YOU SHALL GIVE IT TO ELAZAR THE PRIEST. IT SHALL BE TAKEN OUTSIDE THE CAMP AND SLAUGHTERED IN HIS PRESENCE.

(Bamidbar 19:3)

 

He said, You [plural] shall give - rather than you [singular] shall give... He said you [plural] shall give - for now and for future generations.

Elazar, who was to slaughter it, took it from the court of law in order that they [the judges] assign it to him to prepare [the ashes of the red heifer] legitimately and in accordance with their wishes, as we learned in the Mishnah (Parah 3:5):

And who prepared them? The first was prepared by our Master Moses, the second was prepared by Ezra, from Ezra on there were seven. Who prepared them? Shimon HaTzadik and Yohanan the High Priest prepared two each... .

This tells us that in the depth of its mystery it is appropriate that this commandment be consigned to the foremost amongst the priests. But it was not consigned to Aaron - perhaps this was due to his greatness; for he was sacred to God, he was God's saint, he atoned in God's Sanctuary, and God did not want to assign him a ritual that took place outside of the Sanctuary. Or, perhaps, it was in order to crown Elazar and install him in regard to one of the commandments of the High Priest while his father still lived. Or, perhaps, it was as a punishment for [Aaron's part in the sin of] the calf, as R. Moshe HaDarshan says.

(RaMBaN on Bamidbar 19:2-3)

 

 

The Law is Observed through its Disobeyance!

The Law's Struggle Against Conformism

Shlomo Fuchs

Parashat Hukkat opens with an unexplained hok [law] - the law of the red heifer. Immediately afterwards, we are told of Miriam's death, and of how Moses hit the rock instead of speaking to it. Moses' and Aaron's sin keeps them from entering the Promised Land.

What can be learned from the juxtaposition of these episodes? Let us consider Miriam's importance for the nation's consciousness and consider how powerful the nation can be - when it wants to be.

Miriam's talk about Moses led her to be punished with leprosy, requiring her to be quarantined outside of the camp. Regarding this it is said:

So Miriam was shut out of camp seven days; and the people did not march until Miriam was readmitted. (Bamidbar 12:15)

In contrast to Moses' cry/prayer - the people did not move until Miriam was readmitted. How should the people's not moving be understood? The travels through the wilderness followed the cloud (Bamidbar 9:15-23)... At such times as the cloud rested over the Tabernacle for but a few days, they remained encamped at a command of the Lord, and broke camp at a command of the Lord (verse 20). Therefore, it may be said that the people did not march means that God wanted to test the people, to see whether they would leave Miriam behind or not, so he had the cloud ascend from its place. The people did indeed wait for Miriam.

The people's decision gained additional significance after it was decreed that Moses would not enter the Land. The people do not come to Moses' aid, and they do not ask God to lighten the punishment.

According to the midrash's formulation, when Moses said the Lord has not given you a mind to understand (Devarim 29:3) - he meant to say "Why do you - the people - not use your power for my sake?"

Another view: has not given you a mind to understand - R. Shmuel bar Nahmani said: Moses told them this for his own sake... R. Shmuel bar Yitzhak said: When Moses started dying and they did not ask mercy for him that he should enter the land, he assembled them and began reproaching them: "A single [man] saved 600,000 at the [sin of] the calf, but 600,000 cannot save a single man? The Lord has not given you a mind to understand!" He said to them: "Do you not remember all that I did leading you through the wilderness?", as it is said, and I led you through the wilderness for forty years (Devarim 29). (Devarim Rabbah 7:10)

Our parasha contains a number of topics: the red heifer (a hok), Miriam's death, Moses' sin of striking the stone, Aaron's death, the waters of contention, war against the Canaanites, the snakes and the copper serpent, the dispatch of emissaries to Sihon and the battle against him. Is there any rhyme or reason to this collection?

This is the ritual law that the Lord has commanded: Instruct the children of Israel to bring you a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid. (Bamidbar 19:2)

Citing the mussar [ethical] literature, a Hassidic commentator explains:

Regarding the red heifer, it is written: in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid. One should wonder why it does not say on which no yoke has been laid first; it is more common for a cow to have born a yoke than to be without blemish! Rather, it is meant to hint at a lesson about people: If someone is found to be without blemish, that is to say, he thinks that all of his deeds are proper, certainly that person has not had the yoke of the kingdom of heaven set upon him. (Zikhron Nifla'ot)

This reading understands that the law of the red heifer symbolizes human behavior. Indeed, the law points out that the one who purifies causes the impure to become pure while he himself becomes impure until the evening. The purifying priest is likely to feel powerful; he purifies the impure. He himself becomes impure until the evening in order to moderate that feeling of power.

In the year 1942, while living in the Warsaw ghetto, a few months before his death in the Holocaust, HaRav Klonimos mi'Pazienza wrote that the law of the Red Heifer teaches us simple faith; the law is to be accepted without understanding; we must accept God's word and believe in it, "do not contemplate, just believe that since God has done this thing so it should be. And so it is that the heifer purifies and also atones, since we immerse ourselves completely in the mikveh [ritual bath] and give ourselves over completely to the Blessed one.."

The acceptance of God's word is expressed by the way Israel said we shall observe before they said we shall hear at Mount Sinai.

A few months later, in his drasha on parashat Hukkat, he wrote of Miriam's power and Moses' sin, which had been committed deliberately in order to secure Divine plentitude and reach the people.

This drasha expresses a different conception: sin has the power to draw near. That is to say, Moses' disobedience to the law brings the water to Israel. The rabbi asks: Why does the story of Moses' hitting the rock follow immediately upon the description of Miriam's death and of the lack of water? What is the connection between Moses' sin and Miriam's death? He explains that Miriam's observance of the commandments was the source of her power. Even though that as a woman she was not commanded to, nevertheless she performed them. In other words, the rabbi believed that "one who is not commanded yet performs the commandments" is greater than "one who is commanded to perform the commandments and performs them." He believed that the force of Miriam's passion raised up the people's passion to serve God. Thanks to her passion they achieved the highest illumination in God's service. And he writes:

But when Miriam died, they were not so desirous, therefore they did not merit receiving Moses' illumination from above, and Moses had to lower himself to them in order to raise them up with an awakening of their passion. How did he lower himself to them? By means of the sin - by his standards - that he performed with them.

They complained about the water, and our Master Moses hit the rock twice, even though God had said and you shall speak. As is known in the holy books, "Anyone who is not required [to perform some commandment] cannot dispense others of their obligation to do it, it is because of this that the Tzadik sometimes must do something that is a sin by his standards in order to bring merit to the masses."

The Rebbi from Pazienza continues:

It may be assumed that our Master Moses immediately repented for this, thus raising them up as well, and much water and overflow and great salvation came forth.

Moses hits the rock and sins - a premeditated act prompted by his inability to rise up to Miriam's level. Miriam's power was in the breaking of norms; even though she was not commanded, she initiated action. Thanks to her power she managed to waken and arouse the people. That is why when he came to fill his sister's place, Moses had to sin and reach the people in order to arouse their desire for God.

Next the parasha describes a plague and how it was ended by the copper serpent (21:5-9). Regarding this, the Talmud states: The Rabbis taught: "King Hezkiah did six deeds. They thanked him for three, but for [the other] three they did not thank him... he destroyed the copper serpent - and they thanked him... " (Pesahim 56a). The Talmud in Hullin 6b-7a adds: " R. Yehoshua ben Zaruz, the son of Rabbi Meir's father-in-law testified before Rabbi in the matter of how R. Meir ate the leaf of a vegetable in Beit Shean, and on the basis of this testimony, Rabbi absolved all of Beit Shean [from the laws of the Sabbatical Year]. His brothers and his father's house joined together against him, saying to him: "Where your ancestors and ancestors' ancestors prohibited, you permit?" He expounded for them upon this verse: He also broke into pieces the copper serpent that Moses had made, for until that time the Israelites had been offering sacrifices to it; it was called Nehushtan (II Kings 18:4) - could it be that Asa came and did not destroy it, that Yehoshafat came and did not destroy it? Did not Asa and Yehoshafat destroy every form of idolatry in the world? Rather, his forefathers left him room in which to exalt himself, so too, my forefathers left me room to exalt myself."

R. Yehudah HaNasi permited the crops of Beit Shean in the Sabbatical year, based upon an early testimony that R. Meir had been accustomed to do so. To his friend's complaint that he had permitted that which is prohibited, he answered "My forefathers left me room to exalt myself" - sometimes there is a need for innovation.

The parasha ends with the dispatch of emissaries to sue for peace with Sihon:

And Israel now sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, "Let me pass through your country... (21:21-23)

But in Devarim (2:24-29) we read:

See, I have given Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, into your power. Begin the occupation of his land; engage him in battle... then I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemot to King Sihon of Heshbon with an offer of peace, as follows, "Let me pass through your country... "

Regarding this, we read in Midrash Devarim Rabbah 5:13:

Another view: You will decree [and it will be fulfilled] (Job 22:28) - R. Yehoshua DeSikhanin said in the name of R. Levi: Everything that Moses decreed, the Holy One blessed be He agreed with him. How was this?

...The Holy One blessed be He told him: You should fight Sihon, for it is said, engage him in battle, yet he did not do that, but rather, then I sent messengers, etc. The Holy One blessed be He said to him: I tell you go do battle with him, and you offer peace?? By your life, I will fulfill your decree, every war that you go forth to fight shall begin with a call for peace, as it is said, When you approach a town to attack it [you shall offer it terms of peace] (Devarim 20:10). Who fulfilled this matter? Yehoshua bin Nun...

And in a midrash of the Tana'im it is written:

Great is peace, but controversy is hated, great is peace for even in time of war peace is needed, for it is said, When you approach a town to attack it you shall offer it terms of peace - Then I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemot to King Sihon of Heshbon with an offer of peace. (Sifrei Bamidbar 42)

To summarize: the parasha of law [hok] - Hukkat - contains a call for struggle against conformism.

a) The parasha begins with a law that demands simple faith, but even this unfathomable law hints at proper behavior: Do not even think of claiming that you are without imperfections.

b) Moses' breaking of the law - hitting the rock instead of observing the command to speak to it. We find in the Aish Kodesh that this act was premeditated in order to bring God's plenty to the Israelites following Miriam's death. This required that Moses disobey God's law in order to rise up to Miriam's station. Moses learned of Miriam's power from the fact that the people did not break camp when she was punished with leprosy.

c) Hezekiah's destruction of the copper serpent became a symbol - Rabbi learned from Hezkiah's deed that it was possible to cancel the land's holiness, making Beit Shean's produce permissible in the Sabbatical year.

d) Moses broke the law when he offered peace instead of setting out directly for battle, as he had been commanded. The midrash understands Moses' deed as one which taught God - so to speak - how one should behave, and God agreed with it.

e) We must fulfill the verse everything that God says we shall observe and hear with a mind towards repairing the world.

Shlomo Fuchs is the educational director of the Yiud ve'Yihud program at Beit Morasha and teaches at Hebrew Union College, at Beit Shmuel and at Kolot.

 

 

The Striking of the Boulder –Response Out Of Desperation or Fulfillment of God's Command?

Have we the right to investigate the feelings of Moshe our teacher at that moment? What was in the heart of the servant of God - about whom God himself testified he is the most trusted in My entire house? What had distracted him from properly discharging his mission?

We might offer the following suggestion: Moses took the staff from the Tabernacle where it had stood for almost forty years. He took the staff in his hand as God had commanded, and, holding this symbol of his divine mission, he proceeded to gather the people. Here he stands once again - after forty years - with the staff of God in his hand. At the beginning of his mission forty years earlier, he needed the staff in order to publicly certify his appointment. Now he is pained by the thought that in all those forty years, despite all he had done for them, he had not succeeded in winning the people's trust. In the bitterness of this emotion, he forgot his mission, and instead of talking softly to the boulder, he spoke harsh words of admonition. In the storm of his feelings, he struck the boulder.

(Rabbi S. R. Hirsch on Bamidbar 20:11)

 

The sin of Moses and Aaron is not publicized in Scripture. Rashi explained that they were ordered to speak to the boulder - He did not command them to strike it. These are words of aggada. But they are not clear, for after He commanded "Take the staff" the implication was that he strike with it; if it was His intention that Moshe only speak, why take the staff in his hand? When the plagues were brought upon Egypt, God commanded, and the staff which turned into a serpent, take in your hand - and the purpose was to strike with it. A number of times He said stretch forth your hand, meaning to strike with the staff, for Scripture tends to economy with words, and, furthermore, speaking is no greater a miracle than striking, because for the rock, both are equal.

(Ramban, Bamidbar 20:8)

 

The Heritage of Jacob; the Heritage of Esau: Of What are We Proud?

It says about Moses: We cried to the Lord and he heard out voice (Bamidbar 20:16). [Edom] said to [the Israelites]: You are proud that your father bequeathed to you the voice is the voice of Jacob and He heard our voice, while we are proud of what our father bequeathed to us: By your sword you shall live as it says And Edom said to him, you shall not pass through our territory, lest I come out with a sword against you (Bamidbar 20:18)

(Yalkut Shimoni Yeshayahu 41)

 

It is written in Bamidbar (21:21) And Israel sent messengers to Sihon. It is written elsewhere, in parashat Devarim (2:26) And I sent messengers... to Sihon. Based on these two verses, our sages said that two messages were written: one by Moses for peace, and one by Israel for war.

(Hizkuni Bamidbar 21:21).

 

 

 

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