 Treasures
in the Sand
for Parshat Chukat
Beach combing the G'matriya Beach with the help of "Otzrot
Yisrael", one of the CDs of the "Responsa Project" of Bar
Ilan University.
In T'hilim 49:2 it says: Here this, all the nations, listen to this
all the residents of the world. This pasuk shares its G'matriya (1532) with
the phrase that gives this week's
sedra its name: ZOT CHUKAT HATORAH. Rashi says that this statement is what we say to the
nations of the world when they taunt for doing mitzvot, especially the CHOK, without
rational explanation. We say that we listen to G-d because He is King and Master. That is
enough for us.
But we don't only express this idea to the nations of the
world. We must say it to ourselves, especially those among
us who scoff at Torah and mitzvot. It seems reasonable to
draw this idea from the juxtaposition of Parshat Korach and Parshat Chukat. ZOT CHUKAT
HATORAH is an answer to the rebellious among us, as much, if not more, as it is to the
nations of the world. How appropriate, then, is the introductory pasuk of T'hilim 49:
LaMinatzei ach Livnei
Korah Mizmor. Bnei Korach did not die in the Korach fiasco. They distanced themselves from
their father and allied themselves with Moshe Rabeinu. They did T'shuva. Eleven chapters
(of 150) of T'hilim are attributed to them. But their name - Bnei Korach - conjures up in
our minds the kind of Jews that also need the message of ZOT CHUKAT HATORAH.
***
And Moshe made the copper serpent and he put it on a pole, and if
the serpent had bitten someone, he would look at the copper serpent and live (Bamidbar
21:9). When the people had to circumvent the territory of Edom, who had refused to allow
them to pass through their land, they got very discouraged and fed up with their lives. In
the aftermath
of Korach's rebellion and the plague that claimed 14,700
lives, the deaths of Miriam and Aharon, the accompanying
thirst and military encounter respectively, they bitterly
complained against G-d and Moshe. G-d sent poisonous snakes (serpents) which bit many of
the people and many died. This situation was "remedied" by the fashioning of the
copper serpent on the pole. Without getting into the discussion of whether this was a good
thing or not, it is a case of G-d commanding Moshe to make an image which would help bring
people back to faithfulness in G-d.
What a sharp contrast with the event that occurred nearly
40 years earlier. Then the people sinned by fashioning an
image – the Golden Calf – which was "remedied" (in part) by its
destruction. Sh'mot 32:20 tells us that Moshe took the
Calf which they had made and burned it in fire and ground
it into powder and scattered it over the water and gave the
people to drink from it. Lack of faith in G-d, in the one case, was manifest by the image
the people made; in the other case it (faithfulness in G-d) is brought about by looking at
an image.
Interesting contrast. These two contrasting (and complementary in a
different way) p'sukim have the same
G'matriya (5149).
***
The Haftara of Chukat is about Yiftach HaGil'adi. See the
Aliya-by- Aliya Sedra Summary – Haftara for the connection
to the sedra. The opening pasuk of the Haftara (Sho'f'tim
11:1) tells us that Yiftach was a great warrior and that he was the son of an ISHA ZONA;
Gil'ad fathered Yiftach. ISHA
ZONA is interpreted differently in the commentaries as: a
prostitute, a concubine, an innkeeper, or a woman from a
different tribe. In all cases, the term is meant to be derogatory, at it explains the
terrible treatment of Yiftach before the people so desperately needed him. (During a
certain period of early Jewish history, intermarriage among tribes was discouraged, lest
territory change hands via the laws of inheritance. This attitude is well expressed by the
term ISHA ZONA.)
One way or another, this pasuk that introduces us to the
leader of his generation has a G'matriya of 2411. Running
the search program turned up a "nice", famous pasuk which
at first glance had no connection to Yiftach's pasuk. Further inspection established the
connection. The pasuk is D'varim 33:4): TORAH TZIVA LANU MOSHE, MORASHA K'HILAT YAAKOV.
The Gemara in Rosh HaShana and Midrash Rabba on Kohelet expand upon the issue of Jewish
Authority throughout the generations. The pasuk in the Torah refers to consulting the
judges "who will be in your time". Can one consult judges of another time? The
answer to the rhetorical question is, it comes to teach us that the
leaders of each generation have the authority, backed by
the Torah, that requires us to follow their decrees, without our saying: "but they
aren't as great as So-and-so". There is an equation made between three giants and
three "lightweights" (as we would define the term) — Moshe,
Aharon, Shmuel on the one hand and Y'ruba'al (a.k.a. Gid'on), B'dan (a.k.a. Shimshon),
Yiftach, on the other. The Beit Din of Yiftach in his generation is equated to the Beit
Din of Shmuel in his, and Shmuel is equated to Moshe and Aharon. Hence, a connection
between Moshe and Yiftach.
Note especially, that the pasuk in question is not just a
Moshe Rabbeinu pasuk – there are hundreds of those – it is
the pasuk that indicates Moshe's authority. That is the pasuk with the same G'matriya as
the pasuk that tells us who Yiftach is.
A general word of caution when it comes to G'matriya,
specifically, the homemade variety that will be appearing in this Treasures in the Sand
column. Don't read too much into them. They are not meant to say something new. They are
meant to be a nice "numerical confirmation" of existing ideas.
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