Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

184
Chukat
Para Aduma: A Model for Understanding Mitzvot?
Rav Michael Siev
P arshat Chukat opens with the mitzva of para aduma, introduced by the famous
phrase zot chukat ha-Torah (19:2). Rashi explains that the term chok refers to mitzvot
that human beings have a difficult time comprehending, the ones that the Satan
(yetzer ha-ra) and the nations of the world chide us about keeping. Why does it make
sense that sprinkling ashes of a para aduma mixed with water should make someone
tahor? And it is even more difficult to understand how it could be that the people
who prepare the para aduma solution become tamei while the people who are already
tamei and are sprinkled with the solution become tahor. The Torah uses the term chok
to imply that this is a gezeirat melech, a royal decree, and we have no right to question
it.
This idea seems to call into question the enterprise of explaining ta’amei ha-mitzvot,
the reasons for mitzvot. Many rishonim, including the Rambam and Sefer Ha-Chinuch,
consistently explain what they consider to be the underlying reasons for various
mitzvot, especially chukim; after all, mitzvot like the prohibitions against murder
and stealing don’t require much explanation. Why is this is a valid exercise? Haven’t
we pointed out that chukim are gezeirot melech that are beyond our understanding?
Even from a logical perspective, isn’t it presumptuous to assume that human beings
can comprehend the intentions of God, who created our intellects and is necessarily
beyond human systems of thought? And to make matters worse, even Rashi, who
begins the parsha by telling us that the mitzva of para aduma is beyond human