Parshas Chukas

"This is the chok of the Torah.” (Bamidbar 19:2) 

Rav Yosi Bar Chanina said: Hashem said to Moshe “To you I’m revealing the reason for parah [adumah] but for others it’s a chok.” (Midrash Rabbah 19:6) 

Yet the Torah does state in several places that the parah adumah was atoning for the egel. 

Furthermore if there is a reason for the mitzvah of parah adumah why did Hashem conceal it from man even from Shlomo Hamelech the wisest of all men? 

The Gemara in Niddah( 9a) quotes Shlomo Hamelech: “I said I will gain wisdom but it was far from me” (Koheles 7:23). Rashi explains that Shlomo was referring to the parah adumah — why the one upon whom the ashes are sprinkled becomes pure and the one who touches the ashes becomes impure. 

This is the aspect of the parah adumah that cannot be understood. (Be’er Yosef Rav Y. T. Salant from the Lekach Tov) 

If all the mitzvos were easily understood and all the directives of the gedolim convenient to accept then perhaps people would follow halachah more easily?

Yet Hashem concealed the reasons for our benefit. What does the hidden reason give us?

The reason a chok’s meaning is concealed is to accustom man to fulfill a mitzvah even when it seems illogical. Through this blanket acceptance man learns to unequivocally accept Hashem’s judgment in all aspects of life even when he cannot understand. (ibid.) 

Years ago I had a jewel of a friend who lived across the hall from me. She came from a family of scanty observance but she built her own home on the foundations of Torah and yiras shamayim. Borrowing sugar from her was a mussar lesson as I watched her middos tovos in all her interactions with her family.

She had a baby girl after three boys. We showered her with gifts and cakes and watched her sons enjoy their new princess.

One morning there was a commotion on the other side of our door. Paramedics were circulating the hall and the cries of children sent chills up my spine. Timidly venturing out I was felled by the tragic news. Their precious four-month-old baby had passed away in her sleep.

The pain sent me reeling.

For seven days their house swarmed with people many relatives donning head coverings as they entered and whispering as they left. Why them? Why this family of all people?

According to this we can understand the words of Dovid Hamelech (Tehillim 119:54): “Your chukim have been my songs in my dwelling place.” 

Rashi in Sotah (35a) explains that when Dovid was fleeing from enemies and may have had questions on Hashem’s judgment he’d learn the chukim and strengthen himself saying “Just as the chukim of the Torah are above human understanding so too are the ways of Hashem beyond human intellect.” (ibid.) 

One evening I and a few neighbors came to be menachem avel. The house was relatively quiet besides the screaming pain that saturated us all. And suddenly she spoke her voice anguished yet surprisingly strong.

“I had a dream last night. I couldn’t fall asleep but when I finally managed to doze off I saw a very thin chevel [rope] stretched high across the sky from one end to the other.

“People were hanging from the chevel holding on with all their might. Around me the world was collapsing turning over… It was so real that I also ran to hang on to the rope. It wasn’t easy as the chevel was so high and thin. I heard someone speaking. ‘These are the chevlei [birthpangs — literally ropes]of Mashiach ’ the voice said. ‘Only those who hold on to emunah will be saved. ’”

Now we understand why the reasons for parah adumah will be revealed by Mashiach. The midrash says that in the times of Mashiach there won’t be any bad tidings and therefore no need to hide the reasons for chukim. Everything will be clear and understood with intellect. As it says in Yeshaya (11:9): “For the earth shall be full of knowledge of Hashem as the water covers the sea.” (ibid.) 

My neighbor had no questions no anger. There was only deep emunah which answers all questions.

This is the chok of the Torah. There are reasons but they are not revealed to us. When we learn to accept that then we have a rope to grasp in the storm.