Hashem spoke to Moshe and Aharon, saying: “This is the decree of the Torah, that Hashem commanded to say: ‘Tell the Jewish people to take towards you a perfectly red heifer’”
The Torah teaches us about the laws of spiritual impurity caused by contact with the dead. There is a single remedy for a person to purify themselves: the ashes of a perfectly red heifer. The Torah details its preparation, and how and when it is applied to a person. We are taught that this mitzvah is the prototypical chok, or decree, from Hashem. This category of mitzvos are those to which the underlying reasoning alludes us. What is the chok of the red heifer? All those who prepare and apply the ashes of the red heifer become spiritual impure, whereas the person who is treated with them becomes pure.
How could these two opposites coexist? This is something only Moshe understood fully, until the End of Days when its secrets will be revealed to all. For us now, it is viewed as a chok; something we have to accept and await the day when we will finally understand it. One could ask a basic question on this idea: since the red heifer does in fact have an underlying reason, why is it eluded from us? Why reveal it only to Moshe, especially since it will eventually be explained to everyone?
A possible explanation for why Hashem would withhold the underlying reasoning behind certain mitzvos is to engrain in us a certain way of thinking. As we perform certain mitzvos, we are often left wondering what the purpose behind them is. They at first glance, by our logic, appear unreasonable. Regardless, they’re our obligation to fulfill. It is the fulfillment of these mitzvos in particular which will help us when situations happen that we also can’t explain. Sometimes we have no understanding why Hashem acts the way He does. Why do bad things happen to good people? Whatever the answer, we know it’s for the best. Fulfilling these mitzvos engrains in us the idea that we don’t always understand everything. It’s impossible at this stage to fully understand how Hashem operates.
The mitzvah of the red heifer is particularly appropriate for this inculcation. Before the End of Days, death is the one constant. There are endless situations that involve interaction with the dead, causing a persistent need for spiritual purification. Even though we no longer have ashes from a red heifer, nor do we ensure that we are spiritually pure, this wasn’t always the case. When the Jews maintained purity, they had to be constantly involved with the manufacturing and application of the red heifer’s ashes. This paradox was continuously on their minds. This inculcated the lesson in their minds, that we can’t always understand why things happen the way they do.
This explains why at the End of Days the reasoning behind the mitzvos will be revealed to us. In those days, Hashem will be One and His name will be One. Meaning, today we make different blessings upon experiencing good and bad events. Upon experiencing good events, we say: “Blessed are you, the One who is good and does good”. Upon experiencing bad events, we say: “Blessed are you, the true Judge”. However, in the future, we will only make one blessing, the one we make now on good events. To us, all events will be clearly good. There will be no more confusion about why things are happening the way they are, as their deeper purpose will be revealed. Therefore, there will be no longer a reason to conceal the underlying reasoning behind any mitzvah. May that time come soon, speedily in our days.
Based on Be’er Yosef to Numbers 19:1-2
