and the enemy who’s name we were not certain of in the Parsha, was given into our hand by Hashem.
When peaceful relations are sought as in the Parsha when we simply were interested in taking a short cut through foreign territory to get to where we wanted to go, even when met with an armed resistance bearing arms, we did not initiate war because we were not being attacked. The nation of Edom (our cousins) were simply invoking their right to bear their sword against us to prevent us from entering their land. We need not use the fact that they displayed their weapons to initiate a battle, we simply turned aside and took another path. The one bracha that the nation of Esav, (Edom) was given by Issac was that when we the Jewish people deviated from what was right, that we could expect that Esav would greet us with the sword.
Therefore, the Jewish people need to choose their battles carefully and always seek to align themselves with G-d’s standards of true justice, and not some artificial man made standard of justice as manufactured by multi-media presentations, 5 minute sound bites on you tube, or some biased faction of the United Nations which has consistently acted against the interests of Israel.
Aharon Moshe Sanders
Author is also known as Stephen C. Sanders
May my inspired words of Torah, which I have sought to selectively discuss some of the portions which relate to the crisis Israel faces by an ever growing faction, which apparently is determined to destroy our small and peace loving nation of Israel, the nation of and for the Jewish people, serve as a plea to the one true G-d, who we the Jewish people refer to as Hashem, to ask our G-d, to somehow with his infinite wisdom and power, enter into the minds of the remaining friends and allies of the Jewish people and the Jewish nation, so that they can help us through our normal channels of diplomacy, and decisive action if needed, to help the Jewish nation and the tiny remnant of the Jewish people who proclaim the unity of your name three times a day, to preserve us, and support us, so that we do not once again by the actions of our own words, and hand, begin to set foot upon the path, which we who see and understand believe to be the 1st steps which will ultimately lead to our destruction.
Please Hashem save our Holy Nation, and the Holy people of Israel, now.
Amein. Amein, Amein,
AhMbDvd,Written and published by Aharon Moshe Sanders,
June 18, 2010, 9:42AMMore info on Red Heifer available at:
The Red HeiferIncoming search terms:
- red cows
- cow yoke
- purity of intent
Related posts:
scrabble word finder…
[...]Purity of Intent, Parsha Chukas « TheWritersCafe.org[...]…