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to Inner Dimension Audio Audio-Aid Summaries, Charts, Translations and aids for recorded lecture tapes by Rabbi Ginsburgh |
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The
following is a summary of an audio lecture Why is There Death in the World? The Weekly Torah Portion of:
Chukat Healing
Spiritual Despair The
Torah portion of Chukat begins with the commandment of the red
heifer. When a cow that meets the intricate halachic
("Jewish law") criteria for a red heifer is burned as per the
Torah's instructions, and its ashes are mixed with fresh stream water, the
resulting mixture purifies a person who has come in contact with death.
According to Jewish law, death is considered the "Father of
Fathers" of impurity, and a person who has come into contact with death
becomes impure. Spiritually, this
contact with death means that the person has become affected by the law of
entropy. At some level, he has integrated into his own soul that there is no
eternity in reality, leading to inner, spiritual despair. One
of the most basic foundations of the Torah is that we must serve God with
absolute joy. This can only be accomplished if one is released from the fear
of death and all that it implies. What is the Divine power of the ashes of
the red heifer that heals us from the despair of death? The
Rare Red Heifer In
order for the ashes of the red heifer to be fit to purify the impurity
caused by death, the Torah tells us that they must be from a cow that is
consummately red. The birth of a consummately red heifer is a very rare
occurrence. God, in His Divine Providence, sees to it that a red heifer will
be born in the generation that needs it. The first red heifer for ritual use
was prepared by Moses in the desert. Eight more red heifers were prepared
throughout the Temple period. The tenth red heifer will be prepared by the Mashiach.
(One of the signs of the imminent arrival of Mashiach is the birth of
a red heifer.) Its ashes will prepare us for true eternal life and the
resurrection of the dead. The
Red Heifer and Archetypical Souls In
Kabbalah and Chassidut, the red heifer is identified with three archetypical
souls. In
Hebrew the heifer is called a parah adumah temimah, a consummately
red cow. When we meditate on the
connection between each of these descriptions of the red heifer and each of
the archetypical souls to which it is connected, we will understand its
secret. The
Consummately Red Cow of Moses At
the beginning of this Torah portion, God commands Moses "…and the Jewish
People shall take unto you a consummately red heifer." Our Sages
explain that all the red heifers ever prepared are essentially related to
Moses. The
red heifer is a paradox. It purifies the impure and renders the pure impure.
King Solomon, who was the wisest of all men, grasped the deep spiritual
reason for all the commandments -- except for the paradox of the red heifer.
In Ecclesiastes he writes of the red heifer, "I thought I was wise, but I
see that wisdom is far from me." Moses
was the only person to understand the paradox of the red heifer. God, in an
act of grace, revealed this secret exclusively to him, making this
commandment more related to Moses than to any other figure. As such, the red
heifer is called the cow of Moses. (The
Hebrew word for "cow," parah, also means to be fruitful and multiply.
More than any other animal, the cow is essentially related to procreation.) The
Consummately Red Cow and Eve The
red heifer is the potent life essence that comes to purify spiritual and
physical contact with death. It is thus associated with Eve, who was held
responsible for having brought death to the world. Eve's
name was originally intended to be Chayah, spelled chet
(the letter chet represents the pulsation of life), yud,
hei. Chayah means "the
living soul" and represents eternal life. After she sinned, Adam
called Eve Chavah, spelled chet, vav,
hei, which means "the mother of mortal life." (The vav in
Eve's name alludes to the snake, called chivya in Aramaic.) The
color red is the color of blood and of life itself. The consummately red cow
represents consummate, eternal life and procreation. The feminine form of
the Hebrew word for "red" used in relation to the feminine heifer is adumah.
This word spells Adam, with a hei at the end, connoting femininity.
The feminine soul mate of Adam is Eve. When we meditate on the redness of
the cow, we meditate on the soul of Eve before the primordial sin, when she
was still Chayah. In the future, when the world will be purified of
the touch of death, Eve's name will be Chayah once again. The
Consummately Red Cow and Sarah The
most severe sin in the history of the Jewish People was the sin of the
Golden Calf. Our sages explain that the red heifer is the only commandment
that atones for this sin. The image of the red heifer is that of the mother
cow coming to clean up the mess left by the sin and impurity of her golden
calf. In this respect, the red heifer is associated with motherhood, which
is represented by the Matriarchs. In particular, the red heifer relates to
the first, greatest of the Matriarchs, Sarah. Rashi explains that at the
inauguration of the Tabernacle, the princes of each tribe brought sacrifices
of cows, rams and sheep. The cows correspond to Abraham, the rams to Isaac
and the sheep to Jacob. Thus, Sarah, Abraham's wife and soul mate, also
corresponds to the cow and represents the rectification of the sin of the
golden calf. The
primordial sin of Adam and Eve is like the collective sin of the Jewish
People with the Golden Calf. As such, when she rectifies the sin of the
golden calf, Sarah rectifies the original mother figure of all humanity,
Eve. The Hebrew word for "consummate" is temimah.
The Patriarchs walked with consummate sincerity, temimut, with
God. The numerical value of temimah is 495, while the numerical value
of Sarah is 505. These two numbers equal 1000, which is the most perfect and
consummate of numbers. Sarah's
Inner Connection to the Red Heifer A
beautiful story illustrates Sarah's inner connection to the red heifer. One
of the great tzaddikim
who lived approximately 250 years ago was Rabbi Nachum of Chernobyl, the
author of the book "Maor Einayim." Rabbi Nachum was the disciple of
the Ba'al Shem Tov
and of his successor, the Magid of Mezeritch. The Lubavitcher Rebbe quotes
Rabbi Nachum, who wrote in his book that every Jew has a spark of Mashiach
-- a spark of eternal life. Rabbi
Nachum dedicated much of his life's work to redeeming imprisoned Jews. In
those days, if a Jew could not pay his debts to the local landlord, he was
often thrown mercilessly into a dungeon or pit, sometimes with his entire
family. Rabbi Nachum raised money to redeem these unfortunate Jews, saving
them from sure death. Our sages
say that there are two commandments that are called "great mitzvot."
The first is the commandment to procreate, and the second is the commandment
to redeem imprisoned Jews. When one redeems a Jew, thereby saving his life,
it is as if he given birth to his soul. It
came to pass that Rabbi Nachum
was also imprisoned. Daily he would bribe the prison warden to let him out
of the pit for a short time to pray and to immerse in the mikveh.
One day, Rabbi Nachum did not bribe the warden. He explained that he did not
need to do so, for he would be released from prison on that very day. When
asked how he knew that he would be released, he related that on that night Sarah had come to him in a dream. Rabbi Nachum asked Sarah
what he did to deserve being thrown into a pit. Sarah answered that because
Rabbi Nachum had devoted his life to redeeming captives, it was necessary
for him to experience a taste of captivity so that he could consummately
understand the situation and subsequently devote himself to this mitzvah
("commandment") in an even more rectified manner. When
a person understands why God has involved him in a certain situation, this
releases him from the situation. Thus, as soon as Rabbi Nachum understood
the reason for his imprisonment, he knew that he would be released on that
very day. It
was Sarah, specifically, who appeared to Rabbi Nachum in his dream. She is
essentially related to the important lesson that she wished to impart to
Rabbi Nachum: In order to do something consummately, one must taste it. This
is the secret of why there is death in the world and why the mother figure
of the red heifer comes to purify its touch. The purpose of the Jewish People is to rectify the primordial sin, thus redeeming all humanity from death. Sarah teaches us that in order to rectify death, we must first taste it. Sarah herself is the first Jewish person to taste death. As she rectifies Eve, Sarah's purpose in life is to purify and rectify death and transform it to eternal life. Had the Jewish People not sinned with the golden calf, they would have merited eternal life. Sarah, who symbolizes consummate life, the red of the heifer, rectifies that sin with the consummate 1000 of her name with temimah. Just as Moses received the consummate 1000 lights of the Torah at Mount Sinai, so Sarah, through the secret of rectifying the touch of death, endows her children with eternal life.
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