How do we re-enter the land of the living, in our bodies, minds and souls - after encountering death?
Upon leaving a cemetery - wash your hands. This Jewish tradition makes sense, on both symbolic and hygienic levels. These past few years we’ve all learned more than we perhaps wanted to about hand-washing rituals, singing our way for 30 seconds with soap and water to protect ourselves from fear and plague. Separation between the dying and the living is a profound psychic drive - So it’s perhaps of no surprise that an ancient biblical ritual cleansing formula that our ancestors inherited and used to deal with death is very much sought after these days. But the quest in question here is not by mourners who find ways to cope with loss and get back to life, or the likes of Dr. Bronner - but by zealous Jews and Christians on the religious right who want to re-activate human purity so that a new religious reality can reign on earth.
Chapter 19 in our book of wilderness, mid protests and communal ruptures, brings forth the red heifer ritual, intended to purify people who have had contact with a corpse. The elaborate process is focused on the production of a potion that includes the ashes of a perfectly red cow, mixed with a few other substances. Historical sources indicate that this potion was used in the Jerusalem Temple until its destruction in the first century CE. Why should this matter today? Well, there is an ongoing, heavily funded campaign to either find another living red cow or the last, assumed hidden, jar from the temple that contains the last batch of sacred ashes. This is a big deal for Evangelical Christians and Fundamentalist Orthodox Jews who all want to see the Third Temple rebuilt in Jerusalem, as a sign of the Messiah’s arrival and the Second Coming. Without the ashes - and this symbolic ritual that purifies contact with death -Jews were not able to back then - and would not be able to in future temple — access, enter, or even officiate inside the temple compound. I was once on a bus to the Dead Sea, full of excited pilgrims on their quest for the lost jar of red heifer ashes, assumed hidden in one of the lesser known Qumran caves. That’s for another time - but it opened my eyes to the danger and power of myth in political context.
What’s the story with this red cow???
Most scholars scratch their heads, unsure of where this came from and what’s the inner meaning. But some suggest that what the sources of this procedure is simply soap - in one of its earliest manifestations. The Torah likely borrowed this from earlier cultures that responded to the pollution associating with perishing. The ancient Near East had multiple means of defense against the physical and metaphysical dimensions of death in a world where corpses where not uncommon. These often included incantations accompanied by brews and herbal remedies.
Chapter 19 requires sterile burning outside the camp of the rare red cow, including its skin and dung, as the first step. Then come these ingredients:
וְלָקַ֣ח הַכֹּהֵ֗ן עֵ֥ץ אֶ֛רֶז וְאֵז֖וֹב וּשְׁנִ֣י תוֹלָ֑עַת וְהִשְׁלִ֕יךְ אֶל־תּ֖וֹךְ שְׂרֵפַ֥ת הַפָּרָֽה׃
The priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson silk worm-spun wool, and throw them into the fire consuming the cow. (Ba. 19:6)
What is and is not in this list may offer proof that this indeed was an ancient recipe for ritual soap. Dr.Joseph Weinstein, an independent bible scholar, suggests: “The principal ingredients required in soap are a fat or oil, from either plant or animal sources, and an alkali (usually sodium or potassium lye). An alkali can be prepared by burning plants containing sodium and potassium and mixing the ashes with water… When combined with fat or oil, this substance will produce a crude soap. This is the type of soap probably used in antiquity.” He goes on to explain why cedar, and hyssop are perfect additions to this mix, why the crimson thread was used as dramatic decoration - coloring the potion blood-red. But what about the needed fat? What’s curious about the recipe for the burning of the red heifer is that there’s no mention of what to do with the fat. All other sacrifices have precise handling details for the burning of the fat and entrails. Weinstein’s essay proposes that the omission of the fat indicates that an earlier version of this ritual existed, and made sure the fat of the cow is not burned, but added to the mix to provide the soap with which mourners and those in contact with death can wash, purify and return to the community:
“This, then, would have been the secret of the Red Heifer ritual, shrouded in mystery for centuries: cleansing from the impurity of death needs more than just water, it requires soap.”
This may make sense for history - but how will this plays out in the mythic-political playbook so many religious fanatics are eager for?? Who knows.. (South Park had a hilarious and horrifying episode about this saga.)
As for us, living today, without aspiration for the third temple or the finding of the lost ashes or a living red cow - what rituals and meaningful ways to rise from grief, mark post mourning, and live post traumatic encounters can we re-imagine, and actualize in our private and public lives?
The Red Heifer ritual, proscribed mid protests and communal panic, indicates where the rest of this Biblical journey leads us this week in the wilderness - into mourning and longings, symbols and secrets. Sometimes, what gives us the strength to keep going is a mysterious as ancient recipes that sanctify the threshold between death and life.
Want to learn more, discuss your thoughts and feelings about the Book of Wilderness and Below the Bible Belt? Join me on Monday August 22 2022, 1pm ET for a one hour conversation on Zoom. Link here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87084369168
Meeting ID: 870 8436 9168
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#hebrewmyth #929 #torah #bible #hiddenbible #sefaria #929english #labshul #929project #myth #belowthebiblebelt #postpatriarchy
There is a study In an Indian journal about use of hyssop as a preventative to COVID-19.