Understanding Mitzvos that Have No Apparent Reason
The first part of our parsha describes the mitzvah of the red
heifer. The ashes of a red heifer are
mixed with water and sprinkled on one who is spiritually impure through contact
with a corpse. Because this mitzvah
seems to have no apparent logic, Rashi[1] quotes a Midrash that states
that this is one of the mitzvos about which the nations of the world and the
satan chide the nation of Israel. Our
answer to them is that this mitzvah is a divine decree which we must adhere to
even though it has no apparent reason.
For this reason, the pasuk introduces the mitzvah with, “זֹאת חֻקַּת הַתּוֹרָה .../This is the
decree of the Torah …” (Bamidbar 19:2)
The Sfas Emes asks that this answer does not seem to be an
answer at all. The nations of the world
tell us that our religion contains elements of illogic and we answer that our
religion contains elements of illogic!
In order to understand this, we must know that every decree
in the Torah is based on a good, valid reason.
There is no such thing as a decree for its own sake. What then is the meaning of the Midrash? The Midrash is teaching us that decrees
represent a category of mitzvos whose underlying reasons cannot be attained
directly. The only way to attain an
understanding of the decrees in the Torah is by embracing them even without
understanding.
This is so because the reasons for these mitzvos are
spiritual in nature. They can only be
approached by distancing ourselves from the physical. A mitzvah, like the entire Creation, has a
physical component – the act of the mitzvah – and a spiritual component. The performance of a mitzvah creates
spiritual effects. The mitzvah’s reason
is part of its spiritual component.
By living spiritual lives, we prepare ourselves to understand
even the decrees of the Torah. This
concept is borne out by Chazal[2]
who teach us that during the time of David HaMelech, the children who had not
yet tasted sin, were able to understand the reasons behind even the most
esoteric laws of purity and impurity.
In the poem that the Arizal composed for recital before
Kiddush on Shabbos morning we find, “יְגַלֵּה לָן טַעֲמֵי דְבִתְרֵיסַר נַהֲמֵי/reveal to us the
reasons behind the twelve loaves (of showbread). There are reasons even though they are not
apparent to us. We ask God to reveal
them to us.
In fact, the Sfas Emes teaches that our purpose is to reveal
the reasons. By revealing the spiritual,
we reveal the reasons as well.
As the Sfas Emes states in many ma’amarim, the spiritual
component of the Creation is more revealed on Shabbos than during the
week. As such, on Shabbos we are closer
to understanding the reasons underlying the existence of the entire
Creation. We find a hint to this idea in
the musaf of Shabbos, “טוֹעֲמֶיהָ חַיִּים
זָכוּ/Those who savor it will merit life.” The Hebrew word for “savor” is the same as
for “reason”. So, this can be understood
as, “Those who receive the reasons (having prepared themselves) merit
life. In fact, our work during the days
of the week should be geared towards preparing ourselves so that we can reach
higher levels of spirituality on Shabbos.
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