Parsha Talk Chukat 5784 2024

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Huqqat [Numbers 19:1-22:1] contains some of the great passages in the Book of Numbers. It begins with the ritual of the red heifer, whose ashes are instrumental in the ritual response to corpse contamination. In the next scene Moses and Aaron respond to the people’s complaint about lack of water with a miracle that goes awry. While the waters are produce, Aaron and Moses are denied entrance into the Promised Land. By the end of the parashah, Aaron is dead, replaced as high priest by his oldest surviving son, Elazar. As this comes up every year at camp, we have talked about this many times in the past, but neither tire of it nor cease to find something new to say. Let us know how you think we did in the comments below or at [email protected]. As we have entered the 10th month of the war in Gaza, we continue to be mindful of the hostage and their families, and the men and women who defend Israel as soldiers in the Israel Defense Force. May the hostages be speedily returned to their loved ones; may the soldiers defending Israel be removed from harm’s way. Shabbat Shalom.