Pemikiran Yahudi Keluaran 19:20: Akeidat Yitzchak, Kuzari & Guide for the Perplexed

From all this it seems clear, that if the red heifer contaminates all that it comes in contact with, surely the heifer itself must be the source of the contamination! The whole matter seems to defy our normal way of reasoning. Therefore, the use of the words "this is the statute of the Torah", at the beginning of this paragraph is to remind us that logic cannot be employed if we want to comprehend the meaning of this commandment. This is why our sages quote the wisest of men, Solomon, as admitting that comprehension of this mitzvah, or rather its mechanics, its halachic rulings, escapes him. People who try to philosophise about Torah, fall into two categories. Group one believes that everything written in the Torah needs to be understood at face value, literally. For instance, if the Torah refers to G'd "smelling the sweet fragrance of a sacrifice," they perceive G'd literally employing His sense of smell. Or, if the Torah reports G'd as descending on Mount Sinai, they understand this to have been a physical descent. The second group is aware that statements in the Torah are subject to interpretation. Some members of this group will interpret on the basis that the Torah employs human idiom in order to facilitate our understanding of certain concepts. This group will not interpret in a manner that conflicts with known Torah principles. A sub group of category number two, arrogates to itself the right to make its interpretations primary and Torah principles only secondary. This is done by most Christian and a few Jewish philosophers. Making one's own intellect supreme in the matter of exegesis is heretical, of course. Solomon refers to all three groups in Proverbs 14, 14-16. (1) The fool will believe anything. (2) The crafty one will understand in line with his principles. (3) The haughty fool will come to grief through exaggerated self confidence. The manner in which the Torah portrays the laws of the red heifer is a clear hint not to try and unravel that which is conceptually beyond the human intellect. The contradictions have been built into this legislation to warn us off trying to comprehend it.

On the verse "anything the Lord wants, He does, in the heavens and on earth," (Psalms 135,6) Shemot Rabbah 12, comments as follows. This statement is to be understood by means of a parable. A king decreed that his Roman subjects were not to travel to Syria, whereas his Syrian subjects were not to travel to Rome. There came a time when the king wished to marry a lady from Syria. He therefore cancelled the decree, and said "henceforth Romans may travel to Syria and Syrians may travel to Rome. I myself will be the first to set the example." Similarly, when G-d created the universe at first, He decreed that "the heavens belong to the Lord, the earth to mankind." When He became ready to give Israel the Torah, He said that henceforth the inhabitants of the lower regions may ascend towards heaven, and heavenly beings will be permitted to move towards earth. G-d Himself would be the first to descend. Thus we find it written "the Lord descended on Mount Sinai." (Exodus 19,20) To Moses G-d said "come up to G-d, you, Aaron, Nadav and Avihu and seventy of the elders of Israel." This is the meaning of "whatever G-d likes to do, He does, both in heaven and on earth."

4. The Rabbi: Did I not compare him with a just judge in whose qualities no change exists, and from whose decrees result the prosperity and good fortune of people, so that they say that he loves them and takes pleasure in them? Others, whose fate it is to have their houses destroyed and themselves be annihilated, would describe Him as filled with hate and wrath. Nothing, however, that is done or spoken escapes Him, 'He sees and hears'; the air and all bodies came into existence by His will, and assumed shape by His command, as did heaven and earth. He is also described as 'speaking and writing.' Similarly from the aethereal and spiritual substance, which is called 'holy spirit,' arose the spiritual forms called 'glory of God' (Exodus 19:20). Metaphorically He is called J H W H (ibid.) who descended on the mount Sinai. We shall discuss this more minutely when treating on metaphysics.