Ceremonies play a very important role in the human experience.

Parashat Chukat opens with preparations for a ceremony which was considered esoteric even in ancient times – the identification of a red cow which was sacrificed and burned and whose ashes were used to purify people who came into contact with the dead. Death is one of the most difficult ordeals of human life. Ceremonies play a very important role in the human experience providing us with symbols to express our values and find meaning in joyous milestones and in loss. This past year has been filled with the violent and ripping loss of loved ones for those of us here in the land, as the world views through the media images of murder, massacre, rockets and combat. Can we learn from the ceremony of the red cow something for our own healing and restoration?

In the midst of the ceremony of the burning of the red cow, it is told that the priest must add to the fire,

This mixture with the ashes would be saved outside the camp for use in the purification ceremonies.

The combination of ingredients – cedar wood, hyssop and crimson stuff - is notable. The Israelites were instructed to dip hyssop in blood and wipe it on the doorposts of their homes in Egypt so the angel of death would pass over them on the night of the slaying of the firstborn sons. In the book of Leviticus, the priest who purifies a person of leprosy is instructed to take a bird together with the cedar wood, the crimson stuff and the hyssop, and to dip them together with the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water. He is to sprinkle the blood on the infected area, holding these items all together in his hand, and then let the bird fly away (Leviticus 14:6-7). Finally, it is told of King Solomon who

What is the significance of hyssop (ezov), cedar wood (etz erez) and the crimson stuff (tola’at shani)? The cedar tree was one of the tallest trees in the region and was known as a strong wood good for building. The hyssop is a short spreading grayish and fragrant plant which can be found everywhere in Israel in the spring. As for the “crimson stuff”, that has always been somewhat of a mystery.

The midrash states (Midrash Agadah (Buber), Numbers 19:6) that the combination of these different types of vegetation is symbolic:

So many wars begin and are prolonged based on a man’s, or a few men’s, elevated sense of pride. A man is so convinced that he is right or that he ought to be the rightful ruler of a land or a people that his heart hardens like the cedar, and he is willing to inflict death upon his citizens in order to achieve it.

Peace and healing comes when we put pride aside. Peace is an ongoing series of arriving at solutions through negotiations, compromise and concessions, bending like the hyssop, rather than brute force of one’s way over others.

For the most part, our tradition does not glorify death. Throughout the State of Israel’s history, winning a war may have notes of triumph, but the overall sentiment is not of revelry but rather the sense of deep loss. Our rabbis also taught that even at the height of joy when God performed a miracle and parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to cross to freedom and then closed the waters over the pursuing Egyptian soldiers, God also mourned the loss of the Egyptians, saying to His ministering angels,

Proverbs also teaches,

Our tradition seeks to help us heal from death, the most devastating of losses. Learning about the place of the cedar tree, the hyssop and the crimson stuff/worm reminds us of our imperative to sanctify life – that the strength of our societies is not the lonely, tough tree standing tall at the top of the mountain, but rather it is close to the ground among the people. We can heal when we remember our humanity, when we remember that we are all God’s creations part of the great circle of life.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------