Hukkat: The Ultimate Mystery

The mitzvah of the red cow is the most perplexing tale in the Torah. That is why it is called a chok, a mitzvah that escapes logic. Maimonides tried to understand it. King Solomon was confounded by it. For some unknown reason the ashes of the animal make pure the impure.

Perhaps the mitzvah of the cow is connected with the mystery of death itself. Death consumes endless hours of deep thought. We want to know that there is something greater, more lasting than the lifetime of a human being. We know that people have a limited lifetime, but is that all there is? There must be more!

When Miriam and then Aaron die in the parasha we are deeply pained. We have carefully followed their lives, hopes, aspirations throughout the long years of slavery and exile. Is this truly then end of their life? All that remains is a story to be told. It is very sad. The chok of the cow hints that there is a border between life and death. When one has crossed over to the other side it is not simply a dull end to physical existence but also a beginning.

"A child made the palace floor filthy. The king said: Let his mother come and clean up her child's dirt. By the same token, God says: Let the cow atone for the deed of the calf. " - Tanchuma, Chukat 8.

Life and death are part of the same whole. We are interconnected. Just as the cow is the purification for the next generation, so too one universe, albeit unseen, flows into t he next.
In a later segment of the Torah reading the Israelites fall sick. Moses then sets up a bronze curled snake on a large pole. Anyone who saw the serpent was cured of their illnesses. What does this mean? In the Talmud, it is explained by Rashi that the sign of the serpent was an inspiration to the people that there was a power in the universe greater than anything else. The power exceeded the strength of their sickness. It transcended life. It was even more powerful than death. Represented by the bronze serpent the power of God is over life everything.

Perhaps the real message of the Torah reading is a subtle reassurance that our eyes have limited vision. The universe is far more expansive than what we see. The borders of life and death themselves are a chok, a mystery to us, but they are governed by God.

The people of the Israel suffer in the Torah reading too. They are affected by the death of the prophetess Miriam. They too question the meaning of life and its abrupt end. Now that the generation is nearing the end of its forty year wandering they also stare at their own mortality. When God answers their plaintive call for comfort He gives them water. And then the people break out into song. Why do they sing? Because, they realize, death is not the end of them. The waters represent a continuation of a soul. That is why the Lord God says, "From Midbar to Mattanah.: Literally -- "Fom the desert to the gift." The "gift" is not temporal; it represents eternity.

Samson Raphael Hirsch taught, "Happy is he who takes note of the unseen fiery serpents that beset his path, put to flight by the Almighty." Without God all is lost. With God all is possible.

Haftarah Insight:
From the start of the tale of Yiftach there is great sorrow. As a young man he was purged from his home like noxious bile that no one could stand. Running to a distant land, Yiftach became a warlord whose ferocity was well-known. Who knows? Perhaps it was all those years of pent up rage that made him so fearless?
Yiftach is recruited by his own people to lead a war against the relentless enemies of the Jews, the Ammonites. Making a pact with the Israelite leaders, Yiftach also makes an unholy vow to God. Praying for victory Yiftach promises to deliver whatever comes to his door after winning the war against Ammon.
What is the message? Be careful with words? Perhaps. Only ask for what your heart desires? Perhaps. Do not let anger rule your thoughts? Most likely.

A Matter of Law:
Death contaminates. The Sages ask, why does death make people impure? 1. Life is holy and we need to ensure that life and death are never confused. 2. No human remains may be used for any purpose, eg bones for utensils, skin for clothes. In this way, human life is respected. 3. Since the dead make impure no one would dare ever make a shrine out of a final resting place.