Red Cow Power!
We all have one or two of those people in our lives, the ones who we really feel are beyond hope. No matter what we do for them or how we do it, nothing seems to work. Worse, they don’t get the message that we can’t help them. Is it mental illness? Addiction? Narcissism?
Is all hope lost?
Before I address that question, let me pose another one.
Do you know that person who many years ago you wrote off as hopeless? Never standing a chance at making it. Will probably have a failed marriage, never keep a job, never amount to much of anything. Then to your surprise you hear that he/she got their life together and is maintaining a job, a good marriage and is an all around happy person!
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In this week’s Torah portion we read about the Red Heifer. The Red Heifer was used as part of a Torah decreed process for purifying one who has come in contact with the dead. In the laws of ritual purity and impurity, the worst kind is coming in contact with the dead. Spiritually it represents someone who has become so disconnected that all hope seems lost; they’ve disconnected from spiritual life and purpose.
The Torah tells us that in the desert Moses was instructed to tell the Jewish People to bring the Red Heifer to him. Then the Red Heifer was burned to ashes, “living water” and some other ingredients were mixed together and then this mixture was used to purify the person who had come in contact with the dead.
The high level message the Torah is telling us that no matter how far a person has gone there remains hope and we should never give up. Moses as the leader empowers each of us to be a conduit for Divine inspiration to others and uncover the essential goodness and connection to life.
Lest you think that inspiring someone to uncover this reservoir of good requires the perfect setting, the perfect set of circumstances, the Torah tells us the location of this Divine instruction even though we know exactly where the Jews were at this time. The Torah is reminding us that a desert itself is void of life and growth, and yet even the most disconnected of places, the most disconnected of people can find their inner source of life and reconnect to a life of purpose and meaning.
Never give up on yourself and never give up on others.
With blessings, Shabbat Shalom.
