There is a story told by Rav Yaakov Galinsky about a bachur who was extremely dull and unsuccessful. Everyone pitied him and wondered what would become of him. Then, one fine day this bachur purchased a lottery ticket and lo and behold, he won! Instantly, this “nebach” became a celebrity and everyone congratulated him on his luck. But the bachur insisted that it wasn’t luck; the numbers that he wrote were shown to him in a dream - the numbers 17, 18 and 370. His friends told him that it didn’t make sense because there is only room for single digit numbers on the ticket. He said, “That’s exactly it, you have to know how to interpret the dream. I figured out that I was supposed to add those numbers, which came to 415. And that was the winning number”. His friends said, “But if you add up those numbers, the sum is 405 and not 415!” The bachur said, “I guess it’s a good thing that I don’t know how to add”. All his life, everyone pitied him that he lacked intelligence and didn’t know basic math. But that deficiency led to him becoming wealthy.
We don’t know what is truly good or what’s bad. A deficiency could be a virtue and a virtue can be a deficiency. Our job is to do as we’re told and not make our own calculations as to what we should or should not be doing. A Yid does not make his own cheshbonos. Our job is to serve Hashem whether we understand it or not, whether it seems right or not. That is meaning of “Zos chukas hatorah”. A chok, as we know, is a commandment that we cannot understand. In this week’s parsha, we learn about the famous chok of para aduma, the red heifer, whose ashes are used to purify the impure and yet causes pure people (who prepare it) to become impure themselves! Surely, the intellect cannot explain such a phenomenon, and that’s precisely the point.
But if the parsha is primarily talking about the para aduma, why does the pasuk say “Zos chukas hatorah” and not “zos chukas hapara”? Says Rav Simcha Schustal Zt”l that the root of the chet haegel was that Klal Yisroel relied on their own intellect. They came to the conclusion and understanding that there was a need of an eigel to be the intermediary between themselves and Hashem. They didn’t ask a shaila; they just did things on their own. And that was their sin. Because when you have a shaila you need to ask a shaila. It’s a grave mistake to assume you can figure out what Hashem wants with your own brain. And when in doubt, you ask.
Now, Hashem commanded us to take a para aduma as an atonement for the chet ha’eigel. The mitzvah of para aduma is a commandment that we don’t understand, and that will rectify the sin of following the intellect instead of being subservient to the will of Hashem. Para aduma teaches us to do mitzvos even when we don’t understand the reason behind them. We don’t go after our intellect. And that’s why it says “zos chukas hatorah”, to teach us that we have to view the entire Torah as a chok. All of Torah must be followed whether we understand it or not. A yid follows Hashem’s commandments no matter what, regardless of his intellect and understanding.
This also explains why Hashem suspended Har Sinai over our heads, forcing us to accept the Torah, even though we already said “naaseh v’nishma”. This was to teach us that we must accept the Torah no matter what, whether we understand it or not. And even if we may come across a mitzvah that we can comprehend, still, we only fulfill it because we were commanded to and not because we happen to understand it.
The first sin ever committed was eating from the eitz hadaas, a sin that was the root of all future sins until this very day. What was the sin all about? Adam and Chava had a mitzvah not to eat from that specific tree, and yet Chava made her own cheshbonos, her own calculations, which caused her to partake of the fruit and give some to Adam as well. The pasuk says in Bereishes 3 that Chava told the snake, “Hashem told me that I can’t eat or even touch the tree or else I am going to die”. In reality, the commandment was only not to eat. Chava added on the part about not touching. The snake told her, “It’s not true, you won’t die”, and he pushed her against the tree. The snake said, “Just like you didn’t die from touching the tree, you won’t die from eating it either”.
How did Chava come to this mistake just because she added on the prohibition of touching the tree? Says the Malbim, her mistake was that she fulfilled the mitzva based on the reason – because she did not want to die. And because of that she added on to the mitzvah, not even to touch the tree. If she would have fulfilled the mitzva just because Hashem said to and without any reasons attached to it, then the snake would not have been able to convince her to sin. Says the Malbim, this is the tactic of the snake, the evil inclination, up until today. If we analyze mitzvos we get ourselves into trouble.
Adam and Chava’s intentions were completely pure, and yet their sin banished them from Gan Eden and brought death and curses to the world. That sin was the root of all sins until today. It’s the sin of using our intellect and rationalization in place of accepting the will of Hashem blindly.
With this we can understand the famous gemora in kedushin 31: regarding the gentile by the name of Dama ben Nesina who had a precious stone that the sages needed for the eifod. He said, “I can’t give it to you right now because my father is sleeping”. The next year, Hashem paid him with a reward that he had a para aduma. Dama said, “I know you would pay me any money in the world for this cow, however, I am only charging you what I lost last year from when you came for the stone”.
Why did Hashem pay him back for his mitzva of kibbud av with a cow? If Hashem wanted him to simply make money, Hashem has many ways to make him rich! This story of Dama ben Nesina is a lesson, a rebuke for all of us, because we are learning the mitzva of kibud av from a goy and not from a yid. Therefore, Hashem rewarded him with a para aduma to hint that yes, the goy fulfilled the mitzva of honoring his father on a high level, yet that is a mitzvah sichlis, a commandment that the intellect understands. It makes sense that a child should honor his parents. What’s more, the Torah also promises a long life to those that fulfill this mitzvah. But a yid is ready to fulfill mitzvos even if he doesn’t understand the reason behind it. And the proof is that he’s ready to spend a lot of money to fulfill the mitzva, just to do the will of Hashem. That’s why Dama ben Nesina received a para aduma as a reward, to show that we yidden are still much greater than that. We have more mesiras nefesh than the goy. Para aduma is that we are mevatel our seichel, we relinquish our intellect to the commandments of the Torah.
In a day and age when the world around us barely fulfills what the intellect mandates is right and correct, it is most difficult to go beyond that and fulfill that which we don’t understand. And yet, it’s precisely this point which sets us apart, which is the basis for the entire Torah. “Zos chukas hatorah” – the entire Torah is a chok, must be treated as a chok, and we fulfill the mitzvos simply because Hashem commanded us to. We don’t ask questions; we don’t try to understand or to use our logic to explain. We are His servants, loyal and true, and that’s our essence as the chosen nation.
