06 Jul Chukat; Perpetual Mitzvot and the Red Heifer

Chukat; The Perpetual Mitzvot and the Red Heifer
Inspired by the teachings of Harav Yitzchak Ginsburgh and Rabbi Moshe Genuth

A person cannot be absolutely pure in this world as absolutes cannot exist in this world… except for the absolute of ‘Knowing there is One G-d’.

The one who performs the ceremony of the red heifer, in the process of doing this mitzvah must have for-and– during the process of the act of the mitzvah an amount of at least a drop of din (severity, judgment) of the emanation of gevurah ; stern judgment that is  associated with strength and might.

According to Kabbalah, the color associated with characteristics of Din (severity and judgment) as the essences of Gevurah (strength and might)  is RED. The one who prepares the ceremonious Red Heifer and the ashes to be sprinkled so that others may be purified,  himself becomes paradoxically impure by the performing this ceremony for others,  and so he must later engage in further mitzvoth (ceremony on himself) to himself become  purified.

In fact, whenever we perform a mitzvah we always need a drop of din (severity, might and strength). This power of din ( a spark of strength ) can ‘carry forward’ (as a risidual ) and its’ potential may become actualized later to facilitate our next mitzvah …. and this mechanism perpetual. If our din  is not sufficiently elevated through mitzvot, the din will come to fuel transgressions (averas-sin).

The process of the mitzvoth is then a perpetual and eternal process as we always need a drop of din (as gevurah; strength , might). Paradoxically as with the purification by the Red Heifer where the one who purifies others  he himself, by the act of needing an amount of  gevurah to perform any mitzvah one will in the process acquire an amount of  ‘residue’  (from the gevurah) left behind , accordingly one will  remain continually involved in the ongoing process of purification of continuious tshuvah-to- tikun (rectification).

Perhaps the verse can now be better understood that ‘the reward for a mitzvah is a mitzvah’. There always remains an amount of  ‘residue’ for a tikun-rectification to be done.

This process of purification of the Red Heiffer of  ‘what makes one pure also makes one impure’  is a demonstration of the perpetual power of opposites (ie opposing forces) in this world,  the opporutnity to elevate ourselves and the world, and the power of mitzvot eternally.

Leib Getzel (Lawrence) Lax
Addictions and Counseling (Hnrs)
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