Parshas Chukat: Child Sacrifice Causes National Disaster

The Torah portion this week, Chukat: Bamidbar (Numbers) 19:1 - 22:1, opens with the account of the Red Heifer, an inexplicable, divinely decreed remedy for spiritual impurity. Close proximity with a human corpse causes contamination which must be purified by a priest who prepares a concoction made from the ashes of a special cow. The contamination must be rectified to ensure God's presence and protection.

During the desert journey, people are dying every day from old age and as the various plagues and disasters and wars take their human toll. Family members, friends, and neighbors all have proximity with the dead. They must undergo this  purifying rite, or spiritual death and childlessness result. Unlike today, at this time these are considered dire consequences. The process of mixing the potion and performing the purification also contaminates the priest, who must purify himself in a Mikvah before he enters the Tabernacle.

Miriam dies, causing the well water to dry up. Aaron dies, causing the protective cloud to disappear, emboldening enemy tribes to attack. These calamities set off another rebellion against God and Moses. Moses makes a serious error when he allows resentment towards the rebels to distract him from God's instruction to speak to the rock to get water. He hits the rock in addition to speaking to the rock, dashing his hope of entering the Holy Land. Venomous snakes and vicious animals attack the rebels. Many die. The people recognize their folly and repent. Moses forgives them and prays to God to stop the carnage and heal the wounded.

Forty years of accepting feigned regret and repeat offenses has enabled repeated rebellion and ingratitude, so this time the Almighty requires serious thought and sincere repentance demonstrated by real change. The portion closes with lifesaving miracles. Dry wells fill with water. At journey's end, unwinnable battles against Canaanite tribes are won. 

In this Torah portion, an understanding of spiritual cause and effect begins to emerge as the next generation replaces the previous one. This generation has better insight than their predecessors into their behavior and the results. When they seek God's help and show gratitude for His mercies, water flows and battles are won. When they slip back into selfish and ungodly attitudes and behaviors, war casualties mount and venomous snakes and vicious animals attack. When they sincerely repent and change, miracles abound. This spiritual evolution prepares them for imminent entrance into the Promised Land.

Our Haftorah portion this week, Shoftim (Judges) 11:1–33, recalls the war between the Ammonites and the Israelites. In Judges 10, we learn that the Israelites are again engaging in child sacrifice while serving Baal. And the children of Israel continued to do that which displeased the Lord, and they served the Baalim, and the Ashtaroth, and the gods of Aram, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the Lord, and did not serve Him. 

The Ammonites attack the Israelites because they want to reclaim the land they lost 300 years ago. This generation quickly recognizes their Baal worship as the cause of their trouble and they repent. They stop serving and worshipping Baal and call on God for help. He answers their prayers in the form of a warrior who leads them into victory over the Ammonites.

The Canaanite tribes mentioned in the Torah and Haftorah this week practice child sacrifice. This explains why they must be eradicated from the land that will become the center of spiritual enlightenment in the world. If allowed to continue, this abhorrent practice threatens to debase the holy way of life meant for a holy people.

It also explains why nations that endorse child sacrifice, ie, abortion, have serious problems both socially and politically. Widespread spiritual sickness from proximity with all the little dead bodies of our unborn children contributes to a myriad of mental and emotional illnesses and errant behaviors. Invasion, military losses, and public health crises in the modern era can be attributed to the same cause as the same problems in biblical times. So, too, the solution. Peace, health and  prosperity come only after stopping child sacrifice and sincerely repenting for it. 

Today, the United States enacts legislation that will stop taxpayer financial support to abortion providers. Many blessings will come to us from this simple recalibration of our national moral compass. God willing in the near future our nation will restore a constitutional right to life for our unborn children and receive many more blessings from Heaven.

Perhaps we can export this demonstration of cause and effect to Israel as a way to inspire that nation to implement a similar solution to its many problems. As the biblical account states in Leviticus 18:24-26 and Leviticus 20:2-5, child sacrifice causes national disaster. Stopping it is the remedy.

Please share this post on your social media to amplify our message in this troubled world. Thank you.

Cecily Routman 

May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and good life upon us and upon all Israel. Amen.

Cecily Routman is the founder and president of the Jewish Pro-Life Foundation. She opposes abortion homicide in general and among Jews in particular and laments secular policy making in Israel that results in loss of Jewish life and delays the messianic redemption. She envisions a Torah based holy Land of Israel and a world that respects the life of every human being from conception.