Hukat: The Logic of Not Understanding

by Rav Moshe Leib HaCohen Halbershtadt, Founder and Director of YORU Jewish Leadership, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

This week's Torah portion (in Israel; outside the Land, it will be read next week) is Hukat (Bamidbar 19,1-22,1). It begins with the beyond-human-understanding laws of the Red Heifer, its preparation, and how it purifies those who have been defiled by a corpse or the like.

This law, like several others in the Torah, is called a ḥukah, meaning a statute that we cannot understand. Another example of a ḥukah is the ban on marrying one's brother's widow - unless the brother died childless, in which case it is actually a mitzvah for the surviving brother to marry her. The original ban is termed a ḥukah (see Vayikra 20,22) – for it is very difficult to understand how marrying a particular woman can become a mitzvah after she was so clearly forbidden to him beforehand.

How, in fact, are we to understand these ḥukah commandments? And why is the Red Heifer the "mother" of all such mitzvot, being termed not just a ḥukah, but also ḥukat HaTorah, "the statute of the Torah" (in the second verse of the portion, Bamidbar 19,2)?

The Medrash (Bamidbar Rabba 19) teaches that these and two other examples of ḥukah are "used by the Evil Inclination to try to sway a person to leave the Torah path, because they appear to be self-contradictory."

The Medrash continues and says that an idol-worshiper once asked the renowned R. Yochanan ben Zakkai why we prepare a Red Heifer in a manner that appears to be nothing more than black magic? "You bring a cow, burn it, crush it, and take its ashes [mixed with water and other ingredients]. Then, if one of you becomes defiled by a corpse, you sprinkle some drops of the mixture on him, and declare him pure!?"

R. Yochanan answered, "You do the same thing! If a demon or spirit of madness enters one of you, what do you do?" The man answered that they make a potion, place it on a fire, etc. R. Yochanan said, "With us too, the defilement is an impurity, which we remove…"

R. Yochanan's students later said to him, "You dismissed him easily, but how do you explain the Red Heifer to us??" R. Yochanan said, "By your lives, it is not the corpse that defiles, nor do the water ashes purify. Rather, G-d decreed this law, and we have no choice but to follow it, as is written, 'This is the statute of the Torah.'"

It would seem that this Medrash cannot be understood plainly. For one thing, how can the concept of fulfilling a law without a reason be understood? And could it be that R. Yochanan would lie to the idol-worshiper, and then reveal the truth only to his students? And the answer that he told them - that the dead do not cause impurity - does this not contradict clear Torah verses? And above all: Is the ultimate answer that R. Yochanan provided to his skeptical students merely that there is no answer, and that's it?! What kind of explanation is that?!

Rather, the explanation is this:

The People of Israel do not require logical explanations in order to fulfill the mitzvot; the fact that G-d commanded them is enough for them to fulfill them whole-heartedly. Yes, the Sages gave reasons for some mitzvot, in order to fulfill a different mitzvah: that of studying and knowing about the Torah that which can be known. For just as we must serve G-d whole-heartedly, so must we do so with the entirety of our other organs, such as the intellect.

But where the Sages gave no reason, this is no problem: Our intellect can simply subject itself to the mitzvah via the knowledge that all of the Torah's commands are G-d's Wisdom, far from our own human wisdom; this knowledge, when internalized, certainly can easily help us subjugate our intellect to the Divine intellect.

This can be likened to two men who wish to be healthy. One is a hermit and knows nothing of modern medicine, and makes up his own medicines and treatments that he has concluded will help him. The other man lives in modern society and takes medicines in accordance with the latest scientific knowledge taught by people he knows and admires. The first person lives in doubt all his life; he does not truly know if the herbs he is taking will work. But the second knows with his intellect that he is taking the right approach, even without understanding why or how his medicines work.

Similarly, our trust in the Sages and their teachings is greater than whatever "logical" theories we can make up. The Sages of Truth can provide us with more certainty that our own understandings – which may end up being wrong. All the more so is this true for one who trusts G-d A-lmighty to teach him the true path.

Thus, the Sages provided some reasons for mitzvot, for the reason mentioned above – and also because there are those people whose faith is not yet complete, but which could be buttressed by understanding reasons for the mitzvot. So explained Rabbi Eliyahu Ki-Tov, in his work The Book of Our Heritage, Sefer HaTodaah.

Regarding R. Yochanan's response to the pagan: No, he did not lie to him. He rightfully said that via the Red Heifer's ashes, we get rid of the impurity – but this was only a technical answer. He did not delve into the depth of the matter, because he apparently felt that the man would not be able to comprehend it.

However, when his students came and said they wanted to hear the depth of the issue, he felt that they would, in fact, be able to grasp it. He explained to them the profound truth that the Red Heifer and its laws are actually the basis for all of the mitzvot: The corpse in and of itself does not defile the living, but does so only by virtue of G-d's decree. The same is true for the water ashes: They purify the impure only in the merit of G-d's decree that they do so!

And the fact that no reason was given to us as to how this works is actually a teaching in and of itself – that the most important principle in doing the mitzvot is the knowledge that there is nothing more logical than fulfilling them simply because they were commanded by the Creator of all life – He Who keeps the world perpetually running and in existence, and the One Who wants and knows what is best for us! What could be more logical than that?!

From this we also learn that we fulfill other mitzvot as well – not only the Red Heifer –not because of some "logical" reason that we have been taught, or because we "understand" it – but simply because the right, smart, and logical thing to do is to listen and adhere to G-d's word and will!

Is it then worthwhile to learn the reasons for mitzvot? Yes, because it is another mitzvah in and of itself to know the Torah and its secrets, to whatever extent we can.

The message of Parshat Hukat, then, is not to fulfill unknowable mitzvot blindly – but rather because the fulfillment of all mitzvot commanded by G-d in the Torah is ultimately the most logical thing we can do.