Chasidut do Liczb 19:2
זֹ֚את חֻקַּ֣ת הַתּוֹרָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֥ה יְהוָ֖ה לֵאמֹ֑ר דַּבֵּ֣ר ׀ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל וְיִקְח֣וּ אֵלֶיךָ֩ פָרָ֨ה אֲדֻמָּ֜ה תְּמִימָ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֤ר אֵֽין־בָּהּ֙ מ֔וּם אֲשֶׁ֛ר לֹא־עָלָ֥ה עָלֶ֖יהָ עֹֽל׃
"Oto ustawa zakonu, którą ustanowił Wiekuisty, mówiąc: powiedz synom Israela, aby przywiedli do ciebie jałowicę czerwoną, zdrową, któraby nie miała wady, na którejby nie postało jarzmo;
Kedushat Levi
Numbers 19,2. “This is the statute of the Torah which the Lord had commanded, saying;”
We subscribe to the rule that G’d did not reveal to us the innermost reasons for the individual commandments of the Torah. Nonetheless, by giving the Torah to us He also encouraged us to try and understand as much as we could, as the better we understand the meaning of the commandments the greater the love with which we perform them. By introducing this portion with the words: זאת חקת התורה, G’d hinted that we must remember that basically the entire Torah consists of a string of commandments and that all that has been revealed to us is what is needed to enable us to perform these commandments in the proper manner. One reason why the rationale for the commandments has not been revealed is to ensure that we observe them because G’d has so commanded us and not because we agree with G’d’s reasons.
This principle enables us to understand that the ashes of the red heifer have been chosen to be the vehicle whereby we can cleanse ourselves ritually after having become contaminated in one way or another through contact with a dead human body. We have to remember also, that, due to the origin of our souls being immediately below G’d’s throne in heaven, the soul is naturally anxious to carry out all of G’d’s desires. The body, being a product of the earth, opposes the urgings of the soul as a matter of principle. Whenever we succeed in defeating the opposition of our bodies to perform G’d’s commandments we accumulate merits for ourselves.
The reason why the body opposes performance of the Torah’s commandments is simply that it cannot fathom the reason for these commandments. Had the body known the reasons for the commandments it would certainly have cooperated with the soul every step of the way.
In view of the above, when a person dies and his soul has departed on its way to rejoin its Maker in the celestial regions, the body has been bereft of every spiritual stimulus and becomes ritually contaminated. This is also the reason why, according to our sages, the bodies of the righteous do not confer ritual impurity on people who contact them, as these bodies have become refined already while the souls inhabited them, so that they had become willing partners in performing the commandments of the Torah. An allusion to this is contained in the words: זאת חקת התורה, i.e. “on account of the Torah being a statute containing laws whose meaning has not been revealed, as a result of which most bodies refused to cooperate with their souls, these bodies are now ‘punished’ by becoming a source of ritual contamination for people that come in contact with them.
We subscribe to the rule that G’d did not reveal to us the innermost reasons for the individual commandments of the Torah. Nonetheless, by giving the Torah to us He also encouraged us to try and understand as much as we could, as the better we understand the meaning of the commandments the greater the love with which we perform them. By introducing this portion with the words: זאת חקת התורה, G’d hinted that we must remember that basically the entire Torah consists of a string of commandments and that all that has been revealed to us is what is needed to enable us to perform these commandments in the proper manner. One reason why the rationale for the commandments has not been revealed is to ensure that we observe them because G’d has so commanded us and not because we agree with G’d’s reasons.
This principle enables us to understand that the ashes of the red heifer have been chosen to be the vehicle whereby we can cleanse ourselves ritually after having become contaminated in one way or another through contact with a dead human body. We have to remember also, that, due to the origin of our souls being immediately below G’d’s throne in heaven, the soul is naturally anxious to carry out all of G’d’s desires. The body, being a product of the earth, opposes the urgings of the soul as a matter of principle. Whenever we succeed in defeating the opposition of our bodies to perform G’d’s commandments we accumulate merits for ourselves.
The reason why the body opposes performance of the Torah’s commandments is simply that it cannot fathom the reason for these commandments. Had the body known the reasons for the commandments it would certainly have cooperated with the soul every step of the way.
In view of the above, when a person dies and his soul has departed on its way to rejoin its Maker in the celestial regions, the body has been bereft of every spiritual stimulus and becomes ritually contaminated. This is also the reason why, according to our sages, the bodies of the righteous do not confer ritual impurity on people who contact them, as these bodies have become refined already while the souls inhabited them, so that they had become willing partners in performing the commandments of the Torah. An allusion to this is contained in the words: זאת חקת התורה, i.e. “on account of the Torah being a statute containing laws whose meaning has not been revealed, as a result of which most bodies refused to cooperate with their souls, these bodies are now ‘punished’ by becoming a source of ritual contamination for people that come in contact with them.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy