This week's Torah portion is Chukat (Bamidbar 19,1-22,1), where the word "Chukat" refers to the unexplained decree (chok, pronounced ḥoke) of the Red Heifer and its laws.

That is, even though we do not and cannot understand the reasons that the Torah commanded us to burn a red cow and sprinkle its ashes in a special mixture to purify us from the impurity of death, we must still fulfill it.

While the details of the Red Heifer are spelled out here in Parashat Chukat, it was originally commanded us just after the Splitting of the Red Sea, in a place called Marah. The Torah tells us in Parashat Beshalach: "It was there that He gave them a decree and a law, and there He tested them" (Sh'mot 15,25); Rashi explains that this refers to the decree of the Red Heifer.

The laws spelled out in Chukat were given nearly a year later, on the eighth day of the Levites' miluim inauguration period [on Rosh Chodesh Nissan according to most opinions]. The next verse after these laws immediately takes us 38 years later, towards the end of the Israelites' 40-year sojourn in the desert. (Rashi explains why the Red Heifer was written just before that which happened nearly 40 years later.)

We can add that the Torah thus teaches us, at the end of this long period, that all the mitzvot are a type of "decree and law," and they must all be fulfilled as a form of bearing the yoke of Torah. As the Sages of the Medrash teach: "The mitzvot were given just to refine Israel." And the Rambam emphasized at length (at the end of the Laws of Me'ilah) the importance of fulfilling even the mitzvot that we do not understand.

Regarding the end of the miluim week, the Torah states: "As [was done] on this day, G-d commanded to do…" (Vayikra 8,34) – and the Gemara (Yoma 3) derives that this is referring to the Red Heifer. That is, the emphasis of the Red Heifer is to "do," even without understanding, as we thus accept the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The laws of the Red Heifer in Parashat Chukat also include the laws of the circumstances that render a person impure. These laws begin with the words (19,14), "This is the Torah – the law – [of] one who dies in a tent [and how this impurity is imparted to others]." From the fact that the word "Torah" is used here regarding one who dies, the Sages derive homiletically that "Torah study cannot endure if one does not 'die' over it" - i.e., he must devote himself totally and whole-heartedly to Torah learning.

This guidance is derived particularly from the passage of the Red Heifer, and applies to the entire Torah as well – for the Red Heifer passage is a prototype of how to fulfill all the mitzvot: by accepting the yoke of Torah. One aspect of accepting this yoke is by working very hard to study and understand the Torah's words, to "die" over it. This is why the Torah begins here by saying, "This is the decree of the Torah" (19,2), and not, "This is the decree of the Red Heifer" – because we must study Torah in this unquestioning but intense manner regarding all the mitzvot.

In Tractate Shabbat (p. 88a-b) we learn:

"A certain heretic said to Rava: "You [Israelites] are an impulsive nation, acting without thinking: Why did you say [Sh'mot 24,7] naaseh v'nishma, that you will keep the Torah before even hearing what it involves?" Rava answered him: "We walk with integrity and simple trust of G-d, as is written, 'The integrity of the upright will guide them' (Proverbs 11,3)."

Rava made clear to the heretic that for us, fulfilling the Torah is not an intellectual pursuit that we do only if we understand it, but rather because it is G-d's will.

The Talmud (Kiddushin p. 31) cites a famous incident in which the Sages of Israel wished to pay 60 myriads for precious stones for the High Priest's breast plate, but the Gentile seller's son did not agree to wake up his father even for such an extravagant sum. Later, G-d merited the Gentile with the birth in his herd of a Red Heifer – for which the Sages paid the same 60 myriads that the seller had "lost" earlier. It is said in the name of the author of the K'tzot HaChoshen that the Gentile was willing to sacrifice a large sum for the mitzvah of honoring his father – a mitzvah that is easily understood – while the Sages sacrificed for the mitzvah of Red Heifer, a decree whose reason was not given to us to understand with human logic.

May G-d grant us the privilege of serving Him with all our hearts and to walk with simple trust in His decrees, Amen.

Translated by Hillel Fendel

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