Parah Adumah: Why We Do Mitzvos

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

In Parshas Chukas, we learn about the chok of parah adumah (the red heifer). Rashi defines a chok as a decree of the King that has no logic. The laws of parah adumah seem to have no reason behind them. To an onlooker, the purification process described seems strange and ritualistic, devoid of any deeper meaning. The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 19:8) relates that after learning about these procedures, a non-Jew challenged Rabi Yochanan, claiming that use of the parah adumah was similar to witchcraft. When Rabi Yochanan’s own students pressed him to explain the mitzvah, he answered that it is a decree of the King and may not be questioned.

What singles out parah adumah from other chukim is the preface to the mitzvah (Bamidbar 19:2): “This is the chok of the Torah.” It sounds like parah adumah is the only chok of the Torah. Yet chukim make up an entire section of Jewish law. Why is there a special emphasis on this one?

Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky notes that the Sefer HaChinuch explains all of the most difficult mitzvos to understand, even chukim. However, it does not explain parah adumah. Here the author apologizes profusely, but does not provide an explanation for it. If he was able to provide logical explanations everywhere else, why was he unable to here?

Rav Kamenetzky explains that though other chukim can be grasped on some level, parah adumah is completely beyond human understanding. The laws of parah adumah are replete with incongruity. For instance, the ashes of the parah adumah purified a Jew who was impure, but the one doing the purification for him became impure in the process. No theme, vision, or pattern is detectable. This is why it is the archetypical chok. Parah adumah is a mitzvah because Hashem said so. Rav Kamenetzky explains that this mitzvah teaches us that our main intent for doing any mitzvah, even one that we do understand, should be that we are doing what Hashem asks of us. Indeed, this is the true purpose of this mitzvah.

In order to truly connect to Hashem, there is a fundamental point that must be clear: we will never fully grasp the true loftiness of the mitzvos. Mitzvos are deeper than we can fathom, and we must not impose our finite understanding on them. Instead, we should simply strive to do the will of Hashem. Inspirational ideas can and should be used to boost our service of Him, but genuine spirituality comes about from keeping His mitzvos just because He commanded us to do so.

The Sefer Ma’amakim adds that Torah and mitzvos are what give us life in this world and the next. They shape our reality just like the other necessities of life. Just like our lungs work, medicine is effective, and sleep rejuvenates the body, Torah and mitzvos uplift us and connect us to Hashem, whether we understand them or not. It just works.

The Alshich notes that the effect that mitzvos have on Jews is so profound that even non-Jews can see it. When we exert ourselves to do Hashem’s will for no reason other than that this is what He wants, we change ourselves, elevating ourselves above the rest of creation. This is the secret of the majesty of the Jewish people that is so widely recognized by the gentiles.

When one fully integrates the lesson of chukim into his life, they become a part of him. Rav Moshe Mandel was one such individual. When he did a mitzvah, you could sense that his deep understanding of the mitzvah was not what motivated him. He was doing it because Hashem told him to. Period. Rav Moshe internalized Hashem’s will so deeply that his bodily reflexes became sensitive to it. Later in his life, when he was hospitalized and attached to numerous tubes, the doctors noticed that his body was rejecting some of the fluids that he was receiving intravenously. This made no sense to them, so they tried to investigate it. Eventually, they concluded that Rav Moshe’s body was rejecting these fluids because they contained non-kosher ingredients! He was so holy that even his body couldn’t tolerate forbidden foods!

May we be zocheh to do Hashem’s will only because He commanded it!

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