Parashas Chukat
National Unity In The Entire House of Israel
Rabbi David Katz
This
year's Parashas Chukat came under immense scrutiny, not because of any issue of
its own right, but because of its profound prophetic message that it delivered
three thousand years ago. The nature of this message was inscribed covertly in
the passage about the King of Arad, who had taken a captive of Israel from the
days of their initial journeys into the Land, a.k.a. the spies. Correspondingly, during this year's annual weekly reading of the Parasha, Israel endured one of
its worst tragedies in recent memory, as three teenage boys were kidnapped in
Land. The parallels are astoundingly similar between then and now, considering it,
geographically, conceptually, character profile, etc. It seems that what occurred
here recently, coupled within the focus of the Parasha, was an expression of
the cosmos drawn together to show a digital image of the World that we live in,
shedding light on our acute realities. The lasting thought through it all is, that Israel is one, and when united as such, we can see the entire House of
Israel. And as always, this is expressed through the sacred Four-Headed Letter Shin,
as it dons the houses of the Priest, Levite, Israel, and The Righteous Ger. The
clincher of this story, as it was conceived in the days of Moses, was that the
captive was a Ger; things couldn't be more apropos it seems.
The
buildup is methodical from Parshiot Shelach and Korach; leading into our
Parasha Chukat, it sets up a peak in Balak, just before Pinchas hits the
climax of the entire Torah, then followed by a resolution before full review
[Devarim] in the Book of Bamidbar's final two Parshiot Mattos –Massei. Thus by
now, with a closer look into our local proximity, we can see that the episode
of the spies brought out a larger authentic reality of life. The nature of the
intent was something that defines Mankind's existence - evil speech. It was and
still is being rectified, and due to a forty-year punishment of journeys to
ultimately ascend within the Land, all of the people funneled into a median
human experience. Simply put, this massive movement of people, that contained
the full House of Israel, had to learn the art of humility. They had to learn
how to be painfully real. They had to learn the whole Torah, a Torah that is
defined by Moses' greatest gift, and appropriately defined his life as Torah.
Now
forced to wander the borders of Israel, outside of entry from the sacred hills
of Milk and Honey that would be known as the Land of Canaan, God had promised
to be in their midst and pioneer their travels. By definition this composes the
Torah of Israel [otherwise known spiritually as Shem Yisrael "The Name
Israel"] in all of its details, and such that it ensures a direct path to
Zion and Messiah son of David. Where Joshua would blaze the trail, in the
future the Messiah will walk it in Peace.
Making their experience manageable was attributed to the three famous
gifts from God, in the merit of the House of Amram [Moses, Miriam, and Aaron],
in the guise of Manna, well water, and protective clouds of glory. This is
where the Torah lesson of humility would begin, and as we saw with the spies,
they had not even begun to have mastered the art of staying humble. For Israel
to remain on top of Zion, they would need to be humble, along with the staying
power of hard work and remaining focused on the role that they would play. And
so it was, as nearly forty years ticked by for them, as long as it took us in our time to do as little
as turn the page. Who knew it was that simple. [To learn something as simple as
turning the page; literally for us, was an analogy for them, yet still
resoundingly profound]
As
these all began coming into focus, that soon this movement would enter into the
Land proper, God began to hyper-prepare them for this harsh dose of real life
experiences. They would soon learn the art of the Torah way of eating,
drinking, and protection. Simply put, they would have to learn how to build and
repair the World. These are necessary skills for the Full House of Israel, for
this is their purpose of having being created. And one day they will perfect
this way of living, allowing for Hashem to one day dwell in His eternal house
on Zion. Our Parasha kicks things off, for once Miriam and Aaron die, leaving
the People with Moses alone, from their presence was removed the miraculous
protection and water. Add in the grim reality that soon the food would be gone,
after Moses was promptly punished alongside Aaron (over the striking of the
rock), and one could say tough love set in. And from there it only got tougher.
Quickly
following the deaths to Aaron and Miriam, and the people faced the world in which they would have to fend for themselves in pure trust with God's providence,
and being tested by that same World. The King of Arad heard that Israel was
vulnerable as Hashem's gifts were taken away. Still fuming over the spy
episode nearly forty years ago, he sought his revenge. The Amalekite [as
explained by Midrash] captured a Ger of the Fourth House of Israel, and Israel
was faced with its first real national crisis. Anyone who has read through the
Torah until now certainly knows that Israel had faced many foes and challenges
every step of their progression towards liberty; yet somehow this one was
different. It was personal.
The
King knew this was a particularly sensitive time for Israel, and as he had been
patiently waiting for his opportune time of revenge. Now was clearly his hour.
With the disappearance of the protective clouds and abundance of water, the
eagle landed, took its captive, and as much as he exposed young Israel,
something of a miracle happened. Israel grew her wings in that moment; a
national identity was formed. Even more than that, humanity finally found its
soul. The Kingdom of Priests was born, and now there was a Light to go out to
Nations, as the Nations completely grafted themselves within the famed letter
shin. This was made possible through the national unity that erupted over the
King of Arad's captive strike.
What
happened next was of epic proportions. Such that if the Torah defines "epic",
here is your eternal definition and generational gold standard. Israel vowed to
God, that should the captive be returned, they would decimate idolatry in the
Land. This met with God's approval. We learn in several places
including here, it was then carried out and cities were destroyed. One place
in particular was so destroyed it was promised a share of a unique eternal existence.
This would be the Biblical Tzfat; and as we know from tradition, it is the host
of Messianic days, Its special merit was in its total eradication of idolatry and that her crusade was led by God's epic special forces unit.
Many
would be astounded by such a concept of "special forces" in Torah,
but the Kenites –offspring of Jethro - served just that role. They destroyed what
was before Tzfat, and they would go on to father the famed Rechabites - a sect
of Gerim that performed some of the greatest achievements of God's word in
history, under the auspices of a unique covenant that was created in their
merit alone. Thus not only did Israel
find victory, but it was there, in Tzfat [which was north of the original
boundary; Tzfat would become added territory, such that was promised to
Abraham] where National Unity found its light.
So, from the great travesty of evil speech
against Gerim, which began the wilderness experience, this great tragedy turned into a truly
Levitical moment! Just as Levy wished to kill Joseph, and repented into a
savior story for Joseph culminating in Messianic days; the Gerim just
became the famed "Nilviim" – attachments to Israel, coming into the
Fourth House of the letter Shin. If humanity found its soul and reinforcement
in their courage, then Israel found something even more. Israel found its left
arm, it found its mate, it found its brother and friend, and maybe the clearest
analogy is, they found their hand in glove relationship.
The
sequence of events has revealed Torah's secret contents, much like a dried out
lake reveals her contents of past failed expeditions. The Torah has boiled off all of
its excess, by losing its food, drink, and shelter, and by desperation, it
revealed its previously submerged contents – the Gerim. Only now, after not
having the misconception of "how it will be?", Israel realized
"Brothers sitting as one." The events we are witnessing today appear
to mirror this concept in a striking fashion. Perhaps we are living in a
way, that we are destined to witness the true Pinchas – Messiah moment once the
turmoil boils over from the aftermath of our present captive saga.
The
creation of Israel carries a tradition that her righteous souls merit a World
to Comer. This was always thought to be an exclusive Jewish club. But as we
inch towards that transition in time, and the Gerim are swarming back in record
proportion, we are seeing the Torah text in new light. No longer must we
interpret an ethno-bias against humanity. For it is more than apparent that
Israel was always meant to discuss all four houses of the Shin. With that settled,
we can begin to reclaim the Ger Torah, dusting off its cover layered with the disgrace of ages, and welcome
back our Joseph – that lives! May this be the fate of our current state of
affairs, such that the well springs of the next world flow into our world,
sweetening the reservoirs of human existence.
It
is often wondered whether righteous gentiles, per se, have a portion in the
World to Come. One answer, in the formative, is that they do. But, it is a mere
garment to Israel proper. Let's go ahead and answer this up in a novel way,
since the obvious answer is that all four houses will be there together,
sitting as one family.
Yes; the Ger will be as garments to Israel. But, think of it this way: Adam was naked
in the Garden, and didn't dress until he sinned. That sin led to the creation
of Jews and Gerim to replace Adam and Eve, or rather fully express them. When
Adam donned the apron, the word used in Hebrew contains the letters that spell
"the daunting [task] of the Ger" and has a gematria of 611 [Torah =
611, as well as "repair of Adam"]. Alternatively, it can mean the
gathering of the Ger, and two are always one…and the Torah was never meant to
be easy. The point is, Adam was always meant to be garmented and his task was
to be garmented with Eve, his help mate and sister. With the Ger in The World
to Come, Adam's job is finished, and we are all there, fully garmented and one - as a blessed and united humanity – Adam – Mankind. We are all there together; and by merit of the Ger, we are there as a garmented Mankind, for otherwise we
would be left naming the animals. God had pity on Adam, and made one big family
instead. Such is the heart of God and His Creation! In the words of Rebbe
Nachman, we can summarize this daunting task, with the Ger who serves to complete
the building of the Altar within the Temple of Mankind. If the King inspired a
demolishing of cities in return for divine favor, let us then on the heels of
our current crisis, offer this: give us back your House, and we as Mankind will
fill it, because we are the ones here waiting, as one big family with nowhere
to go! What good are consecrated cities without the context of ascending to Zion
as a full house of Israel?!
Videos coming soon of previous 2 Parshiot! Weather has delayed the editing, but rest assured they produced on time, and we look forward to publishing very soon to to the site! Stay Tuned
