Parasha Chukat (חקת) — Bamidbar 19:1 – 22:1. Read on Shabbat, July 17, 2027 (together with Balak).
Summary of Parasha Chukat
The parasha opens with the law of the red heifer, perfect and without blemish, which has never borne a yoke. It is slaughtered outside the camp and burned; its ashes, mixed with living water, serve to purify a person who has become impure through contact with the dead, through sprinkling on the third and seventh days. The people arrive in the wilderness of Tzin, and Miriam dies at Kadesh. There is no more water, and the people quarrel with Moshe. G-d commands Moshe to take his staff and speak to the rock before the assembly; Moshe strikes the rock twice, and water gushes forth. G-d tells Moshe and Aharon that they will not bring the assembly into the land; the place is called the waters of Merivah. The king of Edom refuses Israel passage. At Hor Hahar, Aharon dies, after his garments have been transferred to his son Elazar; all the people mourn him for thirty days. After a victory over the Canaanite king of Arad, the people complain once again; fiery serpents bite them, and Moshe makes a copper serpent: whoever looks at it lives. Israel sings the song of the well. Sichon, king of the Emori, refuses passage and is defeated, as is Og, king of Bashan. The children of Israel encamp in the plains of Moav, by the Jordan, opposite Jericho.
The Themes
- The red heifer
- The deaths of Miriam and Aharon
- The waters of Merivah
Rav Raphaël Benizri’s Lectures on Chukat
There are no lectures by the Rav on this parasha yet. Find all available lectures on the Weekly Parasha page.
A Question for the Shabbat Table
Moshe strikes the rock instead of speaking to it: why does the way something is done matter as much as the result?
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Summary by the Pensées Juives editorial team. The Rav’s teachings are found in his lectures, linked above.