Chukat
Where do we harden reality into fixed form?
Reflection by Ariel Yisraelah Hendelman, the Or HaLev Team:
"Chukat begins with one of the most mysterious rituals in the Torah, the red heifer. The ashes of the red heifer are mixed with other ingredients and water, in order to create a purifying mixture for anyone who has had contact with death. Chukat also includes the deaths of Aharon and Miriam. The red heifer is a mother cow that has never been yoked. If we think of the quintessential mistake of our ancestors as the making of the golden calf, then we can understand how the mother of a calf might be the remedy for that.
According to Rabbi Shefa Gold, `Because she is the mother of the golden calf, the source for the pattern of sin, her ashes are the first ingredient that I will need for purification…`.
We all have golden calves in our lives - idols that we build up unconsciously, stemming from a fear of something-or-other. As mindfulness practitioners, we aspire to live in an awake state; we value living consciously. If we can identify the patterns of our internal golden calves - the places we've hardened reality into fixed form - then we can trace them back to their source, the red heifer, and offer it on the fire and water of purification to our Creator, the Infinite One. With compassion and patience, our practice helps us see what is underneath the cravings to turn golden calves into gods, and to purify ourselves to turn inward, back to truth and love. May it be so."