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TORAH PORTION
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Tasting The Flavors
Of Mysterious Mitzvot
RABBI MORTON F. YOLKUT
Special to The Jewish News
an we ever know
the reasons for the
"mitzvot" required of
us by the Torah? Various
schools of Jewish philosophy
have differed on the answer to
this question. Some fun-
damentalists have denied
that there are reasons for our
observances. A rationalist
like Maimonides in his
"Guide To The Perplexed"
strongly affirms the doctrine
of "ta'amei hamitzvot," the
importance of discovering the
rationale for our religious
practices.
Yet all agree that the law of
"parah adumah," the red
heifer recorded in this week's
C
Shabbat Chukat:
Numbers 19:1-22:1,
Judges 11:1-33
sidrah, must remain a
mystery to us, for here God
has chosen to conceal rather
than reveal.
This commandment is one
of the most enigmatic found
anywhere in scripture: A per-
son who has become ritually
unclean through contact with
a dead body was to be purified
by the ashes of a red heifer.
Here is the mystery: The
person who was ritually
unclean, as a result of this
ritual becomes clean. But the
priest who was involved with
the preparation of this for-
mula and was clean, now
becomes unclean. The red
heifer purifies the impure but
paradoxically renders the
pure impure.
This mysterious law is an
example par excellance of a
"chok," a statute given
without explanation. And our
rabbis teach: " `Chukah hi,
qezerah hi; this ritual is a
decree of God and we humans
are not able to penetrate its
essence."
There are actually very few
"chukim" in the Torah (the
prohibition of pork is another
example) but they serve an
important purpose. They re-
mind us of the limits of the
mind and the perimeters of
intelligence. In the Torah, as
in life, we will never find
meaningful answers to all of
our questions. By remaining
puzzled and mystified, we
learn to curb om. presump-
Morton F Yolkut is rabbi of
Congregation B'nai ravid.
tuousness and submit to the
greater intelligence of a
higher authority.
This does not mean we
ought to abandon our search
for the meaning of our obser-
vances. But we must
remember that the reasons
we ascribe to our "mitzvot"
are only tenative after-
thoughts. Our primary
motive in practicing Judaism
is the command of God. That
is sufficient. The reasons we
attribute to the command-
ments are changeable from
one generation to the next, as
the sophistication of our in-
sights changes. The obser-
vances themselves are
changeless, for they issue
from a changeless and eternal
God.
It is interesting to note that
"ta'amei hamitzvot" means,
literally, the tastes of the com-
mandments; the translation
"reasons" is derivative. When
we observe God's command-
ment, the observance itself
and the acceptance of divine
discipline is the substance.
The extraneous reasons we
may assign to such practices
are the "ta'am" — they add
flavor and spice.
The essence of our spiritual
diet is obedience and submis-
sion to God. The taste and
flavor are "Ta'amei hamitz-
vot," the reasons we ascribe to
our observances.
That is precisely what a
statute like the red heifer
teaches us. There are laws of
the spirit — as there are laws
of nature — that will remain
forever beyond the inquisitive
grasp of man. "Ta'amei
hamitzvot" are only the
flavoring, the taste of Torah.
The essence is "chukah," the
inscrutable and im-
ponderable will of God.
mmimmi
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