From: "netvort@aol.com" <netvort@aol.com>
<br>To: "joshhoff@aol.com" <joshhoff@aol.com>
<br>Sent: Friday, June 29, 2012, 01:39:44 AM EDT
<br>Subject: Netvort: Chukas 5772

 

 

 

 

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To Die For

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By Rabbi Joshua (Submissively known as the Hoffer) Hoffman

 
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Parshas Chukas begins with a lengthy presentation of the laws of Parah Adumah, or the red heifer, which is used in the purification process for those who have come into contact with a human corpse. Strangely, these laws are introduced by the verse, “This is the statute of (chukas) the Torah” (Bamidbar 19:2), rather than “This is the law of Parah Adumah,” which we would have expected. Why does this section begin in such an unusual way? Many commentaries, among them Kedushas Levi, explain that since the term “chok” refers to that group of mitzvos whose purpose is very hard to discern, Parah Adumah being chief among them, the Torah is telling us that, ultimately, all the mitzvos in the Torah must be viewed as “chok,” and observed simply because God commanded us to do so. Rabbi Yosef Breuer, zt”l, founding rabbi of Kahal Adas Yeshurun in Washington Heights, articulated this idea very succinctly when, writing of the quest for understanding the reasons behind the laws of family purity, said, “Whoever makes obedience to His Will dependent upon the answer to this question has already ceased to obey God, for it is, then, not God whom he obeys but his own word, which first approves and consents (see A Unique Perspective: Rav Breuer’s essays 1914-1973, pgs 239-240). The laws of Parah Adumah, as my teacher, Rav Aharon Solovechik, zt”l said, teach us the limitations of the human intellect. For Rav Breuer, zt”l, they also teach us the need to submit to God’s will and base our observance of his mitzvos on this submission.
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            The need to submit to God’s will is brought out further in a later verse in parshas Chukas, which introduces laws of tumas ohel, impurity that is caused by being in the same tent as a human corpse. The verse reads, “This is the Torah; if a man dies in a tent…” (Bamidbar 19:14). The fact that word HaTorah – The Torah – is not written in the constructive state as “Toras” – the law of, led the rabbis to read a homiletical meaning into the verse. They said that the Torah can only be sustained by one who “Dies in the tent,” who kills himself in the tents of the Torah. While this is usually explained as referring to Torah study, which requires extreme dedication and concentration, perhaps we can suggest, along the lines we have been developing, that it refers to figurative killing of one’s own intellect in terms of observing God's will, without regard to any reasons we may theorize as being behind these mitzvos.
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            Based on our understanding of the homiletic messages contained in these two verses, we can understand why the laws of Parah Adumah are recorded in the book of Bamidbar, rather than in Vayikra, where most of the laws concerning purity and impurity are brought. The Midrash says the Torah was given in the wilderness to teach us that the Torah can only be sustained by someone who views himself as hefker or abandoned property. While here, too, the usual explanation is that, in order to be successful in Torah study, one must abandon his focus on worldly, ephemeral matters, we can suggest that it refers to the abandonment of our own human intellect in terms of understanding the reasoning behind the mitzvos. In order to fulfill the Torah properly, we need to surrender our own concepts of the mitzvos and observe them strictly because of the divine mandates. Although, according to most opinions, there is room, in the context of the study of Torah, to delve into the reasons behind the mitzvos, when it comes to their observance, the only factor that we should consider is the fulfillment of the Divine Will.