Numbers - 1901-2201 - Chukath 2202-2509 Balak - Cycle 2

Sight is a funny thing. We have eyes (ayin). We see. We observe. But in Chukath and Balak sight leaps beyond our senses. It becomes the action of intense awareness of the experience of another being. This awareness, this witnessing, also leaps beyond time and even life and death.

But let’s review Korach for a moment. There, we are given set limitations of human consciousness. Through conflict we see who/what we are as compared to the prophet and the priest. We see one man who steps beyond. The problem isn’t this step. A yearning for awareness is not a rebellious act. It’s the attempt to use one’s vision in order to create witnesses when that vision must, given our very humanity, be incomplete. While there is danger here, the challenge itself forces the boundaries, any boundaries, to stretch to wider places of (either darkness) or holiness.

So, in Chukath we are shown how to become the conscious witness who can safely move beyond boundaries to the holiness of God. We are gifted the action as a statute (19:10).

How do we follow the statute? First, let’s remember we are beings made in the image of God. As we act Godly, however, we become vulnerable to all kinds of stuff. Ironically, it is often this aliyah, the going up, the divine inspiration, that places the yoke of heaven (Midrash Aggaddah) upon us. Enter the red cow, the virgin, the Shechinah, something that has never submitted to the impurities of malchut, that has not alah alyah ol. It doesn’t have a blemish. It’s divine sparks, its soul, its blood is so near the skin we can see it. Unlike Esau (Genesis 27:40) it has not yet lived by the sword, been under the wooden beam of any man, nor attached to anything to allow it to pull a load. It is female, fertile, able to create and change itself and others. Shining with red, it could be in the moment of ovulation. No wonder its blood is sprinkled on the mishkan. This way, metaphorically, we can take on its life. Its blood is now ours, within the heart of what we know as sacred. It is as if we are being offered. So, it is a self-offering, the highest level of service to God. No wonder the Kohen is not to burn the heifer but witness and experience the moment with intense awareness. We are now extended beyond our earthly selves. The divine in us is much more real. Our purification is created. We have passed the boundaries safely with open hearts. The offering is not sealed however until Miriam’s death (Rashi). She loses her physicality to seal the step towards consciousness.

Next, we must not only engage in self-korban…continually…the act must be witnessed by those who can know that intense experience. I think that’s the reason for the parasha Balak. They (Balak and Balam for example) create idols, therefore they are idols. They have eyes that cannot see. They have ears that cannot hear (Psalms 95:14-18). Therefore, their vision of us is often so superficial it’s comical, and our vision of them (given our very writings) the same. While they can have powerful glimpses (24:5) they can know God but they cannot know us from a place of enlightenment or of darkness. They are not our witnesses.

Getting back to Chukath, once we have achieved purification through self-korban our behavior must reflect it. Such behavior before the sight of the Israelites gives sight. Our witnessing leads to equanimity…an even understanding of our beauty and suffering. But the opposite is also true. If we do not act in flow with self-korban we lose our ability to see as human beings. I think that this is the reason why Aaron and Moses will never witness (the Promised Land) in human form. But no reason to be sad. They do witness it in sacred form. Meanwhile, the rock is God. The rock is not sanctified. Aaron has a huge yoke. Purification and witnessing does not just include his self but all of the Israelites. After all, he is the Kohen Gadol. No matter the reason, Aaron’s death is necessary. His placement on the hill (from where he can see and be seen by all) shows that his ability to experience an action of intense awareness of the divine in others is greater beyond his body then within it.

In the long run, our movement from self-korban to the acceptance of our transformed beings depends on our courage to concurrently and constantly find the red cow deep within, that which has not alah aliyah al….(been yoked by heaven)…. We do this by taking responsibility and moving through this world with conscious behavior, creating opportunities or openings for purification for ourselves and others and bringing ourselves to a place where we can witness beyond our eyes with prophets, priests, angels, the dead and the living. We do this through a practice of korban for the sake of korban, love for the sake of love, Torah for the sake of Torah, by receiving the light-breath of the witness, by discerning the witness, and by exhaling our light-breath and witnessing others. We do this with heart, knowledge, sensitivity, consideration and patience…through the act of sh’mor as well as the embracing of chukath, the statute that binds us not to a yoke but to the soul of God.

So, may our soul be attuned to God and may our every action become music (Inayat Khan). May we drink in the beings and souls of all of God’s creations as we witness and merge. May we have an intense awareness of the experience of God… and have faith that God does experience us. Through korban, may we serve to model this behavior as best we can. May we speak with the language of transformation as we continue to create pathways towards purification and reflection. May we bind ourselves to our awareness and show our love for God and each other with gentleness and trust.