What exactly Is a “Chok? | Rabbi Stewart Weiss | Beit Midrash | yeshiva.co

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Thursday 5 Tevet 5786

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Beit Midrash

Beit Midrash

Torah Portion and Tanach
Bamidbar
Chukat

קטגוריה משנית

To dedicate this lesson

Parashat Hashavua Series'Library Piskei Din (Hebrew)Test Yourself

Our sedra of Chukat is so named because it includes the ritual of the Para Aduma, which is considered the "chok par excellence." This same compound renders other people tahor while at the same time making the administering Kohen tamei; even Shlomo - the wisest of all people – could not understand it. (Why would any dead animal make someone ritually pure?!). A chok is a law for which the meaning is not readily understood. Every law – chukim, too – has a reason; we just don’t always know what that reason is (see Yuma 67b). Interestingly, the Mitzva of Kibud Av V’Aym is considered by some (e.g. Rav Yosef Engel) to be a chok! The most well-known chukim are Tzitzit & the laws of Kashrut, though numerous m’farshim nevertheless offer a rationale for these Mitzvot. In many ways, the chukim are actually the most important mitzvot, because we perform these purely out of faith & allegiance to Hashem, rather than because they make sense to us, like mishpatim, civil laws

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