Get Out of the Camp! While many of the laws of the Torah are logical, there are some called statutes, or Chukim, which defy logic. The quintessential example of a commandment that transcends logic is the red heifer, the opening commandment of this week's Torah portion. The law of the red cow is a decree, not only because the entire concept of purity and impurity is not logical, but also the law itself is internally inconsistent. The mixture of ashes and water that is used to purify the people who have the most severe individual impurity will actually render the priests who prepare this mixture impure. Addressing this commandment, the Rebbe explained a profound lesson for us. If we would like to reach out and help somebody else, if we would like to help somebody heal from their own negative emotion or challenging situation, we must care enough to risk our own spiritual or material well-being. We will not be effective if we sit in our ivory tower providing advice or encouragement. We have to become “impure” ourselves, make ourselves vulnerable, feel the pain of the other, and give them the sense that their problem is our problem. As a wise man once said: “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care”. This idea is expressed in another anomaly of the law of the red cow. Every other offering discussed in the Torah must be offered within a sacred space in the temple. Every other offering must be consumed in a holy place, either in the temple itself or in the city within the walls of the holy city of Jerusalem. Yet the red cow deviates from this rule, in the desert, the red cow must specifically be offered outside the camp, and once the Jewish people enter the land of Israel, outside the city of Jerusalem. This detail again emphasizes this critical point. To help another person you must leave your environment of holiness and be prepared to enter their space, feel their pain, empathize with their experience and show them that you care. The Rebbe spoke these words in the early years of his leadership, and indeed, this became one of the hallmarks of the Rebbe’s message to each of us: no person is too far, no experience is too foreign. The Rebbe sent his emissaries around the world, and taught them not to remain in the Temple to go out and create a home for every Jew and to serve as a beacon of light to all humankind. As we stand in the week of the Rebbe’s Yahrzeit, may we continue the Rebbe’s legacy of love, kindness, and dedication to every person in need. Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Lekutei Sichos 4, Chukas
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