Parashat Chukat begins with the laws of the Red Heifer, whose ashes are used as the main component in purifying an individual who has come in contact with the highest degree of ritual impurity. The Torah then skips 38 years to recount the events of the final few months the Israelites spent in the wilderness prior to their entering the Land of Canaan. Apart from the Red Heifer, the parashah describes 10 more events that occurred.
There are a number of different ways to correspond the 11 topics in parashat Chukat to the sefirot, each following a different logic.
The simplest approach is that to begin with the crown and then work our way down to kingdom. The principle for following the order of events in the parashah is that the Torah’s order of presentation already follows an inner essential logic.
Crown (keter):
In particular, the power to purify a person who has come in contact with death, the worst of form of ritual defilement, stems from the crown, the root of all paradox. As is well-known, the Red Heifer itself contains inherent paradox—most notably in its effect of purifying one who is defiled, while at the same time, defiling the ritually pure individual who prepares it. The crown is thus a source of Divine energy that is above and beyond reason, just as a paradox cannot be fully grasped by the rational mind.
Wisdom (chochmah):
The next topic is the death of Miriam, Moses’ sister. Miriam dies on the 10th of Nissan, 2487—the 40th year since the Exodus from Egypt. As Rashi writes, she dies a serene death known as “by God’s kiss.” The connection between Moses’ sister and wisdom is captured in the verse, “Say to wisdom, you are my sister.”
During the shattering of the vessels of the sefirot in the World of Chaos, Olam HaTohu, only sefirot from knowledge (da’at) and down were shattered. Chasidic thought identifies the feeling of exaggerated egocentrism as the reason for the lower sefirot shattering, whereas, the shattering barely affected the intellectual faculties, wisdom and understanding. Specifically, regarding wisdom, Kabbalah quotes the words, “they shall die, but not with wisdom” (הָמְכָחְא בֹלְוּתוּמוֹי) to support the notion that self-nullification, the inner experience of wisdom, is an antidote to death, just as the self-nullification Miriam practiced her whole life and elevated her to the level of a prophetess was a catalyst for the tranquil death she experienced in her transition from this world to the next.
Understanding (binah):
The rational mind is the source of judgment, as the Zohar says, “from it [understanding], harsh judgments are awakened” (הָינִמִיןִרָעְתִין מִינִּד). Some of these judgments are the result of active, logical deliberation regarding the punishment deserved for improper behavior, but some of it expresses relatively external resentment (אֵידֵפְק) against someone whose mind and thought are weaker and misdirected relative to our own. The event that corresponds to understanding is the incident of the Waters of discontent, when Moses anger at the people caused him to err in his judgment. As the sages say, “Because Moses came to be angered, he came to err” (לַלְכִה לֶׁשֹא מָּב תּעוָל טַלְכִא לָּס בַעַכּ).
Knowledge (da’at):
In the next episode, Moses sends emissaries to the king of Edom. The relationship between Israel and Edom is described as that between the two dimensions of good and evil in the Book of Formation (עַק רֶמֹב עֹק טוֶמֹע), which correspond to the two halves of the sefirah of da’at: the coronet of loving-kindness (the good) and the coronet of judgment (the evil).
Loving-kindness (chesed):
Next, the Torah relates the passing of Aharon, Moses’ brother and his replacement by his son Elazar. The priest is known as the “man of loving-kindness” (דֶסֶ חׁישִא), which is why God entrusted them to bestow His blessing on us, with love.
Might (gevurah):
When they heard of Aharon’s passing, the Amalekites were emboldened to attack the Israelites a second time and were even able to capture a captive. The Israelites mighty response was to vow to dedicate the spoils of their battle with Amalek to God. The battle was quick and decisive, “God heard Israel’s voice and delivered the [Amalekites, who disguised themselves as] Canaanites,” into the hands of the Israelites.
Beauty (tiferet):
However, the joy of the victory over Amalek was shortlived for the people complained about the setbacks encountered in their journey. God plagued them with venomous snakes, which Moses then healed, at God’s instruction, with a copper snake. The snake on a pole has become the universal symbol of healing (הָאּפוְר), which is cognate with the Hebrew word for the sefirah of beauty (תֶרֶאְפִּת).
Victory (netzach):
In their next journey, the Israelites were miraculously saved from a malicious attack by the Amorites who hid in crevices along the gorge of the Arnon river. The miracle was discovered only indirectly demonstrating the protection of God, “the eternal of Israel,” who is undaunted and unchanging.
Acknowledgment (hod):
It was through the Song of the well that the Israelites then acknowledged this miracle and gave thanks for it, including also their gratitude for the 40 years in which Miriam’s well provided them with water in their journey through the wilderness.
Foundation (yesod):
At the end of the parashah, the Torah recounts two wars, one with Sichon of Cheshbon, the other with the infamous Og, the giant who ruled the Bashan. Unlike the war with the Amalekites, these two wars conclude with the Israelites possessing the land of the vanquished. Conquest (ׁשּוּיבִכּ) is associated in the Torah with the power of procreation, as God addressed Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, and conquer it.” Pro-creation is associated with the sefirah of foundation. Of the two kings of the eastern side of the Jordan, Sichon’s power of procreation is mentioned explicitly, as the Israelites “vanquished him and his son(s).” The reading of the word “sons” (וָנָּב) is in the plural, but it is written in the singular form “son” (ֹנוּּב) to imply that all of his power of procreation went into his son, who took of all of his father’s might.
Kingdom (malchut):
Finally, Moses’ victory over Og and the fact that he himself killed Og (as described in Rashi on the last verse of the parashah) are what crowned him as the king of Israel.
Notes:
- For these other methods, see Malchut Yisra’el issue 6 (5749), pp. 36ff.
- Proverbs 7:4.
- Job 4:31.
- Numbers 20:2-13.
- Sifrei Bamidbar.
- See more in our volume The Torah Academy where medicine is placed in correspondence with the sefirah of beauty.
- Genesis 1:28.
- Deuteronomy 2:32.
