Bat Kol International, Weekly Torah Nuggets
Parashat Chukat-Balak | Numbers 19:1–25:9
“This is a statute of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish and on which no yoke has been laid” (Num 19:2).
The story of the red heifer (Num 19:1-22) falls under the umbrella of the term chok (חֹק)—a Hebrew word that is generally translated as statute. Chok often applies to texts that require a commitment to faith and defy logic.
The Me’or Eynayim* says that true study of Torah must be a contemplative matter and it is from this perspective that I bring you this commentary enlightened by the ritual of the red heifer.
The Torah tells us, “When a person dies in a tent…” (Num 19:14). The sages say, “In the tent of Torah,” meaning that Torah is fulfilled in those who (metaphorically) die in the pursuit of Torah.
Our spiritual growth through Torah begins, necessarily, in daily life with its imperfections and ultimately reaches a stage where we can truly study Torah “for its own sake” (b. Sotah 22b). It is then that the words, speak of them [words of Torah] when you sit down, when you are walking, when you lie down and when you rise up (cf. Deut. 6:7), take on another meaning for we “rise up” when we become elevated in and by Torah.
To die in “the tent of Torah” is to begin in a place of figurative defilement and rise up. We are cleansed. This is zot chukat hatorah “the Statute of Torah” (Num 19:2) which leads us to transcendence within ourselves.
Reflection:
R. Samson Raphael Hirch teaches us that rituals that defy rationalism remind us that God requires obedience; we are asked to lift up our heads to the divine in humility and faith, embracing what is inexplicable. How does this advice change the way you might receive the story of the red heifer?
* Me’or Eynayim (Light of the Eyes) – Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl (1730-1797)
Elizabeth Young, Tasmania, Australia
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“Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so great, this sacred synod wants to foster and recommend that mutual understanding and respect which is the fruit, above all, of biblical and theological studies.”
Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions: Nostra Aetate, No. 4