Inside and Outside | Rabbi Yossef Carmel | Beit Midrash

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Parashat Hashavua

קטגוריה משנית

Torah Portion and Tanach
Chukat

The parasha starts with the laws of para aduma (the red heifer) specifically and the laws of tuma and tahara (ritual purity) in general. Chazal view these halachot as not having understandable reasons (chok), but there is still much we can learn from these halachot.

One of the rules of tuma is that objects become capable of becoming tameh when they are made by man into useful utensils. Sometimes this means that if they are exposed to tuma, they become tameh, and sometimes this means that in order to use it (for food), one must first immerse it in a mikveh. Some utensils, like p’shutei kli etz (wood utensils that do not have a receptacle in which things can be stored) always remain pure (Tosefta, Chulin 1:21).

Our parasha (Bamidbar 19:15) teaches that an open earthenware utensil (kli cheres) can become tameh but not a sealed one. The rule is that a kli cheres becomes tameh only from within. Homiletically, we can learn that what is important is the internal nature of things, not the external nature.

Let us apply this idea to another subject that the parasha deals with. Bnei Yisrael complained about their disgust with their main food in the desert, the manna (ibid. 21:5). This is surprising considering the wonderful qualities the Torah ascribes to it (see Shemot 16:31) and which Chazal expanded upon. (The most famous quality, although far from the only one, is that the manna tasted like whatever one wanted it to taste – see Yoma 75a).

It is logical to conjecture that what disturbed the people was that it did not look like food. It is well known that part of a food’s appeal is connected to its appearance, not just its taste. The manna lacked the appearance that would stimulate the people’s appetite. (We should add, parenthetically, that a Jew should eat to satiate himself, so that he should have strength to serve Hashem, not because of a craving for the food. This is as it says in Mishlei (13:25): "A righteous person eats for the satiation of his spirit.")

The manna that Hashem gave us to eat in the wilderness indeed sent home the opposite message from what the people’s prejudice was. One should not look at the external but at the internal. The idea that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was a cause of "desire to the eyes" (Bereishit 3:6) was part of the background of the sin. The fact that the snake pushed to Adam and Chava the idea of importance of the fruit’s appearance explains why snakes were involved in punishing the people who complained about the manna and thereby gave unwarranted value to the food’s appearance.

Certainly, due to technological and economic factors, the world of marketing has an ever-expanding impact on mankind’s choices, for people of all ages. From a young age, even children are exposed to the elevating of the role of externals and of self-promotion, for the most part in a negative manner. These factors cause great deterioration of society, leading up to and including murder. We will continue to work to give prominence to the internal, which requires overcoming many technologies and social factors that preach the opposite.

Chukat

Parashat Hashavua