Our parashah begins,
This is the statute of the Torah that God commanded, saying, speak to the Children of Israel and have them take for you a perfectly red unblemished heifer, that has no blemish, that no yoke was laid.[1]
The red heifer was slaughtered and burnt along with a mixture of cedar wood, hyssop, and a crimson thread until only ash remained. This ash, when added to pure spring water, was sprinkled on individuals who had become ritually impure through contact with a source of ultimate impurity—usually death. The Hebrew word for “statute” in this verse is chukat (חֻקַּת), the name of our parashah. This word indicates a type of mitzvah, a commandment that transcends or even defies normative logic. The parah adumah, the ritual of the red heifer, is considered the cardinal statute or chok of the Torah as it paradoxically purifies those who are impure because of their contact with death, yet at the same time, it defiles those who were prepared the mixture of the purifying ashes and the spring water. How can the same set of elements purify and defile simultaneously? According to tradition, even Solomon, the wisest of men, was unable to resolve this paradox.[2]
A Psychological Analysis
The Ba’al Shem Tov offers a deep psychological analysis of this paradoxical ritual in a manner that is relevant to every person, in every generation.[3] Depression, sadness, inaction, low self-esteem, and stagnation are equated spiritually with death. When one is in such a state, the evil inclination whispers in one’s ear every reason in the world to make them believe they are not worthy or capable of initiating or accomplishing anything. What can possibly be done in such a situation?
The Ba’al Shem Tov proposes that we employ—self pride—something that is usually looked upon as taboo in Chasidic thought. To lift oneself up with renewed energy and free oneself of despair, a little bit of self-pride is required. One must tell oneself: “the world was created for me.”[4] If I fail to act, who knows what will happen to the entire world. God is counting on me to get up and move, to initiate and be successful. I am the only one capable of acting right now. Instead of the usual humility, the Ba’al Shem Tov encourages us in these situations to remind ourselves that we are not insignificant but rather created “in the image of God.”[5] In this way we turn the impurity of inaction and despair into an emotional state of energy, strength, and even self-pride.
Yet, here is where the paradox creeps in: by acting with these thoughts in mind, it is inevitable that self-pride and arrogance will creep into our mind and spiritually defile the very positive act being done! The solution to this is to adopt a deep sense of humility, especially when acting with an “uplifted spirit,” and particularly after completing a task successfully. One can achieve this by thinking simply and earnestly that the credit for this good act I just did goes to God, not to me. Without God giving me life, without God giving me the prowess to act, none of this would have happened. This explanation by the Ba’al Shem Tov reveals how this mysterious and paradoxical ritual of the red heifer can be applied to very real situations in life.[6]
More On the Ego
In line with the Ba’al Shem Tov’s idea of how to make this paradoxical ritual highly relevant to each and every person, let us proceed briefly to explore other Torah insights on the paradoxical nature of the self and ego. This is of course an extensive and profound subject beyond the context of a short article but nevertheless, we will bring a few relevant points worth pondering.
The I and Non-Being
Ego literally means “I.” The Hebrew word for “I” is ani (אֲנִי). It has the same letters but permuted differently as the Hebrew word for the seemingly opposite non-being, sometimes translated as “nothingness” (אָיִן), pronounced ayin. The ego according to Chasidut is rectified and elevated through a constant process of self-nullification. The goal is not to obliterate the ego, but rather to purify it of selfishness, jealousy, greed, and the desire for honor and power. Ideally one should strive to experience both the rectified “I” and a sense of spiritual nullification at each and every moment.
Rectifying the Ego
The letters of the word for “wisdom” (חָכְמָה) when permuted can be read as “the power of what” (כֹּחַ מָה) the ability to envision essence.[7] Wisdom is the first conscious level of the intellect but maintains links to higher levels of pure essence within the crown, the highest of the sefirot, where there exists a substratum known as mocha stima’ah or the “concealed mind.”[8] Hence, wisdom, likened to a flash of insight, a brainstorm, or epiphany, isn't merely drawn from logical deduction but is brought forth from this hidden brain in the superconscious level of the crown.
The word “what” (mah) is also a code word for the inner motivational aspect of wisdom—the power of what—known as bitul, or self-nullification, as in the statement by Moses, who the Torah itself attests was the humblest of all men: “What are we [Moses and Aaron] that you murmur against us.”[9] Accessing this level of wisdom only comes through bitul, self-nullification of the ego.[10] The more we make His will our will and subjugate our animal soul to the Divine soul within, the more we rectify the ego. Bitul involves setting the ego aside, opening the soul to a higher level of wisdom. Self-nullification depends on feeling true appreciation for every moment of life, acknowledging that all is a gift from God.[11]
The Humility of Moses
Closely associated with a rectified ego is humility, as mentioned above. The Midrash states that the Torah was given in the desert – a place symbolizing simplicity and humility. This insight also explains why God gave the Torah to the Jewish people through Moses, for the Torah itself testifies that Moses was the humblest man in the world.[12] Humbleness, entailing a high level of ego clarification, did not diminish Moses’ power; paradoxically, it increased it exponentially.
Moses was considered a king, a position connected to the sefirah of kingdom. The inner motivating force of kingdom is paradoxically shiflut, a deep sense of existential lowliness. Yet, Moses’ sense of shiflut was actually his source of strength to lead the people for 40 years.[13]
Moses had conquered his ego to such an extent that God spoke to him “face to face,” as no other human being before or since.[14] He received the Torah on behalf of the Jewish people and transmitted it to the nation as an eternal inheritance. Whether or not we merit as individuals the gift and inheritance of the Torah ultimately depends on our own abilities to conquer our egos, pride, and anger and reach genuine levels of self-nullification and humility.
Making Space for Torah
This idea is found metaphorically in parshat Chukat: “This is the Torah regarding a man who would die in a tent.”[15] Although, on a literal level, this verse, and the subsequent passage, seems to deal with the ritual purity of a tent and the objects in it after someone dies in the tent, yet, on an allegorical level, the sage, Reish Lakish, applies the verse to a Torah scholar: “From where do we know that Torah is only established by one who kills himself over it?’ As it says: ‘This is the Torah regarding a man who would die in the tent.’”[16] The tents referred to here are those of Jacob of whom it says, “Jacob was a wholesome man, abiding in tents.[17] Rashi explains these are the tents of Torah. Obviously, Reish Lakish is not suggesting that a budding Torah scholar must study so hard that he kills himself. Rather he means that in order to reach a deep and fundamental understanding of the Torah one must experience an ego death so that that there is “space” for the true teachings of Torah to enter mind and heart.
It is interesting to note that not only acquisition of Torah is equated with “ego death” but so too is love, as expressed in the Song of Songs: "Place me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm, for love is as strong as death.”[18] True love entails great selflessness and ego rectification in order to make real space for someone else in our thoughts, speech and action.[19]
Before receiving the Torah, Israel proclaimed “we will do and we will hear,” a statement of trust, faith and love of God. Significantly, at every word God spoke to us at Sinai our souls left our bodies and experienced a type of death. Angels were dispatched to revive the people.[20]
The Blessing and Curse of Ego
Another important insight regarding the ego is based on the Ba’al Shem Tov’s reading of this verse in Deuteronomy: “I was standing between God and you at that time to relate the word of God to you.”[21] He explained that when Moses stated that “I was standing between God and you,” he meant to imply that “the aspect of ‘I’—the ego—stands between you and God.”
In truth, there is a great paradox at work here. In essence, the Divine soul is at one with God and has no real independent status, yet God has fashioned human beings in such a manner that they feel quite independent. (This same paradox obviously shares many similarities with the paradox of human free will and Divine Providence and Omnipotence.)
Inherently, the ego is neither a blessing nor a curse, it all depends on how much we clarify our sense of self. At times the ego truly does stand between us and God, between us and other people, and even between us and our own true natures. Truth be told, most of the time the ego stands between us and everything else. However, this only happens when we allow the ego to go unchecked, when we give our animal impulses full reign over our thought, speech, and action. However, when we channel the ego in the right direction, it becomes a healthy instrument for doing good and aiding us in fulfilling our life goals. When clarifying and purifying the ego through true selflessness, one’s true soul reveals itself. We then realize that the ego, the ”I,” is merely the unrectified animal soul which when left to its own devices leads us into an endless morass of jealousy, anger, selfishness, and the drive for power and control.[22]
Ultimately when the soul strives for self-fulfillment and actualization it paradoxically leads to its self-abrogation. A rectified ego infused with the constant awareness of the soul being an actual part of God above and that there is nothing other than God, is fulfilled in the dictum of the sages: “Make His will, your will, so that He make your will to be as His will. Nullify your will before His will, so that He nullify the will of others before your will.”[23]
[1]. Numbers 19:2.
[2]. Ecclesiastes 7:23; Bamidbar Rabbah 19:3
[3]. Ba’al Shem Tov Al HaTorah, Chukat.
[4]. Sanhedrin 37a.
[5]. Genesis 1:27.
[6]. The Inner Dimension: Insights into the Weekly Torah Portion, Chukat.
[7]. Anatomy of the Soul, p. 91.
[8]. Mystery of Marriage, p. 434.
[9]. Exodus 16:7.
[10]. Anatomy of the Soul, p. 91.
[11]. The Hebrew Letters, p.69.
[12]. Numbers 12:3.
[13]. What You Need to Know About Kabbalah, p. 113.
[14]. Exodus 33:11.
[15]. Numbers 19:14.
[16]. Berachot 43b.
[17]. Genesis 25:27.
[18]. Song of Songs 8:6.
[19]. Mystery of Marriage 171-2.
[20]. Ibid.
[21]. Deuteronomy 5:5.
[22]. Mystery of Marriage, p. 402.
[23]. Ibid, p. 378.
