The Parasha of Hukat opens with a famous precept called “The Ashes of the Red Heifer”, it is famous since it became a symbol for the mysteries and illogical issues the Torah hides behind its stories and precepts. The next story is the famous event in which Moses hits the rock and water flows from it for the whole nation, alas, God has told Moses to speak to the rock and not to hit it. Further on we can read about the death of Aharon and then we can read about the Israelites complaining again and in response they are being punished with a plague of snakes. When they pray for forgiveness and healing Moses builds for them the famous copper snake that becomes later on an international symbol for healing and medicine.
So, what is Red Heifer? When someone wants to purify himself from the impurity of the dead, which is the greatest impurity, he goes to the priest who uses for purification ashes of a Red Heifer that has never been under a yoke.
The Zohar teaches us that everything has a spiritual meaning and that our five senses do not comprehend everything. It is similarly to the “chaos theory” in modern mathematics which is the foundation for the explanation for many phenomenons in the universe. According to the theory, many of the universe chaotic procedures have actually tremendous order that we cannot understand.
The Zohar also explains that the difference between people of evil and those who follow the path of truth, the path of the Tree of Life, is devotion, love and unity that is the same frequency of the Creator, which is the essence of sharing and endless light and love. Meaning, we need to attach ourselves to the frequency of infinite flow if we want to connect to the flow of life that flows endlessly from the Creator.
The Kabbalists explain that the Torah is not a history book but “… a tree of life to those who take hold of it” (proverbs 3:18), a connection to a spiritual power – the power of life. Every week provides us a different spiritual challenge – our correction (Tikun) on the way to wholeness. Those challenges will not have come in our way unless we could face them, hence wherever the strike (challenge) is, we can also find the cure, concealed in the weekly portion. All of the descriptions in the Parasha are actually symbols that were meant to guide us through the week in order to help us on our way to connect to the Tree of Life.
The power of Left Column – the power that receives only for itself, is the power of end and death – is expressed in a few symbols: in the world of animals it is the bull; in gender it is the female; and in colors it appears as red; all of these symbols united in one are expressed in the Red Heifer that has never been under a yoke, meaning it has not share anything with no one but itrself.
As we mentioned above, the cure is where the problem is. Hence, the Red Heifer is the cure for impurity and impermeability for the flow of the power of life. How so? The heifer will be burnt and her ashes will be placed in the water (which symbolizes the spiritual power of the Right Column) and together they will be sprinkles by the Priest (also a symbol for Right Column).
Similarly, the snake we know from the story of Adam and Eve, it is actually a side within us that always pulls us to negativity and death, our Parasha has the cure for it – this is the copper snake. Copper is a symbol for the power of balance, the central column.
Hukat is usually being read on Tamuz which is the zodiac sign of Cancer. The sign of Cancer is known for its great sensitivity, and the essence of our Parasha is to direct this sensitivity into sharing and giving to others – the cure for the impurity and the connection to the Tree of Life.
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