Chukat

📜 The Story

Parshat Chukat opens with a special mitzvah called 'the statute of the Torah,' the law of the Red Heifer. Moshe and Aharon are told to take a perfectly red cow that never worked, burn it, and mix its ashes with water. That water purifies a person who became impure through contact with the dead. It is called a 'chok,' a law we keep even though we cannot fully understand its reason, simply because Hashem commanded it.

The Israelites arrived in the wilderness of Tzin, and there Miriam the prophetess, sister of Moshe and Aharon, passed away. Right after her death, the wondrous well of water that had traveled with the people in her merit disappeared, leaving the nation without water and very frightened.

The people complained about the lack of water, and Hashem told Moshe to speak to the rock so it would bring forth water. But Moshe, out of anger and sorrow, struck the rock twice instead of speaking to it. Water still poured out, but Hashem told Moshe and Aharon that because of this they would not be allowed to enter the Land of Israel themselves.

Aharon the High Priest passed away on Mount Hor, and his son Elazar received the priestly garments and his role. The whole nation cried for him for thirty days. Later, when the people complained again about the manna, Hashem sent dangerous snakes, and Moshe made a copper snake on a pole. Anyone who was bitten and looked up at the copper snake was healed.

At the end of the parsha, the Israelites won battles against Sichon king of the Emori and Og king of Bashan, two powerful kings, and conquered large territories on the eastern side of the Jordan River, preparing to soon enter the Land of Israel.