Rabbi Kahana: CHUKAT and Para Aduma

 BS”D Parashat Chukat 5782

by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Jun 29, 2022

Para Aduma

Our parasha opens with the mitzva of Para Aduma (red heifer). The mitzva is presented in the Torah as a chok – a decree by HaShem that has no rational explanation in our realm of thinking.

Rashi notes that the reason for depicting this mitzva as a chok is in order to prevent any discussion on its relevance or meaning when goyim ask for a reason behind this law.

Yitzchak Shamir, former Prime Minister of Israel, when holding a press conference in Madrid was questioned by reporters on Israel’s refusal to agree on an independent state for the Arabs in Judea and Samaria, would reply to every question with the single Hebrew word “kacha”, meaning “because,” as when a child asks his mother why he has to eat an egg every day and she replies “because”; meaning, I have my reasons.

When Mr. Shamir was questioned on his single word answer “because”, he explained that he has ten reasons for opposing another Arab terrorist state west of the Jordan, and if he would begin to enumerate each one, the reporters by use of their sophistry would negate each one, until they would convince themselves that my motives are unreasonable. Therefore, when I say “because” you cannot argue with me.

When goyim attack our religious beliefs, the best thing is to say, “because Hashem said so”, and discussion finished.

Whatever we do in our holy land is looked at through a political anti-Semitic electron microscope and brought up for questioning in the UN and in academic temples: Why are you building in Judea and Samaria? Why do you want to pray on the “Moslem” mount? Why do you defend yourselves when hundreds of rockets come raining down of your cities? And most of all, why are you still alive after we made very serious efforts over the last 2000 years to destroy you?

To all of these perfectly logical questions we have one answer: “because our survival is a chok”.

It is HaShem’s will that there be a finite material world filled with Homo sapiens, the existence of which is conditional on the observance of Am Yisrael of HaShem’s mitzvot. That observance provides legitimacy to the existence of this world despite its corrupt and diseased cultures that the nations have created in the 5782 years of its existence.

 

The Beginning of a New Era

The world is changing rapidly and radically and will continue to do so, especially with regard to the Jewish State.

There are things that I see in our Jewish sources and feel regarding what the next several years could bring for us and for humanity. There will be a combination of:

A. Punishments of the goyim for what they did to us in their failed attempts to rid the world of the concept of God, as stated in Yoel chapter 3:

For then, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will enter into judgment with them there, on account of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations. They have divided my land…

B: A cleansing and teshuva of Am Yisrael which has gone astray on paths contrary to the life of kedusha that was instilled in our forefathers.

Events

1. The United States will adopt a dramatic pro-Moslem and pro-Arab policy to the detriment of the State of Israel. In return for economic aid in the light of the US failed economy, money from rich Arab counties will succeed in turning the US to agree to all the demands of the so-called Palestinians, including the return of the Arabs who left the land in 1948, as well as Israel’s retreat to the cease fire lines before the Six Day War. We will of course not abide by these suicidal demands. In return for America’s desire to disunite the State of Israel into two states, HaShem will retaliate by causing civil strife in the States leading to the break-up of the Union. 
2. The most eminent military threat to our nation will be from our southern neighbor – Egypt. They have the largest army in the Middle East and no apparent enemies. Egypt with its large and influential “Moslem Brotherhood” will become belligerent and dangerous to our national existence. Their fate will be a repeat of the Biblical punishment by water, as were their ancestors at Yam Suf. Perhaps by the destruction of the great Aswan Dam, which would send a torrent of water streaming down the Nile valley, plunging all in its path into the Mediterranean. This will cause an immediate response by Arab and Moslem countries against Israel, but they too will fail and will be destroyed by the hand of HaShem. 
3. European countries will line up with Moslems to declare war on Israel. Europe will sink under the ocean, as did the lost city of Atlantis. 
4. There will be mass desertion from Israel of all who are today on an anti-Torah path, including LGBTs. Millions of Arabs will flee from the threats surrounding our country. But those of Am Yisrael who will stand steadfast in our loyalty to HaShem and trust in His promise that we will return home and flourish will remain and be rewarded by experiencing the most awesome of HaShem’s miracles. 
5. China will be a major factor in destroying the Christian nations of Europe and elsewhere. 
6. Iran will be a major threat to the world, and they too will cease to exist. 
7. The Moslems will cause three major wars: one on the sea, another on land and the third in the vicinity of Yerushalayim.

All the above appear in the Tanach and in the writings of chazal (our rabbis).

Despite these ominous scenarios, one thing is certain: There will be salvation for the Jews in Eretz Yisrael, as stated in the prophet Ovadia 1,17:

(יז) וּבְהַר צִיּוֹן תִּהְיֶה פְלֵיטָה וְהָיָה קֹדֶש…

וְיָרְשׁוּ בֵּית יַעֲקֹב אֵת מוֹרָשֵׁיהֶם:

On Mount Zion there will be salvation and it will be sanctified.

In conclusion: We could now be seeing the beginning of a new era in Israeli history, as the vacuum created by political chaos could bring to the helm anti-democratic forces which we would not want to see. Perhaps even a military takeover for a limited period of time to permit the restoration of democratic institutions. 

Who knows where HaShem is leading us, except for one thing, the disconnect that exists between Torah Judaism and foreign secular Israeli culture must end with the nation returning to the Torah. 

This is the purpose for which we have merited to return to the holy land – to restore the Jewish people to the Torah in preparation for the rebuilding of the Bet Hamikdash and the beginning of a new relationship with the Creator who has chosen us to be His link connecting the spiritual and material worlds.

Shabbat Shalom

Nachman Kahana

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