Parshat Chukat: The Paradox of Death
This week’s parsha, Chukat details the most obscure part of our Torah: The laws and ceremonies of the Red Heifer whose ashes were an integral ingredient to purifying someone who was in a state of Tumah, Impurity.
Before we proceed we need to get an understanding of this Tumah/Tahara system that appears in the Torah in a number of places. It is normally translated as Impure and Pure respectively, but not only is this a lame translation but a misleading one as well. We associate Pure with good, clean, untainted and wholesome while Impure is the opposite – bad, dirty, tainted and contaminated. But Tumah/Tahara have nothing to do with these associations.
There is no moral issue attached to either of these states that a person might find themselves in. Tumah is not bad or evil and Tahara is not good and morally superior. They are what they are and their definitions are wholly defined by one’s proximity to Death. That’s it.
As Rabbi Sacks zt”l (borrowing from an idea from R. Samson Raphael Hirsch) succinctly puts it about the Red Heifer: “A dead body is the primary source of impurity, and the defilement it caused to the living meant that the person so affected could not enter the precincts of the Tabernacle or Temple until cleansed, in a process that lasted seven days.”
Death is not something any of us can control for the most part unless someone does something reckless or decides to take their own life, God forbid. It’s a part of life and at some time or another we come in contact with Death and the dead. Hence there is nothing right or wrong about it. Tumah/Tahara is a completely independent system to Good/Evil and Truth/Falsehood – systems we are much more familiar with.
Jewish tradition notes a strange paradox of the Tumah/Tahara structure. Namely, that during the preparation of the components that transform one out of a state of Tumah – at that very same time it makes the preparer who is Tahor transform into a state of Tumah. Someone who is Tahor, whilst involved in efforts to take another from their state of Tumah, themselves become Tumah in the process.
I would suggest that it’s no accident that there is inherent paradox within this system that is wholly associated with Death because this selfsame paradox exists within the notion of Death itself. Death by its very nature is a contradiction in many ways.
When we are young we generally don’t give too much consideration about Death. We think we are invincible and will live forever. But as we get older and start to feel the decline we realize this is a fiction. And then when the grandparents and then the parents pass on – well now it’s a different ball game altogether! You begin to realize that, guess what – you’re next in line! The previous generations acted as this fake buffer and now you find yourself as the oldest in the extended family.
Whether death happens suddenly and tragically to a young person, or even when it happens in the normal trajectory of a life well-lived for many years, it still leaves us scratching our head on some level of disbelief. How could this being who had so much life, vigor, accomplishment, achievement, potential and activity all of a sudden just stop and no longer be? Death by its very nature is a complete paradox to the ever-present life as we know it. It makes no sense on some level and may give rise to the notion that all of life may be rendered absurd in the end.
I recall how this hit home a number of years ago with the passing of a dear friend who came to my classes every week for a very long time. Anyone who heard of his illness beforehand was completely shocked by it. Even though he was in his 70s, he was the picture of health and the guy I have always said that I wish I will be like when I am his age. He played tennis every day, practiced yoga, ate healthy, etc. I played tennis with him a number of times and he beat me every time even though I was way younger. If there was anyone who you would think would live forever, this was the guy. But alas, we know that nobody lives forever.
The paradox of the Tumah/Tahara cycle reflects the paradox of the Life/Death cycle to which it represents. But it’s only a paradox because of our limited perspective that only sees the here and now. On the other hand, we know we have a soul which is a reflection of God – a “piece of God” – if you will, and hence lives forever. The body stops and ceases but not the soul. What it does “up there” I cannot exactly tell you, but continue it does.
It continues not only as an entity unto itself, but in the legacy and ripples of good that one does. It continues and carries on eternally through others who have been influenced and affected by those good deeds and mitzvot that create more good in our world. A person may no longer be physically present, but their influence is still felt long after they are gone. Not just in a memory but in the real, tangible marks they have made on others. Naming children after deceased relatives testifies to our intuitive sense that Death is not the be-all and end-all of a person’s life.
We might not fully understand the paradox of Tumah/Tahara and Life/Death but we can certainly understand the good that special people in our lives have done for us, and that has shaped our lives each and every day. This in no way is beyond our understanding and makes perfect sense; that someone who is no longer present still resonates within us.
I don’t know what happens when people die
Can’t seem to grasp it as hard as I try
It’s like a song I can hear playing right in my ear
That I can’t sing
I can’t help listening
-Jackson Browne
