Parshat Chukat
7 Taamuz 5764

June 26, 2004
Daf Yomi: Bechoros 14

Guest Author:
Rabbi Arie Isaacs

Young Israel of New Haven, CT

 

�Zos chukas HaTorah...v�yikchu eilecha parah...� (Bamidbar 19:2). There are two fundamental questions on this pasuk. The first is, why does the Torah introduce the law of the parah adumah, red heifer, with the expression �chukas HaTorah�? Wouldn�t it have been more appropriate to say �chukas haparah�? Also, Rashi quotes the famous Midrash that says that the parah adumah essentially comes as an atonement for the eigel hazahav, golden calf. If that�s the case, then in fact the law of the parah adumah should not really be considered a chok, a law without a reason, as it has a very clear purpose, to atone for the sin of the eigel!

The Beis HaLevi on Parshas Ki Sissa explains the pasuk in Koheles (7:23-24) that says: �I thought I could become wise, but it is beyond me. What existed is elusive and so very deep, who can find it?� The Midrash explains that what Shlomo HaMelech means to say is that through his wisdom, he was able to understand the meaning of all the laws of the Torah, but the section of the parah adumah, he was unable to fathom. Even when he intensely probed into it, he remarked, �I thought I could become wise, but it is beyond me.� Comments the Beis HaLevi, Shlomo thought that he had succeeded in understanding the true meaning behind all of the mitzvos. However, when he came to the parah adumah and was unable to comprehend the reason behind it, he then came to the conclusion that just as the parah adumah was a mystery to him, so too all of the mitzvos have a mysterious element to them and we cannot truly understand the complete essence of any mitzvah. Just as the 248 limbs and 365 sinews of the body join together to form one unit, similarly the 248 positive commandments and 365 negative commandments form one whole unit and lacking the comprehension of even one of them means that the entire unit cannot fully be understood.

This then is what the Torah means when it says: �Zos chukas HaTorah...v�yikchu eilecha parah ...�. The parah adumah is one mitzvah and it is a chok ( a decree of the Torah, beyond human understanding). While it may be true that the rest of the Torah is not a chok, since we cannot comprehend this one mitzvah, we understand that in truth all of the mitzvos have some element of mystery to them. And so, the mitzvah of parah adumah teaches us �chukas haTorah�, that in reality all of the mitzvos of the Torah are chukim and that our finite minds cannot plumb the depths of their infinite reasons.

What results from this is that the mitzvah of parah adumah serves as a lesson for us that we should not allow our intellect to determine whether or not we will observe a particular mitzvah. We should not think, �since this mitzvah makes sense, we�ll do it�, which implies that if it does not make sense, if our minds could not come up with a rational explanation for it, we would dismiss it. This explains how the parah adumah serves as an atonement for the eigel. The cheit ha�eigel resulted from individuals doing something that they were not instructed to do. By observing the mitzvah of parah adumah, the Jewish people showed that they had learned the importance of following the exact word of G-d, even if they don�t fully understand it. So while the mitzvah of parah adumah may be the kaparah, atonement, for the eigel, it is not the ta�am, reason, for the mitzvah.

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