Chukat, חֻקַּת. "Statute" Numbers 19:1-22:1

Chukat And The Child

Poetic notes for the parashat Chukat 5782*

Blessed is the person who does not sit 

with the evil inclination on its throne,

like a willing slave, 

who does not join the evil inclination

in being disdainful

toward the law of the red heifer,

who does not join the evil inclination in being irreverent

toward the goat sent to Azazel

Blessed are those who do not wander forever

with the evil inclination in the wilderness

but instead, their hope

is with Hashem in his Temple

Their strength is Hashem,

the redeemer of heaven and earth 

and He is their inclination 

Salvation is at once revealed and concealed 

For it is revealed with an absolute change in what is real 

A reality that was plain to touch and to see 

and was right before one’s face, 

then is changed by the word of God

Reality is gone

It has been concealed from the world with salvation 

Abraham’s name was changed

and Sarah’s name was changed 

and reality was changed and concealed from the world

Jacob’s name was changed to Israel

and salvation was glimpsed

Reality appeared again in the world

There is a new, eternal reality

exacted by strict justice

It is created in the form of a redeemed Jacob, 

a new heaven and earth,

revealed in righteous mercy,

raised and nurtured

in the Temple of Jerusalem’s heart

The nations blushed to see humble Israel

performing the ritual of the red heifer

Hashem surround her,

spread His wings around His firstborn,

He silenced the nations before they could speak, 

before they could say, 

What on earth are you doing?

Israel cannot explain or defend

the service of the red heifer

It is a chukat

It is a sovereign decree

It is a purification of reality

It is a purification concealed from all the agents of death

It is an eternal secret of life

For it is incomprehensible to those 

whose mind and wisdom stops with time

Let those whose heart craves learning,

who's soul thirsts for understanding,

search in good faith for the way of holy learning 

Learn, therefore, and understand!

For an insincere philosopher

serves the propaganda of death

They draw maps of reality 

and their maps are mazes in madness

A person who trusts God as a child trusts in truth

and is like the child king,  Solomon

That wise child understood holy learning

and how to admit with disciplined skill

when he did not yet understand

The learning companion of everyone who is like Solomon

is the hidden Tzaddik

Learning is their fellowship and their teacher is joy

They come of age and already 

they are vessels of incense and thankfulness

There are those who obey their own understanding,

as if it were the commandment of God

They do not understand even what they are —

they have lived all their lives

unable to get up out of their death bed

Their love is not obedient to God

It is always dying

and is without regenerating faith

It withers and soon will perish,

unless it is taken in hand

by the faith of others

The desire of God is holy love

The labor of God 

is to fill every heart and mind with his love

There is no vessel of heaven,

no galaxy of stars or angels,

through which God can fulfill all His desire

He focuses His labor of love 

on those who keep his commandments,

each soul waiting together in faith 

for the Redeemer of Zion

The judges of Israel 

are waiting for the Redeemer of Zion

With Mishnah and Gemara and Posekim,

they will open the floodgates

of the knowledge of God

And the knowledge of God shall fill the earth

as the waters fill the seas

The simple faith of a child like Solomon

will lead them 

With the humility of faith,

they will walk along the pathway 

outside the camp,

to drink from Miriam’s well

They will pass beyond the place of the stricken rock,

to clear the place of the fiery serpents

They will march as one,

to know the place of Moshe and Aaron,

the place of the red heifer

They will camp in the place of the kohanim 

who sprinkle and become one with the sprinkled,

the place of the red ribbon and the fire, and the ashes,

the place of judgment and mercy

with hyssop and cedar wood  

and the purification of all reality

And they shall be born 

from the healed heart of Jerusalem,

the eternal Mother of all living