The name of this week’s portion, Chukat, means laws, ethics and decrees. This portion is not about what we should or should not do, it’s about cause and effect. Chukat is from the word “Chakika”, meaning “reshimu”, or impression.
The kabbalist Noam Elimelech, who lived 200 years ago, said that the study of the Torah and the Zohar can heal anything. If we want to find a solution to any problem in our life, we should use the energy of the Zohar. The impression refers to what is left after we study the Zohar; this is the healing light that enters our body through the soul.
The portion of Chukat is always in the month of Tamuz, the sign of Cancer. The question is: Why did the Creator create this month together with the portion of Chukat? What are the energy forces that we can reveal this week? The Rav explains that the month of Tamuz is not an easy one; indeed, the sickness of cancer is born of this month. The good news is that the Torah always gives us positive energy and this week we are getting immunized against Cancer by connecting to the Torah reading and the scanning of the Zohar. Rav Berg explains that the immunization is for countering any negativity we might have in our life, so we can instead draw healing, immortality, rejuvenation, medical miracles and more.
The portion of Chukat is very famous because of the discussion about the Red Heifer. The Red Heifer was born from the ashes of a red cow. Every single hair on this cow was red. Those ashes could purify any external or internal negativity – such as physical disease or any spiritual shortcut we took – anyone might have. Today we don’t have the Red Heifer, but we can connect to the energy of the week – and in so doing become more aware of our negativity and start to work on it.
There is a story about the Maggid of Mezritch, a renowned kabbalist and student of the Baal Shem Tov some 300 years ago, which says that he once found his students engaged in a loud discussion about something or other. He asked them, “What are you studying in such enthusiasm?” To which they answered, “We are trying to discuss how we can get rid of our ego, our negativity.” The Maggid’s response to this was: “In the time you have spent trying to solve this question, your ego and negativity has started chasing you.”
This week we can receive the power to disconnect from our negativity and let go of our klipot. We can stop being robots to specific things in our life and to start a process of cleansing that will get us ready for Rosh Hashanah.
When you connect to the energy of this week, try writing down what it is that you need to cleanse, purify, heal and inject more Light into.
Michael Berg once said: When we act from a Desire to Receive (not for the self alone) we are raising the volume. The Light is in every moment and every object, but we have to be able to see it. The reason we don’t want to do another selfish action is that we’ll not merit to see the Light. We create static by means of our selfish actions.
