Numbers Cycle Four Chukath 19:1 to 22:1

Chukath

Chukath takes us way beyond the physical realm. Torah is traditionally known to be multi-dimensional and while we can’t say which (dimension) is best, we can acknowledge that God, in His ephemeral state, becomes more intimate the more we brave that same place. Getting there is the challenge. Getting there and infusing that radiance into the mundane world is painful, frightening, maddening, and exquisite. From what I can glean from the Zohar and the sages of Talmud, the action of getting there renders much physicality left in our wake. It’s as if we are shedding our very human-clothes as we become more and more intimate with God. And it’s this physicality…these clothes, this flesh, that which is shed or left behind… that suddenly becomes tamay and needs purification.

Therefore, contrary to what it seems, tamay is not bad. It does not mean unclean. It merely means it is the foreskin (if you like) of the rising soul. It is anything that has the quality of having been soul-shed. In order for the tamay to once again find balance with earthly things it needs some gevurah, some strength, some red earth, some red heart, some boundaries created by the very miracle of God. Many of us, as we come-down after heightened states of meditation, are also tamay. We have risen and have shed our physical attributes, our money, our jobs, our bills, our habits or addictions, our visuals, our food, our words, our human-ness, the human-ness of loved ones, our emotions, the way we might look to others, our very lives for that matter and have braved a momentary human stop if we are ready… a mini-death of mind and flesh.

All that remains is breath, the inhale, the exhale, the rhythm.

In coming down we use our breath and slowly have to re-apply some of that human mind-set. We don’t have a choice. So we collect these aspects that are so pertinent to this world…like our flesh…and see that they (in order to be earth-infused and natural to our environment) need a new reception, a new way of being. In order to find it we need to drink the ashes of the red heifer. So while we never really want to know the reason for the red heifer…when we think we know it we minimize it….we can take part in the action of the rising. We can metaphorically drink the ashes because in so doing we can be assured that we can rise as high as we like…and won’t go mad. We can use our minds to open the flow of divine waters. We can see the mouth of the well and the staff of Moses as two of the ten last-minute miracles created on the eve of the first Shabbat (Pirkei Avot) and therefore items that can help us to use our minds . We can be assured that as we come down, the ashes of the red heifer will be there to ground us into the earth, to make us once again capable of finding a soul-body connection that will enable us to survive and do our divine work here and now.

This is a lot to say without some references. So let me say that in Mishnah Parah 8:3 we read that the person who burns the red heifer and the bull (Lev. 4:3-21) and who leads away the scapegoat (Lev 16:7-10 and 26) render their clothes unclean while doing the action itself. The red cow does not make the clothes unclean. This is all about action. There is the one who burns the cow, the one who sprinkles the water. We are described by our action.

Meawnhile, in the Zohar (1:20b) we read: Every spirit is called human, the body of the spirit of the holy side is the garment of the human and so it is written “You clothed me in skin and flesh, wove me of bones and sinews (Job 10:11)” Flesh is the garment of the human. In becoming more within spirit therefore we are disrobing …ourselves or Torah…and moving beyond pieces of ourselves (or of Torah) as we rise.

Finally, it is written in Numbers Rabbah 19:8 that Rabbi Johanon ben Zakkai was asked by an idolater if the alchemic actions around the red heifer could be compared to witchcraft. Rabbi Johanon asked the idolater what he had seen done to a man possessed by madness. The idolater said that roots had been collected and had been brought to smoke under the madman and then water was sprinkled on him so the demon would flee.

Rabbi Johanon said that this was the same with the action of the red heifer, that when they sprinkle the water of purification on the tamay, the spirit of uncleanliness flees.

When the idolater left , the disciples of R Johanon said they didn’t believe him. They wanted to know the truth. R Johanon reported that the dead do not defile nor do the waters purify.

He said the red heifer is a decree of God and that is enough.

I believe that R Johanon is pointing out here the metaphors so abundant in Torah. He is taking Torah to a dimension beyond literal understanding so that we can bring ourselves there as well. This is what I’ve tried to do above. This is what (I believe) we all want to do day after day as we try to walk in God’s ways and fulfill His mitzvoth.

Rabbi Eleazar (Bab Talmud Moed Katan 28a) says that when Miriam dies in this parsha she does so (as does Moses) with a divine kiss. They both, as written in Torah, die there. They both go there and do not come down. They (as Aaron) have reached a height from which there is no coming down, red heifer or not. My guess is that there is a pinnacle we all reach, a mountain on a mountain, in which the tamay fades and our action of shedding and rising has reached a new plateau, the world no longer a concern. But, just like the red heifer, we can’t know what this action really is. Knowing would only serve to minimize.

How to apply this to our world and to our meditation? Take part in the action of meditation or rising even if you don’t know why that moment. Prepare for it. Walk to your favorite spot even if it’s the last thing you feel like doing. Trust that you can rise and come down with an understanding of layers and ritual. When coming down accept the pieces of the mundane with blessings and a visual of purification. This way you transmit the radiance of Hashem to your hands, your face, the face of your friends, your clothing, everything you touch. Then expect the unexpected, honor it. Imagine this transmission day in an day out until you get the chance to rise again. Imagine your compassion. See it. Imagine your joy, See it. Do the inner alchemy. See yourself healing others with your light. Know what you are and why you are here.