Learning to Obey Hashem:
The Noam Elimelech zy”a writes that this pasuk is teaching us the value of limud haTorah and saying that through Torah study, one can reach the level of “tzadik gozer v’Hakadosh Boruch Hu mekayem”, meaning that he is able to issue decrees and Hashem will fulfill them. Accordingly, the pasuk can be understood as saying that Hashem told Moshe and Aharon, “This is the law of the Torah” – Torah learning must be done in this way, with kedusha and taharah. If one does so: “Hashem commanded to say” – meaning that such a person can command Hashem, so to speak, and tell him what to do. And He will fulfill the tzadik’s decree.
Torah Annuls All Decrees:
Targum Onkelos translates the words “zos chukas haTorah” to mean “da gezeiras ohraysa” (this is the decree of the Torah). The Tiferes Shlomo (Parshas Devarim) explains that learning Torah grinds up (“yigzor”) the power of impurity, even when Klal Yisroel is in golus. Furthermore, this is a hint that Torah annuls harsh decrees (gezeiros).
The Tiferes Shlomo (Parshas Yisro) further writes that one who studies Torah l’shma has the ability to bring about yeshuos during the time when he is learning, just like a tzadik can do when he davens. This is the meaning of the Gemara (Shabbos 11A) that says “mafsikim l’tefillah” (one interrupts his learning to daven) but one whose Torah study is his main occupation (Toraso umnaso) does not have to interrupt his learning. This is because his learning is his tefillah, as Hashem accepts his Torah study like a prayer and fulfills all of his requests from that time.
Torah Creates Dveikus:
Rav Shimon of Yeroslav zy”a (Toras Shimon Parshas Terumah) related that the Chozeh of Lublin zy”a once saw a man pacing around in extreme dveikus, but the man was not learning at all. He told the man, “Chazal say that Hashem says (Yerushalmi Chagigah 7:1): ‘If only you would abandon Me and keep My Torah.’ Hashem is saying that it would be acceptable to abandon one’s dveikus with Him as long as he learns Torah l’shma, as Torah will lead to avodas Hashem.”
When my grandfather, Rav Mordchele of Nadvorna zy”a, was a young man, his father, Rav Bertche zy”a, saw him walking back and forth in great dveikus, as he contemplated the meaning of certain holy Names and Divine concepts. He called him over and said, “The Gemara says (Megillah 28B): ‘Halichos olam lo” (the pathways of the world are His), do not read it ‘halichos’ (pathways); rather, read it ‘halachos’.
“The meaning of this is that one cannot start serving Hashem through dveikus and contemplating yichudim, and the like. Rather, the proper way to serve Hashem is to first connect to Him through ‘halachos’, i.e., through learning Torah. Once one does this, he can then connect to Him through ‘halichos’ – walking back and forth and contemplating His holy ways.”
Do Not Think Before or After a Mitzvah:
Rashi states: “Because Satan and the nations of the world taunt Yisroel by saying, ‘What is this commandment, and what purpose (ta’am) does it have?’ Therefore, the Torah uses the term ‘chukas’. It is a decree before Me; You have no right to think after it (l’harher achareha).”
Rav Meir of Premishlan zy”a explains as follows: “Satan and the nations of the world taunt Klal Yisroel by saying what is this commandment and what is its purpose.” This is the way of the yeitzer hara. It tries to stop people from serving Hashem by mocking the mitzvos. Before one performs a mitzvah, it asks: What is this mitzvah? What good is your mitzvah? You know that you are sinful, so why do think that your mitzvah has any value?
After one does a mitzvah, it changes strategy and says: What ta’am this mitzvah has! What you did is so great! Doesn’t it make you feel good about yourself. It tries to make a person feel haughty and self-important for having done a mitzvah.
A wise man will not fall for either strategy. He will not feel overly humble or haughty just because the yeitzer hara wants him to. Rather, he will use each middah properly. Before he does a mitzvah, he will consider himself worthy of doing it, and afterwards he will remain humble.
Accordingly, Hashem tells Klal Yisroel that the mitzvah is a decree “before Me”, meaning that before one does a mitzvah, he must tell his yeitzer hara that he is going to do it because it is Hashem’s decree that he is obligated to fulfill, even if he is imperfect, and he will not entertain thoughts to the contrary. Additionally, one has no permission to “think after it”, meaning that after the mitzvah is done, one may not think about how great he is for having done it, as he should remember that he is merely fulfilling the decree of Hashem.
Even a Little Torah is Valuable to Hashem:
Sefer Imrei Tzvi asks why the word “laymar” (to say) is necessary in this verse. He further asks why it says that Parah Adumah is the “chukas haTorah”, which makes it sound as if this is the only law in the Torah. Seemingly, it should say that this is the “chukas haparah”. (This question is also asked by the Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh.)
He answers by relating the following in the name of his father, Rav Efraim (son of Rav Yechezkel) of Kuzhmir zy”a:
Rav Efraim once was involved in a business deal that took up a lot of his time and energy. During that period, he was unable to learn as much as he usually did. This caused him a lot of anguish. He went to discuss the matter with his brother, Rav Shmuel Eliyahu of Zalin zy”a, to ask his advice.
His brother told him, “Right now, you should learn and daven as much as you can. Even if you are very busy and can’t focus on what you’re learning, you should still try to learn and daven as well as you can because even words of Torah and tefillah uttered without full comprehension and concentration are valuable to Hashem.”
With this in mind, he explains the pasuk to be saying: “This is the chukas haTorah that Hashem commands, to say.” “To say” is the chukas haTorah. Although we are forced to spend a lot of time working for a living, we still should say as many words of Torah and tefillah as we can. Even if we cannot fully concentrate or completely understand what we’re learning, the words we say are still valuable.
One should not allow his yeitzer hara to convince him that his words have no value. Rather, he should remember that the law of the Torah is “to say”, and even these imperfect words are greatly desired by Hashem.
The pasuk continues to tell us how one can be assured that his words of Torah and tefillah will be accepted even if they are far from perfect. It says to “take for yourself”, which indicates that one should take a tzadik as his guide, and this tzadik will ensure that his words of Torah and tefillah ascend Heavenward.
Learning Out Loud:
Rav Menachem Mendel of Linsk zy”a (Likutei Maharam, printed at the end of Sefer Ayalah Shelucha) asks the same questions as the Imrei Tzvi and answers that the pasuk is criticizing those learn quietly and teaching us that the proper way to learn is out loud. This is as the Gemara relates (Eruvin 54A) that Bruria, the wife of Rav Meir, saw a talmid who was learning silently and criticized him, saying that the pasuk says (2 Shmuel 23:5) that Torah should be “arucha bakol u’shemurah.” Chazal explain the pasuk to mean that if one’s Torah is “arucha” (set) with every part of his body, meaning that he says the words with his mouth and feels them with every limb of his body, it will then be “shemurah”, protected, and it will not be forgotten. However, if one does not say the words with his mouth and does not feel them in every part of his body, they will not be protected.
Accordingly, the pasuk is saying that the “chukas haTorah”, the rule when it comes to Torah study, is “to say” the words out loud.
Only Speaking Words of Torah:
The Gemara (Chulin 89A) quotes the verse (Tehillim 58:2): “Ha’umnom ailem tzedek tidabeiru (is it true that You were silent about the righteousness that You should have spoken).” The word “umnom” can also mean “a job”, and the word “ailem” can mean “a mute”. The Gemara thus explains the verse by saying: “What is a person’s job in this world? To make himself like a mute (and refrain from excess speech). Does this mean that one should not speak words of Torah? No, as the verse continues: ‘About righteousness you should have spoken.’”
Rav Zev Wolf of Chrony-Ostroha zy”a (a student of the Magid of Mezheritch zy”a) states that this is hinted to in the words “zos chukas haTorah.... laymar.” When it comes to Torah, the rule is “to say”, i.e., to speak. However, this only applies to words of Torah, as one should refrain as much as possible from any other speech.
Shlomo Hamelech Wanted to Praise Moshe Rabenu:
The Medrash (Tanchuma 66) states: “Rav Yitzchok began (Koheles 7:23), ‘All this I tested with wisdom; I thought I could fathom it, but it eludes me.’ Shlomo said: ‘I contemplated everything and understood it. But the portion of Parah Adumah, I dwelled on it and pondered it, thought I could fathom, it but it eluded me.’”
The Ben Ish Chai explains this Medrash with a moshol of a king who ruled over one country and who had a younger brother who ruled over a different, far-off country. In the younger brother’s country, there lived a mighty, strong man, who was famous for his great strength. This man had fought with lions and bears and killed them with his bare hands. In battle, he had easily defeated many mighty warriors.
One day, the younger brother decided to send this strongman to his older brother as a gift. The older brother was happy to receive the gift. He brought the strongman into his palace, where all his best warriors were sitting. As he entered, the head of the army, the king’s strongest soldier, stood up and challenged the newcomer to fight him in front of the king and all his ministers. The newcomer agreed and, as soon as they started fighting, he knocked the soldier to the ground as if he were swatting away a fly.
Afterwards, the strongman asked the head of the army why he challenged him. Hadn’t he heard how strong he was?
The man replied, “I did it for you. Yes, I have heard about your many victories in battle and your great might but there are a lot of people in this country who have never heard of you. They may have thought that I was stronger, or at least just as strong as you, so I would remain the head of the army. Therefore, I challenged you to a fight so that everyone would see that you are stronger than me, so that your reputation would grow and everyone would respect you.”
When the king heard that the intentions of the head of the army was to honor the gift that his brother had sent him, he rewarded him greatly.
The Ben Ish Chai explains that Shlomo Hamelech certainly knew that only Moshe Rabenu was able to comprehend the true meaning behind the mitzvah of Parah Adumah and no one else could ever be wise enough to understand it. He knew that pondering this mitzvah would not lead him to comprehend it. But in order to publicize the greatness of Moshe Rabenu, he did ponder it and dwell on it, and he then announced that no one should think that since he was the wisest man in the world, he too understood the purpose of the Parah Adumah. He let everyone know that he had tried as hard as he could but, still and all, only Moshe was great enough to understand the mitzvah of Parah Adumah.
Torah L’Shmah Illuminates the Eyes:
The Gemara (Brachos 63B) says that Torah will only last if a person “kills himself over it.” This is learned from this verse: “This is the Torah: If a man dies in a tent...” We learn from this that only one who “kills himself” in the tents of Torah and toils over Torah l’shmah can merit to having his Torah last and to be able to issue halachic rulings whenever needed.
There once was a childless woman whose husband passed away. The deceased husband had one brother, and the woman needed him to perform the mitzvah of chalitzah. However, this brother was mentally ill and was unable to do it.
The woman went to numerous famous Rabbanim, who delved into the topic, trying to find a halachic solution. Unfortunately, none of them could find one. The woman was very pained by her status. She was unable to remarry and, additionally, she had spent a fortune of money traveling to various Rabbanim. She also was forced to spend a fortune to keep an eye on her husband’s brother and make sure he didn’t run away.
On one of her journeys, she went to see Rav Eliezer Moshe Horowitz zt”l, the Rov of Pinsk. She told him her story and the Rov looked into the halacha. He wrote a lengthy teshuva, explaining his opinion that there was no way to permit her to remarry and no way to do the chalitzah. However, he felt very sorry for the poor woman. He told her, “I advise you to travel to Lubavitch and to speak with the Tzemach Tzedek. In addition to being a holy tzadik, he is a gaon in Torah and he certainly will be able to help you.”
The woman took the advice and went to Lubavitch. When she told her tale to the Tzemach Tzedek zy”a, he told his shamash to first bring in all the other people who were waiting to see him so as not to force them to wait for a long time, and once everyone else had been seen to bring in the woman together with the husband’s brother (who had been brought to Lubavitch with her).
When the two of them were led into the Rebbe’s room, he turned to the brother and asked, “What’s your name?” The brother replied, “None of your business!” Again, the Rebbe asked, “Please tell me your name.” This time, the brother said, “First tell me your name and then I’ll tell you mine.” The Tzemach Tzedek then said his name, and the brother said, “My name is Moshe.”
The Tzemach Tzedek then said, “Moshe, do you know where the market is?” Moshe nodded, and the Tzemach Tzedek continued, “Here are ten kopeks. Please buy me some smoking tobacco for two kopeks, some cigarette paper for two kopeks, some matches for two kopeks, and some snuff for two kopeks. Can you do that?” Moshe said that he could. He jumped out the window and ran to the market, where he purchased everything that the Rebbe asked for. When he returned, he presented his purchases to the Rebbe and gave him the two kopeks change. He then ran out of the room.
Right after this, the Rebbe scheduled a time for the chalitzah. At that time, he had the chalitzah performed properly. The woman was overjoyed and, as a show of gratitude, distributed a lot of money to the local poor people. She then said to the Rebbe, “The Rov of Pinsk asked for the Rebbe to write down his halachic decision so that I could show it to him on my way home.”
The Rebbe took out a paper and wrote his teshuva in brief. He wrote: “The Yerushalmi states that a shotah who knows how to count money is not considered a true shotah.” The woman was surprised that the teshuva was written so quickly. When she showed it to the Rov of Pinsk, he read it emotionally and declared, “I reviewed that Yerushalmi many times but when one learns Torah l’shmah, his eyes are illuminated to issue the correct ruling!”
Peace Between Man and His Friend:
Rashi says that every man and woman cried for Aharon because he pursued peace and created love between parties in a dispute and between men and their wives.
Rashi discerns this from the fact that it says that “every house in Yisroel” mourned Aharon. On the other hand, in regards to Moshe Rabenu’s death, it says that “bnei Yisroel” mourned him (Devarim 34:8). It does not say that “every house in Yisroel” cried over him. The reason for this is that only the men of Klal Yisroel cried for Moshe, whereas even the woman cried for Aharon since he made peace between friends and between spouses.
Dancing for Peace:
R’ Yosef Shereshevsky, a wealthy resident of Dvinsk who was close to the Rov of the city, Rav Meir Simcha, author of Ohr Sameach, once entered the Rov’s room and saw him dancing with a father and his young son. The Rov was holding their hands and dancing, as the mother stood on the side with a big smile on her face.
After the family left, R’ Yosef asked Rav Meir Simcha what the story was, and he told him as follows:
The man and woman had come to the Ohr Sameach the day before, saying that they wanted a divorce. They each explained why they couldn’t get along with each other and the Ohr Sameach asked them, “Do you have children?” They answered that they had one son. The Rov then asked, “Where will the boy live after the divorce? With his father or with his mother?” Before getting an answer, he said, “Come back tomorrow with the boy.”
The next day, they returned with the child. Rav Meir Simcha put the boy on his lap and, with eyes brimming with tears, said, “My child, your parents want to make you an orphan during their lifetimes, with no father or mother. If they do this, I ask you to please not roam around in the streets. You can live with me and be my child.”
The boy began to cry with the Rov, and the father and mother soon were in tears as well. They then both screamed that they no longer wanted a divorce. Rav Meir Simcha then grabbed the hands of the father and son and began to dance.
Worse Suffering Than Me:
Sefer Imros Taharos relates that a prominent woman in the city of Yasi, Romania, once came to the Rov of the city, Rav Yisroel Gutman zt”l, and laid out all her complaints against her husband. She yelled, “I am really suffering. I won’t leave this room until you promise to get me a divorce.”
The Rov replied, “I am ready to arrange your divorce but I have one request. For the next month, go to the poor neighborhood every Friday and distribute bread and meat to the indigent people there for Shabbos. In one month, come back to me and I will take care of the divorce.”
The woman did as the Rov asked. However, she did not return a month later. The Rov sent for her and asked why she didn’t come at the arranged time. She answered, “When I went to the poor people’s homes, I saw what real suffering is. I saw that people suffer a lot more than me and I decided that I could handle it.”
A Segulah for Shalom Bayis:
The famed Magid, Rav Yaakov Galinsky zt”l, related that Rav Chaim Shmulevitz zt”l, Rosh Yeshivas Mir, once saw a young man hurrying on Motzoei...
