G'matriya for Parshat Chukat

PARA ADUMA is the prime example of a CHOK, that category of mitzva that does not lend itself to explana tions and reasons, that kind of mitzva that we observe just because G-d said so. Our sources tell us that Shlomo HaMelech, with his great wisdom, understood the reasons for ALL mitzvot... except for PARA ADUMA. The pasuk in Kohelet (7:23) is considered to allude to this idea - "I have said that I am wise, yet it is remote from me". To what was Shlomo referring? To the Para Aduma. This is supported by a numeric value: PARA ADUMA = 80+200+5 (285) + 1+4+40+5 (50) = 335. HEE R'CHOKA (it is far away) = 5+10+1 (16) + 200+8+6+100+5 (319) = 335.

The next topic the Torah deals with is the death of Miriam
in the Tzin Wilderness in Nissan (the 10th). The People had
no water (Midrashim speak of the Well of Miriam that
miraculously accompanied the People during their wanderings. This well disappeared upon Miriam's death,
since it was in her merit - because she watched over Moshe
at the river - that we had the Well.) The People complain
bitterly to Moshe and Aharon. (The custom of emptying out
water containers in the room in which someone has died,
comes from the sequence: "...and Miriam died ...and there
was no water..."

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