BS”D
Chukas –
Splitting Rocks, Splitting Hairs
Dr M Bank
Reception Rooms & Banquetting Halls
Imagine. A man is waiting to enter a Banquetting Hall where all his family and friends are sitting. The master of ceremonies calls him, Reb So and So, come on in. Everybody is waiting to see him. At the front of the hall is a big screen where they are going to play all of his life. He is so excited. He is dressed in his finest suit, wearing a top hat and shiny shoes. Then he realizes, shame of shames, that his socks don’t match. He is so embarrassed. He tries to adjust his trousers so they cover his socks, so that nobody will see. While he is shuffling, his top hat falls off and lands in some dust and dirt on the floor. He tries to bend down to get it and brush it with his sleeve. His sleeve tears. The audience are waiting impatiently, and they are calling him, Mr So and So, come on in. By now he is hot and flustered. He sees himself in the mirror and is too ashamed to go into the Banquetting Hall. They keep calling him but he runs away. A tragedy. If a person comes to shamayim with aveiras, or even with having not done all the mitzvos aseh that he could have done, it is the most unbearable, enduring busha (embarrassment).
The
If someone became contaminated through a dead human and neglected to purify himself with the ashes of the Para Aduma, he remains in a state of contamination. If he intentionally enters the Beis Hamikdash he is subject to the Heavenly punishment of kares which means he is eternally cut off from the Jewish people (Rashi, Rambam). A pachad.
The Torah says that Para Aduma
must be completely red (19, 2). Even if it has two hairs of a different colour,
it is posul (Rashi). What about if someone found a red cow and wanted to sell
it as a Parah Aduma. He would get a fortune. What if it had 2 black hairs. It
cannot be the Parah Aduma. He is forbidden from pulling out a hair. He might
say to himself, who would know? Just one hair and he could make a fortune. Like
the butcher in
Which Mitzva Has a Reason?
The law of the Red Cow is a chok,
beyond human understanding. Tosafos in Avoda Zara (35a) state that one should
not try to explain the it because H’ gave us the secret as a form of ‘Divine
Kiss’ like the intimacy of a lover to his beloved. The Torah gives us the process of preparing
the para aduma and of purification, which had to be performed outside the
Israelite Camp (Rashi). In
Rav Munk, in The Call of the Torah, points out that the Midrash focuses on one paradox in the procedure – the ashes make the tamei, impure, person tahor, pure, but the person performing the procedure who was tahor, becomes, as a result of the process, tamei. The posuk says “Zos Chukas Hotorah” (Bamidbar 19,2). It should have said, “Zos Chukas HaParah”. Shlomo Hamelekh, the wisest of all men, realized that he could not uinderstand the Para Aduma and said “I thought I was wise but it (the Torah) is far from me” (Koheles 7, 23). The Medrash cites a posuk in Iyov (14,4) “Who can draw a pure thing from an impure one? Is it not the One G-d”. It notes how some of the greatest tzadikim of all times came from wicked parents, like Avraham from Terah, Ezekiah from Ahaz and Josiah from Ammon. In Nidda (9a) Chazal point out that while it is absolutely forbidden to drink even a miniscule amount of blood, an infant nurses from its mother, whose blood is transformed into milk to become the source of life. The Midrash brings a statement by R Yochanan to his students “It is not the corpse that causes contamination or the ashes of the Cow that cause purity. These laws are decrees of G-d and man has no right to question them”. Man’s failure to understand the truth of G-d’s commandment does not make it untrue. Chanukas Ha’Torah, concludes that once Shlomo HaMelech realized that the Mitzva of Para Aduma was beyond his comprehension, it occurred to him that the other Mitzvos, which he thought he had mastered, were more profound than they seem, and that he did not really understand them either.
What Mitzvos are obvious? Murder? – Why are there countries that permit euthanasia, or organ transplants from people who are still living? Theft? – When the Torah was given it was offered to the nations and they refused it because it prohibits theft. Making a fence around your roof? Why don’t almost all other countries and peoples generally build a fence around their roofs, nor non-religious Jews?
People tried to justify not eating pig because it used to contain harmful microorganisms and was known to cause disease. Now it is no longer contaminated so it would cause no physical harm. But it would cause spiritual death for you and contaminate your children’s neshamas. People who are not Jewish have seven mitzvos including theft and murder. The punishment is very strict. Even if stealing something might not seem much to the individual or to the society, it is taken very serious in the eyes of H’, even if we do not understand why. Similarly someone who eats a limb from a living animal is treated The truth is that H provides every person with exactly what he needs to perform his function in the world. Even he tries to take what somebody else has he is really demonstrating that he does not believe H provides or that he thinks that H does not constantly supervise and oversee the actions of everybody.
Rashi, in the name of R’Moshe Hadarshan, says that the Parah Aduma came to atone for the Egel Hazahav. So what is the mystery?
The truth is that there are many very deep levels of understanding the Torah, beginning with ‘Pardes’ (P’shat, Remez, D’rush and So), and Mitzvos which seem to be easily understood at one level, are completely inaccessible to us at another level.
It was specifically in the mitzvos that Shlomo haMelekh thought he understood, where the reason is given in the Torah, not taking too many wives and not taking too many horses, that he went astray.
The Chanukas HaTorah explains, we begin with the knowledge that the Para Aduma is a chok, and end up with the realization that the entire Torah is a chok, the supreme manifestation of Divine wisdom, beyond human comprehension.
Moshe’s Sin
It is difficult to understand why Miriam, Aharon and Moshe were not allowed to enter Eretz Yisroel and see the building of the Beis HaMikdash. The immensity of their punishment demonstrates just how great these giants were in H’s eyes. As we said last week, those who are closer to H have a much greater achrayus, responsibility, because they know the ratzon H’, the will of G-d. A person who has learnt Torah all his life, is not permitted to behave like a person who does not know the halacha. He must not go to places that are forbidden. He cannot be involved in business deals that are shaddy, or at the very best questionable. He has to conduct himself in a way that is exemplary, that is a light unto his own nation and also a light unto other nations. How much greater is the hillul H if a religious person tragically descends to his yetzer hora. As a person’s yetzer tov grows, so does his yetzer hora. For a person at the highest level of avodas H, a bacon double cheeseburger doesn’t really tempt him, like it would another person sitting on the beach, if somebody comes past with burgers, and he couldn’t care less what it is, just that it smells good.
The death of Miriam is next to the parsha of Para Aduma to teach us that just as the Para Aduma was an atonement for Am Yisrael, so too was the death of Miriam. From the fact that there was no water after she died, we see that it was in her merit that miraculously they had water wherever they went from the Be’er Miriam, the well of Miriam which followed them, until Miriam died (Rashi).
The Abarbanel suggests that Aharon was really being punished for his involvement in the Egel Hazahav, even though he was trying to delay the people at the time and wanted to prevent them from committing Avoda Zora. Similarly, he was not involved in the first Para Aduma service and there is a machlokes whether he was involved in the subsequent ones (Maseches Para 4, 1). He says that Moshe was punished for sending the spies. Moshe did not want to send the spies, but felt that he could not refuse, like a trader who is asked to prove the quality of his goods (Rashi). Even though neither set out to commit a wrong, says the Abarbanel, it would have seemed unfair for the people to die in the dessert and for their leaders who were involved, to enter the land. Consequently, when Moshe and Aharon themselves committed a wrong by striking the rock, they were held to account for their previous actions too.
Rashi explains that Moshe simply did not listen to H’. He was told to speak to the rock, and he struck it. The Sefer HaIkarim, says that the sin was waiting for instructions from H’ rather than Moshe and Aharon taking the initiative themselves.
The Ibn Ezra says that it may have been OK to hit the rock once, but Moshe had the wrong intention when he hit the rock, and that Moshe and Aharon were wrong to hit it twice. After the water came, they failed to show sufficient appreciation to H, by thanking Him and singing Shirah, as Bnei Yisrael did later on when they sang “Alei Be’er’.
Ma’aseh H explain that Am Yisroel dug their own channel from another rock t o the Camp and wanted Moshe and Aharon to produce water from that rock but they refused.
Rabeinu Chananel and the Ramban suggest that when Moshe and Aharon said “shall we produce water…on your behalf?”, they gave the impression that it was they who produced water from the rock, rather than H’. R’ Moshe HaKohen, citing Ibn Ezra, suggests that this also implied H’ was unable to produce water from a rock. Although Moshe did not intend to imply this, he was held to account because his words could be interpreted this way.
The Chiddushei HaRim suggests, from the word leineihem, before their eyes, that G-d wanted Yisroel to have unquestionable knowledge that H provides people with whatever they need to do His will. If the people had perceived the hand of H, they would not have had any further crises of faith.
Coveting/Appreciating Miracles – Hakaras Hatov/Gaiva/Taiva
Even Ben Gurion said that anybody
who lives in
In last weeks parsha, and in this
weeks, the people rebel against Moshe and say that they want to return to
Theft and covetousness shows a lack of appreciation. A person looks at his friend’s house or car and says, why should he have that and not me. Again, what he doesn’t realize is that H provides every person with exactly what he needs to do His will, no more and no less. If a person takes anything he is not entitled to he will answer in shomayim. This applies to Bnei Noach who are not Jewish as well.
A man once davened to H to give him a break in life, to allow him to win a lottery. The man went to see a Rebbe, who told him that his request would be granted, on one condition. His friend would get twice as much as he would. The man turned down his dream of a lifetime.
Some people set out directly to anger H’. They are often acting out of a lack of appreciation for what they have. They do not recognize H’s kindness and His miracles. They pursue their own pride, Gaiva and their own desires, Taiva. A shocking example beyond imagination – is a group who call themselves Gaiva, arrogance, Pride. Not unlike the Titanic, whose captain said, this ship is so mighty that even H could not sink it. The rest is history. He and the rest of the crew and passengers with few exceptions on that voyage were on a voyage to the bottom of the ocean. As it says in Pirkei Avos, three things remove a man very quickly from this world, pride, taiva and men seeking honour for himself.
Those people who opposed the march did not use violence. They went, said Tehillim and stood up for Torah values. This was a big Kiddush H’.
Torah Education
The Rambam in his introduction to Avos, the Shemoneh Perakim, states that Moshe sinned by being angry with Am Yisrael. They should not have called Am Yisrael ‘Hamorim’ – rebels, just as a person is never allowed to give a person a nickname unless they want to be called by that name and all the more so in respect of the descendants of Avaraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov. The sin of anger was made worse because the people assumed H was also angry with them, and that Moshe was reflecting G-d’s will, which he was not in this case. We do not find anywhere in the chapter that G-d was angered by the people’s complaint.
A person wanting to convert came before Hillel and Shammai
and asked to be converted on one leg. Shammai told him to get lost. Hillel
began teaching him. Eventually the man became a full
Once Moshe became angry, he erred in halacha and hit the rock (Rashi to 31:21). Moshe only made the mistake because he got angry. In the 13 attributes of H that we say whenever we ask for mercy, we say that H is Erech Apaim, slow to anger. If H tolerates people going directly against His will, how much more do we need to be patient. With faith in H, we have no reason to be impatient or angry.
Moshe and Aharon’s role was to teach the people and to make a Kiddush H’. Chazal say in Pirkei Avos, somebody who is angry cannot teach. The Rambam says that in all character traits a person should take the middle road, except for in humility and anger. He should be very humble, as Moshe was. He should also never be angry in his heart. A person may sometimes need to be stern, externally, but it must remain clear that in his heart he is not angry.
As was mentioned, later in the Parsha (Bamidbar 21, 16-20), Am Yisrael do express their gratitude to G-d for having given them the well and its constant water supply throughout the 40 years in the arid Wilderness (Rashi). The water and the well are symbols for the Torah (Taanis 7a) and those the Marbitzei Torah that make it available to all of Am Yisrael.
Learning should be as sweet as honey, sweeter, and should be done in a loving, positive encouraging environment with words of inspiration and encouragement. That way the people will come to love H and to thank Him