CHUKAT/BALAK: ANTIDOTE TO ZERO SUM FEAR
by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin HaKohen Melman
How much of life is seen as a zero sum game? How often do we view our neighbor's gain as our loss? This jealousy/covetousness is the source of evil. When we believe that there is not sufficient abundance in the universe for all of us we resort defensively to a hoarding posture. So, homeopathically, we must eliminate this zero sum thinking with a ritual which embraces the same!
This week we learn about the snake victims. From Eve until today the snake is our nemesis. Seldom are two parshiot more fittingly tied together than Chukat and Balak. On the deepest level they are so intimately connected. The snake is the eternal metaphor for the evil inclination, inherent in the central human condition of free choice, Bechirat Chofsheet.
Ironically the symbol for healing is the snake on a pole (Numbers 21:8). Aetiologically, it is falsely attributed to Greek origins. But more than irony is the homeopathic truth which is revealed: The cure is implicit in its (diluted) essence.
The Torah is a blueprint for life affirmation and the implicit negation of death. We are instructed to concoct the antidote to death contamination/impurity. How fitting in the parsha where we see the deaths of Miriam, Aaron, and the snake victims. We are to take a completely red cow- a parah adumah temimah,and slaughter it and burn it completely. Its ashes serve to ritually and spiritually purify us in the face of death and death contamination. The word "tumah" (impurity) itself is the root of the English word "conTAMinate."
How much of life is seen as a zero sum game? How often do we view our neighbor's gain as our loss? This jealousy/covetousness is the source of evil. When we believe that there is not sufficient abundance in the universe for all of us we resort defensively to a hoarding posture. So, homeopathically, we must eliminate this zero sum thinking with a ritual which embraces the same!
This week we learn about the snake victims. From Eve until today the snake is our nemesis. Seldom are two parshiot more fittingly tied together than Chukat and Balak. On the deepest level they are so intimately connected. The snake is the eternal metaphor for the evil inclination, inherent in the central human condition of free choice, Bechirat Chofsheet.
Ironically the symbol for healing is the snake on a pole (Numbers 21:8). Aetiologically, it is falsely attributed to Greek origins. But more than irony is the homeopathic truth which is revealed: The cure is implicit in its (diluted) essence.
The Torah is a blueprint for life affirmation and the implicit negation of death. We are instructed to concoct the antidote to death contamination/impurity. How fitting in the parsha where we see the deaths of Miriam, Aaron, and the snake victims. We are to take a completely red cow- a parah adumah temimah,and slaughter it and burn it completely. Its ashes serve to ritually and spiritually purify us in the face of death and death contamination. The word "tumah" (impurity) itself is the root of the English word "conTAMinate."
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Sefer Chabibi Deepest Torah: CHUKAT/BALAK: ANTIDOTE TO ZERO SUM FEAR
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