Shabbat Parshat Korach - 5762

The Eternal Covenant of Salt

At the end of Parshat Korach, the Torah lists the twenty four Matnot Kehunah, Priestly Gifts, and the list is followed by a reference to the Covenant of Salt (BaMidbar 19:19), “... it is an eternal Covenant of Salt before HaShem, for you and your offspring with you.” The list is preceded by the following beautiful comment by RASHI on the verse (BaMidbar 18:8), “... Behold I have given you the honor of guarding My donations, ...” “The instance of the word ‘Behold’ is an expression of joy, as in connection with Aharon (Shemot 4:13-14), ‘Behold, he is going out to meet you, and he will see you and he will rejoice in his heart.’ “

RASHI continues, “This can be compared to a king who gave a field to his close friend, and he neither wrote nor signed a document of transfer, nor had the transaction brought up in court. One person came and protested about, i.e. laid claim to, the field. The king said to his close friend, ‘Whoever wishes may come and protest against you. Behold, I will write and sign a document of transfer for you, and bring it up in court.’ Here too, since Korach came and protested against Aharon over the priesthood, Scripture came and gave him the twenty-four gifts of the priesthood with an ‘eternal Covenant of Salt.’ ”

But what kind of covenant is a “Covenant of Salt?” We know that “Brit Milah,” the Covenant of Circumcision, requires the active participation of the human being; likewise the Covenant of Torah requires the participation of people in its observance. On the other hand, the “Sign of the Covenant,” the Rainbow, seems to have been entirely the act of G-d withdrawing from the collective punishment of all of Mankind, unless we assume that there was a corresponding renunciation by humanity of violence (a resolution that, over the centuries, seems to have gone largely unfulfilled). At first glance, though, the “Covenant of Salt” seems to stand alone, in a class by itself.

What is special about salt? First of all, it is used as a preservative. This fits nicely with its description as an eternal Covenant of Salt.

It is one of the basic substances of which the world is built. Three fourths of the earth’s surface is covered by oceans, and a major component of seawater is salt.

Sixty percent of the human body by weight is water, blood and intra-cellular material; most of it salty.

Salt is used in the Kashering process, by extracting blood from meat. Thus, there is an affinity between salt and life, for (VaYikra 17:14), “the life of all flesh is in its blood.”

Salt represents an action of HaShem in Nature as the “reconciler of opposites,” and the Creator of Peace. The chemical process of “neutralization” is what occurs when an acid, intensely “hot” and extremely sour, capable of burning the skin terribly, dependent on its concentration, reacts with a base, intensely bitter and also capable of inflicting great damage if ingested. When they react with each other, they produce a “salt” and water, and the extremes are muted.

As the most relevant example to the subject at hand, when Hydrochloric Acid, HCl, a strong acid, and the one present in the stomach that aids in the process of digestion but, if things go awry, can also produce stomach ulcers, reacts with Sodium Hydroxide, NaOH, a strong base, the result is Sodium Chloride, table salt, and H20, sweet water.

Perhaps that is the strongest reason that salt is called a “covenant;” because it represents “peace,” the reconciliation of opposites, the muting of anger and the sweetness of compromise. And this relationship of salt to “peace,” to “Shalom,” the Name of G-d meaning “Peace,” is perhaps how we can understand the verse (VaYikra 2:13), “And all your offerings to G-d should be well-salted, and you shall not fail to include salt, the ‘Covenant with G-d,’ in your sacrifices.”

Sometimes, though, there is an intimation of punishment in connection with salt, as in Bereshit 19:26, when the wife of Lot looked back at the destruction of her former home, “...and she became a pillar of salt.” And the Yam HaMelach, the Salt Sea, at the lowest elevation and containing the saltiest water in the world.

But there is hope for redemption for the Land and for the Sea. At that time of Redemption, and that time has already begun, we will watch with wonderment as (Yeshayahu 51:3),

“For the L-rd shall comfort Tziyon; He will comfort all her waste places.
And He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the Garden of the L-rd.

Joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.”

Rabbi Pinchas Frankel

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