{"id":47660,"date":"2018-07-09T17:41:22","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-136\/"},"modified":"2022-08-11T16:57:11","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T13:57:11","slug":"wall-136","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-136\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Torah-Numbers-19"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"136","date":"20260308","book":"Numbers","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"136","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"47711","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Numbers 19 - Judy Hammond ","post_title":"Numbers 19 - Judy Hammond","slug":"numbers-19-judy-hammond","old_id":"47711","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34686,"post_title":"Soundcloud","slug":"soundcloud","old_id":"34686","first_name":"","last_name":"","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34656,"alt":"","title":"491","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","width":300,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"136","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Audio Bible","tile_main_caption":"Numbers 19","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"read by Judy Hammond","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/929-bible\/numbers-chapter-19-read-by-judy-hammond","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"136","date":"20260308","wall_id":"136"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"107120","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Seeing Red ","post_title":"Seeing Red","slug":"seeing-red","old_id":"107120","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":78133,"post_title":"Josh Blechner","slug":"josh-blechner","old_id":"78133","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Blechner ","description":"Josh first finished the Tanach during Yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"136","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Cows, goats, hyssop and - symbolism\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

This is the ritual law, <\/span>chok<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>that God has commanded: Instruct the Israelite people to bring you a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid (verse 2).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Red Heifer is the quintessential example of a <\/span>chok<\/span><\/em>. According to Rashi, a <\/span>chok<\/em> <\/span>has no rational reason, so that from the outset, there is no need to explain it. A <\/span>chok<\/em> <\/span>is a <\/span>chok<\/em> <\/span>and that\u2019s that. However, the idea of a <\/span>chok<\/em> <\/span>does not stop us from trying to figure out the reasons behind certain aspects of the <\/span>chok<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One interesting part of the Red Heifer is that it is sacrificed outside the Mishkan. Another similar <\/span>chok<\/em> <\/span>that is sacrificed outside the camp is the scapegoat, the goat sent to Azazel. The two have another connection: the color red. The Red Heifer must be entirely red, without a single non-red hair. The Azazel Goat has a red string tied to its horns before it is thrown over the cliff. Sforno explains that the color red is used to connect a passage in Isaiah \u201cBe your sins like crimson, They can turn snow-white; Be they red as dyed wool, They can become like fleece\u201d (Isaiah 1:18). This makes sense in connection with the Azazel Goat. The red crimson thread had a matching one hanging in the Temple. If God had forgiven the people, the red thread would turn white.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But what is the connection to the Red Heifer? A person who would require the Red Heifer did not commit a sin. It is simply for one who came in contact with a dead body, for any reason. Perhaps the answer lies in the use of another unique ingredient, the hyssop. The only other time the hyssop is used is part of the ceremony for the person with <\/span>tzara\u2019at<\/span><\/em>. That ceremony occurs in the Mishkan. When someone encounters death, their life is forever changed. It can be hard to move forward. The person may feel responsible for the death - as if they committed a sin - even if that is not the case.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps, the Red Heifer borrows two symbols from the <\/span>tzara\u2019at<\/em> <\/span>ceremony and the Azazel Goat as a way to remind the person that they are not condemned as a sinner and are absolved like the Azazel Goat.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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Chukkat - The Comfort of Fallibility<\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/YsO1N41zCK8","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Shabbat With a Schmear","tile_main_caption":"Chukkat: The Comfort of Fallibility","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Adam Mintz with Meredith Berkman (ShabbatMom)","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/YsO1N41zCK8","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"I Samuel","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":false,"wall_id":"1052"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"369","name":"Visual Arts","old_id":"769"}]},{"order":4,"id":"47701","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Here and Now ","post_title":"Here And Now","slug":"here-and-now","old_id":"47701","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33992,"post_title":"Bradley Shavit Artson","slug":"rabbi-dr-bradley-shavit-artson","old_id":"33992","first_name":"Bradley Shavit ","last_name":"Artson","description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson holds the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Dean's Chair of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles, and is professor of philosophy there. Artson is married to Elana Shavit Artson, and they are the parents of twins, Shira and Jacob.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson is the Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33993,"alt":"","title":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","width":204,"height":199,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-256x300.png","medium-width":256,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","medium_large-width":204,"medium_large-height":199,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","large-width":204,"large-height":199,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","1536x1536-width":204,"1536x1536-height":199,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","2048x2048-width":204,"2048x2048-height":199,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","post_full_size-width":204,"post_full_size-height":199,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","home_baner-width":204,"home_baner-height":199}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"136","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"From religions of death and the hereafter, to a religion of life, of people, today","post_main_content_content":"

Born in part out of the sweltering heat of Egypt, with its human hierarchies and its obsession with the afterlife luxuries afforded the rich and the powerful, ancient Israel broke with the pathologies of its oppressors and fashioned a religion that minimized social privilege, articulating a notion of covenant that includes the entire people and a God who cares for all Israel, all humanity, all creation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As part of that radical reorientation, the Torah also goes to great length to shift the focus of religion away from an afterlife, and toward this world. Whereas the Egyptian religion, though its Book of the Dead and its endless incantations and sacrifices, drives home the notion of a world to come that is dangerous, terrifying, and difficult to attain, the Torah says precious little about an afterlife and focuses instead on narratives and practices that enrich life in the here and now, creating a society in which everyday blessings can help each of us thrive.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In a brilliant move to cement this shift in focus to life in this world, the Torah also prevents death from being the focus of our ritual attention. \u201cOne who touches the corpse of any human being shall be unclean for seven days (Numbers 19:11).\u201d By making contact with a corpse a primary source of <\/span>tum'ah<\/span><\/em> (ritual impurity, uncleanness), Jewish law forces us to limit such contact, and with it, the focus of our spirituality. Jews are commanded to care for the dead by cleaning the body, burying the remains promptly and with dignity, and then our attention shifts back to life: the wellbeing of the mourner, helping them to process their grief and return to the world of the living.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ancient Israel\u2019s \u201cclergy,\u201d the priests, were prohibited from contacting corpse impurity. The average Israelite was directed to minimize such contact. And with that, the Torah turns our gaze, our aspirations, and our energy toward this world, person, this day, this moment.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The time is now. The task is great. Pay attention to what is before us, and make a difference today.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Here And Now","tile_main_caption":"From religions of death and the hereafter, to a religion of life, of people. The time is now. The task is great. Pay attention to what is before us, and make a difference today.","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"136","date":"20260308","wall_id":"136"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"383","name":"Death","old_id":"783"},{"term_id":"820","name":"Afterlife","old_id":"1220"}]},{"order":5,"id":"47689","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Red Heifer \u2013 Then and Now ","post_title":"Red Heifer \u2013 Then And Now","slug":"red-heifer-then-and-now","old_id":"47689","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"136","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"We no longer have the ritual - but don\u2019t have a cow!","post_main_content_content":"

Our chapter begins with God telling Moses: \u201cThis is the statute of the law (huqqat ha-torah<\/em>), which the Lord has commanded, saying: \u2018Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer, faultless, in whom there is no imperfection, and upon whom no yoke has come\u2019\u201d (Numbers 19:2). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

According to the Rabbinic Sages, the law of the \u00a0Red Heifer is specifically referred to as a choq<\/em> (\u201cstatute\u201d), which may be categorized as a divine commandment not based on any practical reason, but which is to be observed out of unquestioning acceptance of the authority of God. Such statutes are understood to be beyond normal human understanding (Numbers Rabbah 19:3 & 8). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

According to the Midrash (Numbers Rabbah 19:6), God revealed the rationale for this commandment only to Moses. Another midrashic tradition (Pesiqta de-Rav Kahana, Parah 4:7 and parallels), dramatically narrates that as Moses is ascending to receive the Torah, he first hears God reciting the opening Halakhah in Mishnah Parah. This tractate of the Mishnah consists in full of 96 separate mishnayot, divided into twelve chapters, all devoted to the elaboration of this one biblical commandment. The commandment of the Red Heifer so concerned the Rabbis because its ashes were necessary for the purification of highly \u201ccontagious\u201d corpse-impurity that was contracted by any direct (or even indirect) contact with a dead body, as detailed in the continuation of our Chapter (verses 3-22, see Maimonides, Hilkhot Tumat Met). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Because the offering of sacrifices ceased after the Destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, purification from ritual corpse-impurity has also not been possible since then. However, in our day, the Temple Institute in Jerusalem has instituted a program to raise a herd of Red Heifers in Israel, in accordance with the stringencies of Halakhah and under strict Rabbinic supervision, in preparation for the Coming of the Messiah, the Rebuilding of the (i.e.Third) Temple and the subsequent purification of our world. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The possibility of again preparing new ashes of a kosher Red Heifer is based on the teaching of Maimonides (Hilkhot Parah Adumah 3:4, compare Mishnah Parah 3:5). Maimonides concludes this Chapter of his monumental Code of Jewish Law (Mishneh Torah) with the following details and --unconventionally for his general manner of writing in this work -- with a prayer: \u201cNine red heifers were offered from the time that they were commanded to fulfill this mitzvah until the time when the Temple was destroyed a second time. The first was offered by Moses our teacher. The second was offered by Ezra. Seven others were offered until the destruction of the Second Temple. And the tenth will be offered by the king Messiah -- May he speedily be revealed! Amen. So may it be God's will!\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:R%C3%B8d_dansk_malkerace_RDM.jpg#\/media\/File:R%C3%B8d_dansk_malkerace_RDM.jpg<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47690,"alt":"","title":"Num19-R\u00f8d_dansk_malkerace_RDM","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-R\u00f8d_dansk_malkerace_RDM.jpg","width":1280,"height":910,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-R\u00f8d_dansk_malkerace_RDM-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-R\u00f8d_dansk_malkerace_RDM-300x213.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":213,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-R\u00f8d_dansk_malkerace_RDM-768x546.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":546,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-R\u00f8d_dansk_malkerace_RDM-1024x728.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":728,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-R\u00f8d_dansk_malkerace_RDM.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":910,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-R\u00f8d_dansk_malkerace_RDM.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":910,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-R\u00f8d_dansk_malkerace_RDM-1200x853.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":853,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-R\u00f8d_dansk_malkerace_RDM-591x420.jpg","home_baner-width":591,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Red Heifer \u2013 Then And Now","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"We no longer have the ritual - 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Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"136","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Just as a statute is carved into stone, so a behavioral habit is carved into our unconscious mind and alters our instinctual responses","post_main_content_content":"

It is less reason than emotion that lies behind our choices, and it takes emotional intelligence to make good choices. The problem is that much of our emotional life lies beneath the surface of the conscious mind.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>That is the logic of the \u201cchukim,\u201d the \u201cstatutes\u201d of Judaism, the laws that seem to make no sense in terms of rationality. These are laws like the prohibition of sowing mixed seeds together (kelayim); of wearing cloth of mixed wool and linen (shaatnez); and of eating milk and meat together. The law of the Red Heifer with which our parsha begins, is described as the chok par excellence: \u201cThis is the statute of the Torah\u201d (Num. 19:2).<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>There have been many interpretations of the chukim throughout the ages. But in the light of recent neuroscience we can suggest that they are laws designed to bypass the prefrontal cortex, the rational brain, and create instinctive patterns of behaviour to counteract some of the darker emotional drives at work in the human mind\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The prohibitions against sowing mixed seeds, mixing meat and milk or wool and linen, and so on, create an instinctual respect for the integrity of nature. They establish boundaries. They set limits. They inculcate the feeling that we may not do to our animal and plant environment everything we wish. Some things are forbidden \u2013 like the fruit of the tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden. The whole Eden story, set at the dawn of human history, is a parable whose message we can understand today better than any previous generation: Without a sense of limits, we will destroy our ecology and discover that we have lost paradise\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Hebrew term \u201cchok\u201d comes from the verb meaning, \u201cto engrave\u201d. Just as a statute is carved into stone, so a behavioural habit is carved in depth into our unconscious mind and alters our instinctual responses. The result is a personality trained to see death and holiness as two utterly opposed states \u2013 just as meat (death) and milk (life) are.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Chukim are Judaism\u2019s way of training us in emotional intelligence, above all a conditioning in associating holiness with life, and defilement with death. It is fascinating to see how this has been vindicated by modern neuroscience. Rationality, vitally important in its own right, is only half the story of why we are as we are. We will need to shape and control the other half if we are successfully to conquer the instinct to aggression, violence and death that lurks not far beneath the surface of the conscious mind.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From:<\/span>Descartes\u2019 Error (Covenant & Conversation, Chukat 5777)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

Image:Polygon data are from BodyParts3D[1], CC BY-SA 2.1 jp, 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He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U., and his writing has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Tablet Magazine, The New York Observer, and a range of other publications. He holds a doctorate in English Literature from Harvard and a law degree from Stanford.\r\n","short_description":"Ari Hoffman is a columnist for the Forward, where he writes about politics and culture, and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36424,"alt":"","title":"Ari Hoffman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","width":1044,"height":1438,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-218x300.jpg","medium-width":218,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":743,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","large-width":743,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","1536x1536-width":1044,"1536x1536-height":1438,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","2048x2048-width":1044,"2048x2048-height":1438,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-871x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":871,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-305x420.jpg","home_baner-width":305,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"136","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The ultimate domestic animal recalls the rampantly undomesticated nature of the cosmos","post_main_content_content":"

We usually think of symbols as clarifying. See a flag, recognize a country. Wear a logo, demonstrate your loyalty to a sports team. Plant a sign on your lawn, and demonstrate your fealty to a candidate, cause, or proposition. Take a skiff out for the day, and in Lady Liberty\u2019s shadow you might get a glimpse of America\u2019s loftiest ideals. When you see Lady Liberty standing guard at a courthouse, you might be momentarily reassured that justice is blind. Symbols are shorthand for whole constellations of complexity, and they help us move through the world without too much explaining along the way.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Today\u2019s chapter features a powerful symbol, but one of an especially intriguing kind. The Red Heifer has come to stand in for the boundaries of rationality and the persistent force and charisma of the illogical. It is the paradigmatic commandment-without-a-reason, and in that capacity the unusually tinted bovine gives heft and presence to all the ways that we are subject to commands and demands from forces beyond our control. The ultimate domestic animal recalls the rampantly undomesticated nature of the cosmos; the logic of the backyard collides with a realm where questions have no answers and cause and effect wander with no real acquaintance.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What about the red? From all accounts, the cow is otherwise ordinary, besides for its hide. The very capriciousness of the criteria enacts the arbitrariness it personifies, and maybe that is a lesson, too; the line between the rational and the arbitrary, the logical and the mystical, the explainable and the exasperating, is just skin deep. The Red Heifer is still a cow, just a little bit different. A genetic splinter, a pigmentary outlier, yes, but not fundamentally different. It still feels rough and smooth in all the usual places, but in its reddish light we see a wild and unknowable world.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Michal Ben Hamu<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":107130,"alt":"","title":"-62f508c059443--62f508c059444num19-red heifer 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Red Heifer Paradox ","post_title":"The Red Heifer Paradox","slug":"the-red-heifer-paradox","old_id":"47692","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46996,"post_title":"Mark Gersten","slug":"mark-gersten","old_id":"46996","first_name":"Mark ","last_name":"Gersten","description":"Dr. Mark B Gersten earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from New York University. 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","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":46997,"alt":"","title":"mark gersten","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/mark-gersten.jpg","width":129,"height":224,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/mark-gersten-129x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":129,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/mark-gersten.jpg","medium-width":129,"medium-height":224,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/mark-gersten.jpg","medium_large-width":129,"medium_large-height":224,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/mark-gersten.jpg","large-width":129,"large-height":224,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/mark-gersten.jpg","1536x1536-width":129,"1536x1536-height":224,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/mark-gersten.jpg","2048x2048-width":129,"2048x2048-height":224,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/mark-gersten.jpg","post_full_size-width":129,"post_full_size-height":224,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/mark-gersten.jpg","home_baner-width":129,"home_baner-height":224}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"136","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Suffering a minor personal setback to help others with their major ones","post_main_content_content":"

The Red Heifer is considered a paradox. The person who has it sprinkled on him becomes pure spiritually, while the priest who prepares the ashes becomes ritually impure. How can this be explained?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

All ritual impurity is not equivalent. The man waiting for the ashes has come into contact with a dead body. His only recourse is to be sprinkled with the ashes. The priest who prepares the ashes becomes impure only for a day. This impurity is easily removed by going to the m<\/em><\/span>ikvah <\/span><\/em>at the end of the day.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This situation teaches us our responsibility as Jews. If someone is in desperate straits, (like the impure man who is kept out of the camp away from his family) and someone can relieve him of this desperate situation by suffering a little (like the priest who gives up his purity for part of a day), it is a Jew\u2019s responsibility to help a fellow Jew and be willing to suffer the small inconvenience for the other Jew\u2019s significant benefit.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":67280,"alt":"","title":"is41-help","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help.jpg","width":1920,"height":1177,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help-300x184.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":184,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help-768x471.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":471,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help-1024x628.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":628,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":942,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1177,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help-1200x736.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":736,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help-685x420.jpg","home_baner-width":685,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Red Heifer Paradox","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Suffering a minor personal setback to help others with their major ones","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":67280,"alt":"","title":"is41-help","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help.jpg","width":1920,"height":1177,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help-300x184.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":184,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help-768x471.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":471,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help-1024x628.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":628,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":942,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1177,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help-1200x736.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":736,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is41-help-685x420.jpg","home_baner-width":685,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"136","date":"20260308","wall_id":"136"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"412","name":"Responsibility","old_id":"812"},{"term_id":"819","name":"Help","old_id":"1219"}]},{"order":9,"id":"47698","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Truest Thing I Know ","post_title":"The Truest Thing I Know","slug":"the-truest-thing-i-know","old_id":"47698","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33859,"post_title":"Avidan Freedman","slug":"avidan-freedman","old_id":"33859","first_name":"Avidan","last_name":"Freedman","description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. He is an activist advocating for moral limits on Israeli arms exports, and on behalf of African refugees, and a proud husband and father of 5. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and from the Israeli chief rabbinate.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. ","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"136","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Human progress is a valiant, but futile, attempt to defeat death","post_main_content_content":"

One of the most basic, unquestioned, and unfounded axioms of modern man is the belief in the unlimited human capacity for understanding our world. The mysteries of the universe are all temporary, just waiting for the person who will crack their code, who will discover the equation or formulate the theory that will provide us with the explanation. This belief is an integral component of the modern belief in Progress. To suggest that a natural phenomenon is beyond human understanding, that it can't be measured or tested or evaluated, is modern heresy.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But as much as human history can be rallied to prove that humanity progresses, it provides even more consistent and compelling evidence that human understanding is limited. There is, I submit, no surer, more well-founded truth statement that can be made than that \"our understanding is flawed.\" I'm not sure it's really possible to know anything else for certain. After all, perhaps this is all a dream. Perhaps I'm a brain floating in a jar. One can be skeptical of all statements, except for this one: that my understanding of the world is lacking. The entire history of scientific progress attests to it; it's shortsighted to think that the scientific truths we are most sure of won't seem quaint, primitive, and silly in 50 or 100 years.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The limits of human understanding are proven by another demonstrable phenomenon we simultaneously ignore and obsess about- death. In a sense, human progress is a valiant, but futile, attempt to defeat death, for death deals a fatal blow to the illusion of limitless human capacity.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is precisely the message that the Torah's ritual response to death carries. The most perplexing element of the ritual of the red heifer is its paradoxical effect, defiling the pure while it purifies the defiled. The dichotomy of pure-impure, <\/span>tahor-tameh<\/span><\/em>, is the major organizing principle of religious life in the desert. The Torah's response to death renders the dichotomy absurd, reminding us that ultimate meaning belongs only to the Ultimate. Our own understandings of the world, even through the categories God gives us, will always be limited and lacking.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":66240,"alt":"","title":"is25-death","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Truest Thing I Know","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Human progress is a valiant, but futile, attempt to defeat death","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":66240,"alt":"","title":"is25-death","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is25-death-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"136","date":"20260308","wall_id":"136"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"448","name":"Ritual","old_id":"848"},{"term_id":"463","name":"Truth","old_id":"863"},{"term_id":"818","name":"Understanding","old_id":"1218"}]},{"order":10,"id":"47708","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Hukkat: Inexplicable Laws ","post_title":"Hukkat: Inexplicable Laws","slug":"hukkat-inexplicable-laws","old_id":"47708","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46171,"post_title":"Avner Moriah","slug":"avner-moriah","old_id":"46171","first_name":"Avner ","last_name":"Moriah ","description":"Avner Moriah is a prolific Israel artist who has addressed a wide range of Jewish and Israeli themes during the four decades of his artistic journey. Currently, Avner is completing a singular artistic and spiritual feat of illuminating the entire Chumash. The unique illuminated books contain hundreds of original drawings that offer a profound, provocative and humorous perspective. \r\nFor the entire weekly portion series, visit: https:\/\/avnermoriahprints.com\/collections\/parasha\r\nFor more of his work visit: https:\/\/avnermoriah.com\/\r\n","short_description":"Avner Moriah is a prolific Israel artist who is illuminating the entire Chumash.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":46173,"alt":"","title":"avner moriah","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679.jpg","width":1387,"height":1425,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-292x300.jpg","medium-width":292,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-768x789.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":789,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-997x1024.jpg","large-width":997,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679.jpg","1536x1536-width":1387,"1536x1536-height":1425,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679.jpg","2048x2048-width":1387,"2048x2048-height":1425,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-1168x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1168,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/avner-moriah-e1545511134679-409x420.jpg","home_baner-width":409,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"136","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

Illustration for Chapter 19:<\/p>\r\n

The first commandment in <\/span>Parashat Hukkat<\/span><\/i> concerns the Red Heifer, perhaps the most perplexing one in the Torah: \u201cInstruct the Israelite people to bring a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid. You shall give it to the priest. It shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.\u2026 and the priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop and crimson stuff and throw them into the fire consuming the cow (Num. 19:1\u20132, 5\u20136, 9). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

What is the meaning of this mysterious ritual? For whom is it intended?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Sages concluded that this ritual is one of the statutes (<\/span>hukkim<\/span><\/i>) for which there is no known rationale, but rather is simply a law in accord with God\u2019s words to the assembly of Israel<\/span>: <\/span><\/i>\u201cYou shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy and I have set you apart from other peoples to be Mine\u201d (Lev. 20:26). In order to be \u201choly to Me,\u201d one must obey all of God\u2019s statutes of sanctity regardless of whether or not they are understood, and the mysterious ritual of the Red Heifer is one of those commandments to be taken solely on faith.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Avner Moriah\u2019s painting for this <\/span>parasha<\/span><\/i> figures a red cow in a frontal view that shows the animal in detail. The image allows us to see its front, its back, all four legs, and its tail; its eyes, which seem to be almost human, are staring at us. \u00a0Elazar, the priest who will oversee the ritual, is pictured on the left, also figured in red (in a darker shade than the coloring of the cow), which is thought to be the color of sin, as we read in Isaiah 1:18: \u201cBe your sins like crimson, they can turn snow-white. Be they red as dyed wool they shall become as fleece.\u201d Elazar is holding a knife and it is clear that the animal is about to be slaughtered. Green and blue hills serve to separate the figures of the priest and the Red Heifer from the round-topped tents behind them, indicating that the action is taking place outside of the camp.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The juxtaposition of the priest and the cow taken in conjunction with the ritual described in the relevant text seems to be reminiscent of the story of the Golden Calf: \u201c[Moses] took the calf that they had made and burned it; he ground it to powder and strewed it upon the water and so made the Israelites drink it\u201d (Exod. 32:20). Although the statute of the Red Heifer apparently has no rational explanation,<\/span> we can perhaps sense here a deliberate reminder of the sin of the Golden Calf and relate that memory to a commandment enjoined to reinforce the sanctity of the people of Israel vis-\u00e0-vis the desecration of the Golden Calf.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Artwork by: Avner Moriah, by courtesy of the artist<\/p>\r\n

Text by: Dr. Shulamit Laderman, who holds a\u00a0<\/span>PhD in Art History and has published extensively on Jewish and Christian influences on biblical interpretive illustration.<\/p>\r\n

For the entire weekly portion series, please visit: <\/span>https:\/\/avnermoriahprints.com\/collections\/parasha<\/span><\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47709,"alt":"","title":"Num19-Hukkat","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat.jpg","width":2059,"height":2500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat-247x300.jpg","medium-width":247,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat-768x932.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":932,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat-843x1024.jpg","large-width":843,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat.jpg","1536x1536-width":1265,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat.jpg","2048x2048-width":1687,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat-988x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":988,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat-346x420.jpg","home_baner-width":346,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Chapter Illustrated","tile_main_caption":"Hukkat: Inexplicable Laws","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Of Red Cows and Gold Calves","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47709,"alt":"","title":"Num19-Hukkat","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat.jpg","width":2059,"height":2500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat-247x300.jpg","medium-width":247,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat-768x932.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":932,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat-843x1024.jpg","large-width":843,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat.jpg","1536x1536-width":1265,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat.jpg","2048x2048-width":1687,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat-988x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":988,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num19-Hukkat-346x420.jpg","home_baner-width":346,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"136","date":"20260308","wall_id":"136"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"368","name":"Parasha","old_id":"768"},{"term_id":"369","name":"Visual Arts","old_id":"769"}]},{"order":11,"id":"47684","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Bible in the Beacon Hotel: Not Only How to Become Pure - But Why ","post_title":"Bible in the Beacon Hotel: Not Only How to Become Pure - But Why","slug":"bible-in-the-beacon-hotel-not-only-how-to-become-pure-but-why","old_id":"47684","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38102,"post_title":"929-English","slug":"929-english","old_id":"38102","first_name":"","last_name":"929-English","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38333,"alt":"","title":"\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","width":1513,"height":860,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-300x171.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":171,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-768x437.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":437,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1024x582.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":582,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","1536x1536-width":1513,"1536x1536-height":860,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","2048x2048-width":1513,"2048x2048-height":860,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1200x682.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":682,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-739x420.png","home_baner-width":739,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"136","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/dzMG7tIO1Hk","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Bible in the Beacon Hotel","tile_main_caption":"Numbers 19: Not Only How to Become Pure - 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https:\/\/www.bloomsbury.com\/us\/reading-genesis-9780567381521), and the forthcoming Reading Exodus, and the author of the novel Questioning Return - https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Questioning-Return-Novel-Beth-Kissileff\/dp\/1942134231. \r\nHer journalism appears in many publications; she has taught most recently at the University of Pittsburgh. Visit her online at www.bethkissileff.com. ","short_description":"Beth Kissileff is the editor of the anthology Reading Genesis (Bloomsbury\/ T and T Clark, 2016) , a journalist and teacher.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36664,"alt":"","title":"BethKissileff","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224.jpg","width":3478,"height":3200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-300x276.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":276,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-768x707.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":707,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-1024x942.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":942,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1413,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1884,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-1200x1104.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1104,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-456x420.jpg","home_baner-width":456,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"1052","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Perhaps not everything is meant to be explained or understood","post_main_content_content":"

The Talmud contains a lovely principle, that for the Jews, God created the cure before the disease (Megillah 13b) so that even when there is something difficult or perplexing there is a way to heal from it.\u00a0Perhaps that is the spirit to guide our understanding of this inexplicable and paradoxical law of the \u201cred heifer\u201d with which the portion of Chukkat (Numbers 19: 1- 22:1) opens.<\/p>\r\n

One of the things that we can learn from the 'decree' of the red heifer (19:2) is that not everything is meant to be explained.\u00a0This\u00a0is hard for us humans, who want rational explanations and big data to back up decisions and understanding of things. But sometimes it is better to just accept that there are aspects of the law that are beyond our full understanding.\u00a0The ashes of the heifer have the capacity both to make someone unclean (19:9-10) as well as to cleanse them (19:11-12).<\/p>\r\n

Rabbi Jeffrey Woolf notes<\/a> the necessity of involving others in our mourning process, that just as the ritual describes the necessity for the clean person to sprinkle water upon the person defiled by death (19:19), those in mourning need others to help lift them out of their despair and grief.<\/p>\r\n

Moses and Aaron are struck by the death of their older sister Miriam immediately after this ritual (20:1).\u00a0Perhaps the awareness of death and the required ritual for how to cleanse and heal from it helped prepare them for the death of their sibling?\u00a0Aaron too dies in this portion as punishment for his cooperation with Moses in failing to sanctify God\u2019s name at the waters of Meribah (20:23-29).\u00a0Aaron\u2019s death, being stripped of his garments and left on Mount Hor to die of exposure, seems cruel. The details given contrast with the simplicity of the report of the death of Miriam in Kadesh, \u201cshe died there and was buried there\u201d (20:1).<\/p>\r\n

And yet,\u00a0enigmatically,\u00a0there is also the Song of the Well, the sole poetry in this part of the Torah, in Numbers 21:17-18: \u201cThen Israel sang this song: Rise up well, answer to it.\u00a0The well hewed out by princes which the nobles of the people began to dig with their own staffs.\u201d\u00a0The word for \u201cstaff\u201d is \u201cmechokek<\/em>\u201d which is translated by Qumran texts (cited by Jacob Milgrom in his JPS commentary), as \u201cinterpreter of the Torah.\u201d Mechokek<\/em> shares the two root letters \u201cchet<\/em>\u201d and \u201ckuf<\/em>\u201d with \u201cchukkat<\/em>\u201d suggesting a connection between decrees we can\u2019t understand and the ability to sing, in song and poetry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Among the grieving in this portion -- for Miriam and Aaron and the accounting of the final sin that causes Moses to die before entering the land of Israel \u2013 there is also song, incomprehensible as it may be.\u00a0 Some things just can\u2019t be explained.\u00a0 Perhaps that is a significant aspect of being mortal and human.<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":94156,"alt":"","title":"job13-faith understanding 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Chukkat 5779","tile_main_caption":"Mourning, Song And Paradoxical Decrees","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Perhaps not everything is meant to be explained or understood","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":94156,"alt":"","title":"job13-faith understanding 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","post_title":"Chukkat: Trust in the Unexpected!","slug":"chukkat-trust-in-the-unexpected","old_id":"59257","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":45252,"post_title":"Pardes","slug":"pardes","old_id":"45252","first_name":"","last_name":"Pardes","description":"Pardes Institue of Jewish Studies is an open, co-ed and non-denominational Jewish learning community, based in Jerusalem and with programs worldwide. \r\nThrough relationships with faculty, the community and Jewish texts, students leave Pardes with refined critical thinking, improved communication and interpersonal skills and more nuanced and sensitive perspectives. The Pardes model has inspired four decades of Jewish leadership marked by openness, passion, Jewish literacy, knowledge and inclusivity, and continues to inspire new possibilities for Jewish communities worldwide.","short_description":"Pardes Institue of Jewish Studies is an open, co-ed and non-denominational Jewish learning community, based in Jerusalem and with programs worldwide. \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":45253,"alt":"","title":"Pardes rimon color logo","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Pardes-rimon-color-logo.jpg","width":392,"height":394,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Pardes-rimon-color-logo-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Pardes-rimon-color-logo-298x300.jpg","medium-width":298,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Pardes-rimon-color-logo.jpg","medium_large-width":392,"medium_large-height":394,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Pardes-rimon-color-logo.jpg","large-width":392,"large-height":394,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Pardes-rimon-color-logo.jpg","1536x1536-width":392,"1536x1536-height":394,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Pardes-rimon-color-logo.jpg","2048x2048-width":392,"2048x2048-height":394,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Pardes-rimon-color-logo.jpg","post_full_size-width":392,"post_full_size-height":394,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Pardes-rimon-color-logo.jpg","home_baner-width":392,"home_baner-height":394}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"1052","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"An Interactive Parsha Experience, a new family-friendly parsha resource, complete with a parsha summary, questions, games, and activities that can be used around the shabbat table. This interactive resource, produced by The Pardes Center for Jewish Educators, is engaging for all ages.","post_main_content_content":"

Chukat contains an idea that is quite confusing \u2013 spiritual purity and impurity. Just like a person can be in a happy or sad mood, or a person can be wide awake or very tired, so too a person can be spiritually pure (tahor in Hebrew) and spiritually impure (tameh in Hebrew). Our parsha explains that contact with, or being in the same room as, a dead person makes a person become tameh. It also explains that for a person to become spiritually pure they need to be sprinkled with a special mixture.<\/p>\r\n

This week\u2019s Interactive Parsha Experience comes from Reuven Margrett<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

And if you have older kids or teens, be sure to check out our\u00a0Parsha Discussion<\/a>\u00a0for a more mature conversation.<\/p>\r\n

To receive an Interactive Parsha Experience weekly email please subscribe with Pardes\u00a0today<\/a>!<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":45256,"alt":"","title":"pardes cover image","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Interactive Family Study Materials","tile_main_caption":"Chukkat: Trust in the Unexpected!","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Download the study guide","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":45256,"alt":"","title":"pardes cover image","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/pardes-cover-image-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"I Samuel","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":false,"wall_id":"1052"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":14,"id":"59260","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Chukkat: Losing Miriam ","post_title":"Chukkat: Losing Miriam","slug":"chukkat-losing-miriam","old_id":"59260","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42813,"post_title":"Covenant & Conversation","slug":"covenant-conversation","old_id":"42813","first_name":"","last_name":"Covenant & Conversation","description":"Covenant & Conversation: Family Edition is a new and exciting initiative from The Office of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. 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Chukat begins with the law of the red heifer, (the\u00a0parah adamah<\/em>) judged by the Sages to be the most incomprehensible mitzvah in the Torah. It is a classic example of a Chok, a \u201cstatute,\u201d often understood as a law that has no reason, or at least none we can understand. The text then shifts from law to narrative. After the death of Miriam the people find themselves without water. They complain to Moses and Aaron, who turn to God. They are told to speak to the rock, and bring forth water, but instead Moses hits the rock twice, responding in a way that seems to suggest anger.<\/p>\r\n

The brothers are judged to have acted wrongly, and both are told they will not enter the land. Aaron later dies. The people are attacked. They ask God for help and are victorious. The people complain again about food and water and are bitten by venomous snakes. They do teshuva and then Moses, at God\u2019s command, places a brass serpent on a pole, so that all who look up to it will be healed. The people sing a song about a miraculous well that gives them water. Moses leads the people into successful battles against Sichon and Og.<\/p>\r\n

Download the Family Edition for Chukkat\u00a0<\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":42816,"alt":"","title":"covenant and conversation - Sacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/covenant-and-conversation-Sacks.jpg","width":723,"height":426,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/covenant-and-conversation-Sacks-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/covenant-and-conversation-Sacks-300x177.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":177,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/covenant-and-conversation-Sacks.jpg","medium_large-width":723,"medium_large-height":426,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/covenant-and-conversation-Sacks.jpg","large-width":723,"large-height":426,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/covenant-and-conversation-Sacks.jpg","1536x1536-width":723,"1536x1536-height":426,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/covenant-and-conversation-Sacks.jpg","2048x2048-width":723,"2048x2048-height":426,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/covenant-and-conversation-Sacks.jpg","post_full_size-width":723,"post_full_size-height":426,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/covenant-and-conversation-Sacks-713x420.jpg","home_baner-width":713,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Family Study Materials","tile_main_caption":"Losing Miriam","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"for Parashat Chukkat","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42816,"alt":"","title":"covenant and conversation - 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In Parshat Chukat, when a plague of burning snakes attacks the wandering Israelites, Moses gets to work on a curious plan to stop the fearful biting. Malki Rose joins us from Melbourne, Australia to talk about the legacy of snakes in the Bible, and what we can do about them.<\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/5yT7I5H6u1w","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"By: Malki Rose","tile_main_caption":"Chukkat: How Snakes Help us Confront our Fears","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A Bimbam Video","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/5yT7I5H6u1w","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"I Samuel","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":false,"wall_id":"1052"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"369","name":"Visual Arts","old_id":"769"}]},{"order":16,"id":"47694","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Red Heifer of Inspiration ","post_title":"The Red Heifer Of Inspiration","slug":"the-red-heifer-of-inspiration","old_id":"47694","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36669,"post_title":"Yakov Azriel","slug":"yakov-azriel","old_id":"36669","first_name":"Yakov ","last_name":"Azriel","description":"Yakov Azriel, who lives in Israel, has published five books of poetry in the USA and hundreds of poems in journals and magazines. His poems have won twenty-two prizes in international poetry competitions, and he has twice been awarded fellowships from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.","short_description":"Yakov Azriel is an English language poet who lives in Israel","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36670,"alt":"","title":"Yakov.Azriel.Photo","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","width":1099,"height":1519,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-217x300.jpg","medium-width":217,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":741,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","large-width":741,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","1536x1536-width":1099,"1536x1536-height":1519,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","2048x2048-width":1099,"2048x2048-height":1519,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-868x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":868,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-304x420.jpg","home_baner-width":304,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"136","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The prayed for, hoped for, crimson fire of grace \/ Enkindling lucent words that fall in place","post_main_content_content":"

\u201c\u2026 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they should bring you a heifer totally red without a blemish, and on which no yoke has been laid. \u201d (Numbers 19:2)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Dazzling descends the flame of inspiration,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>The prayed for, hoped for, crimson fire of grace,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Enkindling lucent words that fall in place,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And blaze as bright sparks of illumination.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>As if this burst of scarlet revelation<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Begot a heifer totally red, whose face<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And body\u2019s hide are vermilion silk and lace,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Serving now our rites of purification. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

But then expand dark fogs of thick despair,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>That swallow grace, devour all wisps of light,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Creating stagnant bogs in which words whine;<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And on our heifer\u2019s face appears black hair,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Exiling lucid words into the night,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>In swamps where swim and wallow swarthy swine.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":79224,"alt":"","title":"zech3-fire","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"929 Poetry Corner","tile_main_caption":"The Red Heifer Of Inspiration","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The prayed for, hoped for, crimson fire of grace \/ Enkindling lucent words that fall in place","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":79224,"alt":"","title":"zech3-fire","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech3-fire-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"136","date":"20260308","wall_id":"136"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"}]},{"order":17,"id":"47712","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Numbers 19 ","post_title":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Numbers 19","slug":"a-lesson-on-the-daily-chapter-numbers-19","old_id":"47712","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":40936,"post_title":"David Silber","slug":"david-silber-2","old_id":"40936","first_name":"David ","last_name":"Silber ","description":"Rabbi David Silber is the Founder and Dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. 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\u201cHoly Cow\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Abe Lebovic: What kind of commandment is the Red Heifer? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cRed\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Brett Lockspeiser: Trace the color red through Jewish texts. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Go deeper into the chapter....","tile_main_caption":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Numbers 19","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Click to get links to learning resources","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42232,"alt":"","title":"sefaria-words-sunburst","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","width":608,"height":395,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-300x195.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","medium_large-width":608,"medium_large-height":395,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","large-width":608,"large-height":395,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","1536x1536-width":608,"1536x1536-height":395,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","2048x2048-width":608,"2048x2048-height":395,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","post_full_size-width":608,"post_full_size-height":395,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","home_baner-width":608,"home_baner-height":395}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"Sefaria word sunburst visualization","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"136","date":"20260308","wall_id":"136"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":19,"id":"107118","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Points To Ponder: Numbers 19 ","post_title":"Points To Ponder: Numbers 19","slug":"points-to-ponder-numbers-19","old_id":"107118","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":false,"related_cahpter":"136","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

    \r\n\t
  1. What\u2019s the deal with seven? <\/em>The number seven recurs in the chapter: in addition to the seven days of impurity at the end of which the purification ceremony can be held, there are several other instances of counting to seven. For example, there are seven different things that are burnt in the chapter, and also seven people that need to wash themselves.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Born to the<\/em> sacred<\/em>. The heifer or cow which can be used to purify is one that is \u201cwithout blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid,\u201d i.e., which was never used for \u201csecular\u201d purposes such as labor.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. The paradox of impurity<\/em>. The ceremony of the red heifer (or cow) \u201cpurifies the impure, and impurifies the pure.\u201d For all who took part in preparing the ashes for the ceremony \u201cHe who performed the burning shall also wash his garments in water, bathe his body in water, and be unclean until evening\u201d (vere 8).<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  4. Open, closed<\/em>. Another of the characteristics of t<\/span><\/i>um\u2019ah<\/em>, impurity is that it gets into open things: \u201c...every open vessel, with no lid fastened down, shall be unclean\u201d (verse 15). Lids to vessels used to be fastened with a cord or string.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","post_main_content_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Daily Summary","tile_main_caption":"Points to Ponder: Numbers 19","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Insights and questions for personal reflection and group discussion","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"136","date":"20260308","wall_id":"136"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false}],"hide_acf":true,"home_image":false,"home_posts":false,"home_posts_title":"","posts_home":[],"static_cube_title":"","static_cube_brief":"","static_cube_color":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/47660"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wall"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}