In typical Torah fashion, two of the most dramatic events, certainly of Bemidbar and certainly, at least, happen in the third and fourth aliyot of Chukat - namely, the death of Miriam and the subsequent "Moshe hitting the rock and not being allowed to enter the Land as a result" incident - appear seemingly out of nowhere after laws of the para aduma. Remarkably, the commentaries state that the final commandment regarding purification immediately precedes 38 years of silence (in the Torah) before B'nei Yisrael enter the Wilderness of Zin and Miriam dies. There is obviously so very much to say about both episodes, for sure, but that's not what caught my eye today.
Going back in time 38 years prior to Zin, and don't forget that this is immediately after (or nearly immediately after the Korach incident and resulting plague), the discussion is on the sprinkling of ashes of the red heifer - the para aduma. And as we know, the sprinkling takes place (a sprinkling designed to cure impurity as a result of contact with the dead) on the third and seventh days and purifications occurs on the seventh day. And the sprinkling is with the ashes and living waters (water of a spring - a weak translation - mayim chayyim) - all while the hyssop, cedar wood, "and a thread of crimson" are thrown onto the korban - with the sprinkling occurring by hyssop only.
There's been ample commentary I've heard about the fact that the one who does the sprinkling becomes impure.
But in a similar vein, how about Bemidbar 19:21 (the same verse), which states that in addition to the one who sprinkles, "the one who touches the water of sprinkling shall be contaminated until the evening"? (The written commentary picks up on some of this - that, oddly, the one who sprinkles is impure until evening and must wash his clothes but the one who actually touches the water is only impure until evening.)
In my imagination, I can just imagine this playing out - I'm guessing that someone seeking atonement/purification/teshuva may have tried to sprinkle him or herself. But it doesn't work that way - I cannot purify myself. The law is clear that the purification must take place over time, and only with the assistance of someone else, an intermediary.
It leads to a very basic idea, and one that is actually thematically repeated over and over again throughout Torah, which is that we can't do anything for ourselves. Really, nothing is our own - it is all from G-d, or at least from a holy and designated intermediary of H'. Perhaps the one unfortunate exception is that acts of lack of wisdom or wrongdoing are the pure choice of free will...as are acts in which we do not choose to do so. But in terms of actual, objective movement in life, that cannot be accomplished through free will, whatever the choice. And that is why there is no purification process for one who touches the water (perhaps in an attempt to purify himself), because such radical transformation cannot occur alone. And in fact doing so makes someone the exact opposite.
It's an idea that I still need to work on - what is free will and what can be accomplished "on one's own" if such a thing could be said, and what can never be accomplished on one's own, and, if done so, either through action or intent ("I did this myself") leads to automatic impurity. This is perhaps the exact idea brought up in the "rock" incident. But opening the door solidifies a spiritual idea brewing.
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