This week's Torah reading, Chukat, actually makes a thirty-nine year chronological jump in the narrative of the people of Israel's desert wanderings, and they are now poised to finally enter the Promised Land. Accordingly, as the people prepare to establish a sovereign nation in their own land, they here undergo their first formal, "political" encounter with other nations. There had of course been an encounter with the nation of Amalek, upon Israel's exodus from Egypt, but this was a simple, if somewhat miraculous, battle which involved no "diplomacy" or negotiations.

     Despite the chronological leap for our narrative's protagonists, for we the readers of the Torah, Chukat is very much a response to the events of our previous reading of Korach. Chukat follows Korach's attempt to displace not only Moses and Aaron as leaders but even the Torah's commandments themselves, by opening with mysticism and closing with poetry, and demonstrating some very important and instructive aspects of Moses and Aaron's qualities of leadership in between.

     Rabbi A. Y. Kook saw the arts as a means for individuals to give expression to natural human spiritual longings. Aesthetic delight can also serve to bring individuals closer to their Creator. In modern times we have witnessed totalitarian regimes which have sought to suppress or control such longings on the part of their citizens by abolishing or altering the arts to suit their narrow purposes, thereby gutting them of value and reducing art to a political statement.

     In the Torah, Moses initially describes himself as "not a man of words" when first approached by God. However, the period of Israel's exodus from Egypt was primarily one which required action on the part of Moses; God supplied the inspiration by way of the wonders which He displayed. As the people prepare themselves to enter the Land of Israel, the Torah deems it appropriate to offer the people spiritual inspiration through poetic imagery which perhaps begins in Chukat, and by the end of the Torah's concluding book of Deuteronomy, Moses himself fully becomes a "man of words" by way of very vivid poetic oratory.

     In introducing the commandment for the offering of the Red Heifer, Chukat goes beyond the already difficult to grasp concept of sacrifice and enters the realm of mysticism. The Red Heifer is probably the prototype statute or "chuka", a commandment perhaps open to a certain degree of philosophical speculation, but beyond our complete understanding. Our dutiful observance of a statute, despite having a clear "rational" understanding of it, is an expression of our active faith in God and His Torah.

     Mysticism, however, while enriching our relationship with God should not come to dominate it. When Moses is told to speak to the rock in order to bring forth water, he instead speaks to the people, calling them "rebels" and asking them(in an ironic tone) "Shall we produce water for you from this rock?" Rabbi Shlomo Riskin sees this question as a chastisement; the people had perhaps become overly dependent on "high profile" miracles, and were overlooking the "small" wonders which God worked for them on an ongoing basis.

     Moses and Aaron are denied entry to the Land of Israel as a result of Moses failing to carry out the word of God in the exact manner which He had prescribed. This matter is perhaps as difficult for us to fully comprehend as is the concept of the Red Heifer. However, the response of Moses and the response of the people to Aaron's death provide us with the clearest possible yardsticks for recognizing the qualities of true leadership.

Upon receiving God's decision, rather than attempting to argue against it, Moses instead immediately gets on with the business at hand, organizing envoys for the people's encounter with Edom. This is followed by Aaron's death, and at their own initiative, the people mourn him for thirty days. While God had formally appointed Moses and Aaron as leaders of the people, their actions crowned them so in the people's hearts.

Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom!