MODIA
A web site on how to study and live
Judaism, Torah and Talmud

-

Review of method of study

After an initial reading of the whole parasha,
re-read it (even in English),
look up the references,
identify how it applies to the daily life of the Jewish people,
identify how it applies to your personal life,
memorize the above plan,
until you are able to teach it by heart,
memorize main phrases from the parasha.

First level

In the preceding parashiot, we were given the geographic directive of the Jewish people (the land of Israel) and the moral laws in order to live according to the Torah. Now, we are given an even more complex and difficult teaching. Parasha Hukkat teaches us the fundamental structure of human and material life: this is essential in order for us to be humane and efficient beings.
A teaching such as this one cannot come from us: we need to "receive" it. We must therefore make a great effort in order to understand it, for its meaning is complex. This will be the test as to whether we are capable of "receiving the Torah." In his Goodness, the Creator wanted to give us His Torah, which is beyond our full understanding, so we much devote a great deal of time to studying it: this is what is called studying lishma, for its own sake, solely for the sake of His glory. We will then better understand the very special role entailed in being a member of the people of the Torah, the bene Yisrael.

Position of the parasha

One of the principle methods of studying the Torah is to try to understand the context of each parasha in relation to the preceding ones. We call this semikhut parashiot, the contiguity of the parashiot (see Rashi on Devarim 21, 22).
Thus, we see that this parasha follows the issue of slander (lashon ha ra)
against the holiness of a man (Moshe) and this even by those closest to him and the best of the people (parasha Behaalotecka),
then against the holiness of the land of Israel (the spies, parasha Shelakh lekha),
and finally against the social and political organization of the people of Israel, which is based on holiness (parasha Korah).
The Torah thus shows us that:
1. even though God delivers his people from oppression (slavery in Egypt and life in an alien country),
2. even though He gives them the gift of the Torah,
3. man will have to overcome by himself the collective test of slander and he will not be able to achieve the holiness represented by the land of Israel unless he triumphs in the battle against these three forms of slander.
4. The battle will be fierce, as we see in these 3 parashiot.
5. Since even the best of men succumb, we must not be surprised by some of things we are witnessing today among our own people.
6. The Torah comes to our rescue, for we cannot overcome this stage by ourselves (there was only one Moshe). The Torah demonstrates to us, in parasha Hukkat, the unshakable order of things to which we must adhere, for this is the true order of the world and of all our relationships: these are the edut, hukim and mishpatim which God gave us. This is what parasha Hukkat teaches us. Now that we have understood the context of the parasha, we can proceed to studying its teaching.

Summary of the parasha

The parasha teaches us ordinances of the Torah which are beyond our level of understanding: these are the hukim or hok in the singular.
Let us begin with the simplest level: The word hok has the following meanings:
a law, a rule, as in Bereshit 47, 26 or Bamidbar 30, 17 (look up these references and those listed below);
a custom to be upheld forever, as in Judges 11, 39-40;
a measure of capacity or time as in Bereshit 47,22 or Shemot 5,14 or Proverbs 30,8 and 30,15, or Yehezkel 45,14;
The word comes from the root hakkak, which means to cut or engrave. Thus hok represents the insertion of something spiritual into reality. In this parasha, the word, in this context, has an even more precise meaning which we shall explain.
There is an apparent paradox here: the parasha teaches us things beyond our comprehension: so why teach them? and what is the important message which is being communicated here?
The Or Hahayim asks in relation to the text:
why is it written "zot hukkat ha Torah, this is the statute of the Torah," with the emphasis on this as in Bereshit 2, 23: "zot ha paam etzem me atzmai, this is now bone of my bones"?
why is it not written: "this is the hukka of the red heifer" but "this is the hukka of the Torah"? How does particular case relate to the whole of the Torah?

The mitzvot in the parasha
The parasha teaches us mitzvot 397-399:
the burning of the red heifer,
the ordinance against contact with the dead,
the use of the ashes of the red heifer for purification.

The hok: understanding the role and different levels of knowledge of the Torah
The rite of the red heifer is a mitzva to which the name hok or hukka is given. This means that its meaning is beyond our comprehension.
If King Solomon succeeded in understanding the rest of the Torah but not this part, how much more will it seem incomprehensible to us.

A question arises from this: why did Hashem place this limit on our understanding of the Torah, which he gave to us?
In answering this question, the Shla elaborates on many essential principles regarding the Jewish people in order to understand the role and different levels of knowledge of the Torah.
The amalgam of all of this will then help us to understand a question that concerns all of us: "what level of knowledge of the Torah is accessible to each individual?" The issue of the hok will thus enable us to discover the different levels of meaning in the Torah.

Definition of the hok
The hok is an ordinance which always relates to something that is precise and limited in time and in quantity. Rashi,, on Bereshit 26, 5, writes that it is an ordinance which goes against the yetzer hara and the rest of the world: hukotai, devarim she yetzer hara veumot haolam meshivim alekem, kegon akhilat hazir ulevivhat hametz, she ein taam badavar elle guezerat hamelekh vehukotav al avadav.
Thus the hok defies the tendencies of human instinct and logic.
There are four hukim in the Torah, according to Bamidbar Rabba 19,5, which defines them in relation to the yetzer hara:
the prohibition against marrying one's sister-in-law, except in the levirite law or that of yibum, when the remarried widow is called yevama and the brother-in-law who marries her is called yavam: the halitza (Devarim 25, 5-9) allows a man to renounce this right;
the prohibition against mixing different species in the same garment or shaatnez (Vayikra 19, 19 and Devarim 22, 11) except in the case of the tallit;
the scapegoat rite of Yom Kippur;
the red heifer rite;
and, according to Rashi, the prohibition against eating pork.
The four cases are analyzed in detail in Midrash Tanhuma Hukkat 7.

According to Ribbi Yohanan ben Zakai, in Bamidbar Rabba 19, 8, the hok represents the essence of Jewish logic. It is not contact with the dead which makes someone impure and it is not water which purifies (as in usual logic), but the contact and the water only make impure or purify because Hashem created the world according to these laws.

Thus the apparent logic behind a rite isn't proof of its justification, as rational philosophy would claim. In Judaism, the logic of a rite comes from its role within the divine plan: the role of the hok is thus to place things precisely within the divine plan by showing us the limits of human comprehension.
The Ramban takes this further when he says that tzaddikim (righteous ones) do not make things impure (lo hammet metame ve lo hamayim metharaim ella amar Ha Kaddoch Barukh Hu: huka hakkati, gezera gazarti). This theme is developed in the Tossafot of Baba Metzia 114b (on mahut), of Ketubot 103b and Yevamot 61a. Tzaddikim do not make things impure, nor does their death (this is why the Cohanim were present at the funerals of the Sages of the Torah, even though they are forbidden to have contact with the dead).
It is this respect for the invisible world which should govern the thoughts and actions of our political and intellectual leaders: if this were so, there would be fewer disasters, wars, acts of exploitation, domestic violence, etc., in the world.

Understanding the different types of mitzvot
Rabbenu Bahya comments on the question: is the hok different to the other mitzvot or are all the mitzvot of this type?
As is his custom, Rabbenu Bahya tells us that we will find the answer in the Book of Proverbs (Mishle 7, 1-2):
beni shemor amarai, my son keep my words,
umitzvotai titspon itekha, and lay up my commandments with thee:
shemor mitzvotai ve heye, keep my commandments and live,
vetorati ke ishon eineka, and my law as the apple of thine heart.

This tells us that all the mitzvot are commandments or amirot (the words of Hashem), as in Psalm 12, 7: imrot Hashem amirot tehorot ; the words (mitzvot) of Hashem are pure words.
He then tells us that the mitzvot are divided into 3 categories:
1. The mitzvot mekubalot (received mitzvot), which man is not able to find on his own but can only receive through the gift of tradition, such as the mitzvot of tzitzit (the threads on the prayer shawls), the tefilin (the boxes containing a text from the Torah which are placed around the arm and on the forehead), the mila (circumcision), the succa (hut), the shofar (ram's horn), the lulav (the bouquet of the 4 species), etc.
These mitzvot are of a divine nature and they are called edut (testimony) because they are a direct testimony of divinity and of the renewal of the world, such as Shabbat (the day of rest), shmita (the year in which the land lies fallow), yovel (the 50th year of renewal). See Psalm 119, 15 and 24.
2. The mitzvot muskalot (logical mitzvot), which man could have found on his own had he not been given them in the Torah, such as those concerning theft, murder, fraud, etc. These mitzvot are called mishpatim.
3. The hukim, which do not belong to either of the two preceding categories, such as the mitzvot of kilaim (mingling of species), para aduma (red heifer). The meaning of these hukim is not revealed in the Torah.

We can now understand the passage from Devarim 6, 20-21 on which the famous chapter of the 4 sons in the Pesah Haggada is based:
ki yishalekha bineka, and when thy son asketh thee
mahar lemor, in time to come, saying:
maha edut, what mean the testimonies (1st category),
ve ha hukim, and the statutes (3rd category),
ve hamishpatim, and the judgments (2nd category),
asher tziva hashem Elokenu etkhem, which Hashem our God hath commanded you?
And thou shalt say unto thy son, we were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt…etc.

Rabbenu Bahya concludes by saying:
beni shemor amarai, my son keep my words (these are the mitzvot mekubalot, received mitzvot),
umitzvotai titspon itekha, and lay up my commandments with thee (these are the kukim which are secret and which we are commanded to keep without understanding their meaning),
shemor mitzvotai ve heye, keep my commandments and live (these are the mitzvot muskalot, logical mitzvot);
vetoratike ishon einekha, and my law as the apple of thine heart.

Test of knowledge:
how does one say in Hebrew logical mitzvot, received mitzvot, testimonies?
what are the different meanings of the word hok?
which are the hukim described in the Torah?

-

Second Level

Note: This level is suitable for those who already have some knowledge of the Torah and Jewish thought. It is not esoteric but can only be understood in a wider context. This commentary is based on that of the Shla zal in Shnei Louhot Habrit, which I have studied and reflected on for many years. Viewers can find on this site a detailed description of the Shla's method of commentary.

There are different levels of existence
This basis of the hok, which the Shla defines in his introduction, enables him to place the various concepts found in the Torah in a 4-level hierarchy which comes from the Sefer Yetzira (levels of reshimu, hakika, hatziva, assia):

1. the level of assia (action)
this includes the mitzvot which can be understood rationally and ethically;
this is the level of knowledge which is called Torat haadam (the Torah of man);
this is the level when the people are named am;
this is also the period from the destruction of the second Temple to the end of the compilation of the Talmud.

2. the level of hatziva (dimension): such as the dimension of the tablets of the covenant, the impregnation of what is concrete with what is spiritual.
here we find the mitzvot which are symbolic in nature, such as the huts which are constructed during the festival of Succot;
this is the level of knowledge of meanings, which is called Torat emet (the Torah of truth);
this is the level when the people are called kahal, when its spiritual elements are manifest, and when among them there were converts who are capable of understanding the Torah and its mitzvot (Yevamot 57);
this is also the era from the time of the "elders of the Great Assembly," anshei knesset hagedola, and Shimon Hatzaddik to the destruction of the second Temple. (Refer to the chronological table.)

3 the highest level of hakika, that of this parasha.
we find here the mitzvot whose spiritual nature or essence man is unable to understand;
this is the level of knowledge of the names of Hashem by those who love Him and who are bnei Israel, which is called Torat Elokim (the Torah of God);
this is the level when the people are called eda;
this is also the period when the spirit of holiness, the ruah hakodesh was manifest, as during the Persian and Median empires, in the time of Mordechai.

4. this level extends to the last level which is that of reshimu, information, as with the hok of the red heifer, whose meaning only men of the level of Moshe or Ribbi Akiva could understand;
this is also the level when man participates in the divine reality through the highest level of his neshama, when he unites with the ratson, the will of the Creator;
this is the level of knowledge of the unity of Hashem, which is known as Torat Hashem;
this is the level when the people are called kahal Hashem, the elite;
this is the period of the prophets.

Why are there these different levels of existence?
They represent different levels of knowledge, which in turn represent the different levels in "our ability to be aware as a result of who we are and how we have been educated."
It is of no use to try and place ourselves in this hierarchy in order to assess ourselves. These are not static levels of existence.

The different levels have dynamic and formative goals:
to make us understand the Torah for its own sake, leshem shamayim,
to motivate us to live at the highest level of existence in order to let our lives be guided by the Torah,
to help us rise from one level to another.
When Israel will exist at its optimal level, the nations of the world and the angel of death will no longer have power over it, as is written in Psalm 82, 6-7: "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men and fall like one of the princes."

The role of the ashes of the red heifer
Following this model, the role of the hok is to help us regain a state of perfection corresponding to that of the perfect Torah, Torat Hashem temima.
At our level, we can only carry out this rite through the instructions of the Torah; this teaches us that we must never cease studying and reflecting on the Torah in order to attain a higher level of existence. As Hashem instructed Yehoshua (Book of Yehoshua 1, 8):
lo yamush sefer haTorah haze mi pikha
This book of the Torah shall not depart out of thy mouth,
ve hagita bo yomam va layla,
but thou shall medidate therein day and night.
Indeed, study in itself is not enough: we must also reflect on the text in order for its meaning to seep into our being, just like the rain seeps into the ground, day and night.

Formative role of the hok
in this context

1. The meaning of the hok is beyond our understanding, but it is a sign that
we do not abandon the Torah, for it is our holy guide,
we do not submit ourselves to inferior ideologies and other value systems. It is because we "received" the Torah that we are a special people, the bene Yisrael: ki al yede she kibelu ha Torah naasu am bene Yisrael (Or Hahayim).

2. The hok teaches us to keep before us on our pilot's screen
the point of transcendence,
of what we have not yet understood,
of the highest level which we have not yet attained,
to acknowledge what is different to us as an essential part of our existence. This is the basis of modesty and humility, the characteristics of Moshe Rabbenu.
The Shla also notes the importance of what is apparently contradictory in the Torah.

Application: the heart
My readers know that I constantly repeat (using quotations from sources) that knowledge of the Torah needs both the intellect and the heart and involves the whole being. All this together is called lev (heart) in Judaism. Listen to this marvellous teaching: Rabbi Akiva's little book, titled The Letters of Rabbi Akiva (Ha Otiot), tells us that the word lamad (study) is an acronym made up from the initials of lev mevin daat (the heart understands knowledge). This is what knowledge in Judaism is about: it encompasses the concrete and the sublime, for daat is the union of two spouses, intellectual knowledge and the union of divine levels. The person who understands this will have a balanced and full life, integrating in harmony every level of existence. There is no contradiction in Judaism between nature, science, spirituality, poetry and love. It encompasses the whole, just like an individual being is also part of a couple, a people and humanity.

Application: the couple
Reality is thus made up of two levels which must not be separated even if one is visible and the other invisible. Everything comes in twos, in the image of man and woman who are the center of creation.
This is a recurrent theme on the Modia site, not because it is the author's personal leitmotif, but because our Sages teach us that this is the central meaning of the Torah, of Judaism and of creation (see Shir HaShirim, Song of Songs). This idea is synthesized in the image beneath the site's logo.
It is beautifully spelt out in this sentence from Middrash Devarim raba (2,31):
"Amar Ha Kadosh Barukh Hu le Yisrael: banai, kol ma she barati barati zugot
The Holy one, blessed be he said: my sons, everything I created, I created in pairs.
Aval kevodi ehad u meyuhad baolam. Minain, mimma she karinu ba inyan "Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokenu, Hashem ehad
But My glory is one, and unified in the world. How do we know this? From what we say in this respect: Hear O Israel, Hashem our God, Hashem is one."
Everything in this world, and in what connects this world with the world above, is double, coordinated, in pairs and based on the conjugal model. Those languages which, unlike Hebrew, English or other languages, do not possess the word zug or "couple" to express the spiritual, emotional, sexual unity that exists between spouses are truly impoverished.

Accepting what is different and transcendent in one's partner
Hashem created man and woman as two different entities within a pair. If either entity is not seen, understood, accepted and loved within all its differences, it is man himself (the double being, man-woman) who is damaged. It is therefore essential that both entities be fully accepted and acknowledged. This is hardly the case today in most of the world.
What I am talking about here is acknowledgment and not equality, since the issue of equality distorts the problem ontologically: the fact that there are differences can be used as a pretext to deny equality. I am talking about "acknowledgment of the other's individuality from the simplest to the highest level." Equality can only come from such acknowledgment: then, as illustrated in the verses on the moon, the light of the moon and the light of the sun will be equal. Unity is in the union of differences which are acknowledged in their totality.

We can now understand why the role of the ashes of the red heifer (category of the hok) is to reintroduce purity, particularly between husband and wife.
The irreducible duality of man-woman (analogous to the incomprehensible levels of existence described in this parasha is thus the test and testimony of the way we view anyone those who are different to us and beyond our understanding.

It is for this reason that chapter 4 of Devarim commands us not to omit anything from the Torah; what is incomprehensible and what is comprehensible form together an indivisible whole (hukim mishpatim). Conflicts between individuals, couples, groups and nations often arise because only one part of an individual or natio is accepted and understood. The nations of the world will respect Israel when they see that it is faithful to the whole Torah. The highest level of democracy cannot attain this level of fullness, which encompassed intimacy, spirituality and social cohesion.

Love
Is this not love: to understand and love the apparent worth of the other, to love what we feel exists in the other and without being able to name it, to be faithful to it by listening, appreciation, being attentive, being in harmony in the present and the future.
This begins with the mystery of the encounter and when it takes place. This is the symphony of the 5 levels above: the joyous coming together of what is most sublime, most different and most concrete.
This is why it is said that, even for Hashem, marriage is the most complex thing in creation and even more difficult than the miracle of the separation of the Red Sea. It is perhaps in the category of the hok. And only man is able to integrate it into reality.
At the same time, through the hok, Hashem in His goodness tells us that we can achieve also those things which we do not understand. We are told this in the wonderful verse of Devarim 30,11: "For this mitzva which I command thee this day, it is not hidden, neither is it far. It is not in heaven …neither is it beyond the sea…
but the word is very nigh unto thee, ki karov eleika ha davar meod,
in thy mouth, and in thy heart, befikha uvilevavekha,
that thou mayest do it, laasoto."
Judaism, of course, commands us (this is the mitzva) but it is the highest form of love which we are commanded to keep, for this is the order of humankind and all creation.

The hok reveals to us what is hidden from our intellect, our eyes and our heart.

Thus when a beloved one is kind to us, generous or gives us a present, it is not the gesture or the object which is important: we must forget issues of possession, calculation, threats, etc., and be open to what the gesture represents without fully understanding it. A good heart understands, and will not see in it simply as a gesture of courtesy, an object of worth in itself, even less as a form of manipulation or pressure, but as a message which comes from beyond what is visible to unite with what is visible in the other person. Reciprocal acknowledgment and sensitivity to the intentions of the other person create true union and recall the first intense moments when two people are enraptured at discovering one another. Perhaps only the beauty of flowers is able to illustrate how what is concrete, beautiful and pure can be found together.
By showing us the arrow and trajectory of the hok, even if we do not understand it explicitly, the Torah elevates us to these levels of existence.

The gift
The duality of the two levels is seen in the blessing we recite before the reading of the Torah portion:
when we say ve natan lanu et Torato (and he gave us His Torah), this refers to the invisible, hidden Torah, and when we add noten ha Torah (gives the Torah), this refers to the Torah that has been revealed to us;
then, when we receive the Torah, we say Torat emet, haye olam (Torah of truth, eternal life); the two phrases refer to the hidden Torah and we acknowledge that we have received it with all our being, even the levels which we do not comprehend.

The two levels of mankind
The parasha thus teaches us to live in duality:
just as we have two eyes in order to fully see reality;
just as we have two arms and two hands in order to master reality;
just as we are made up of two elements - masculine and feminine.
We thus have two spheres, visible and invisible, which unite together to form one body of knowledge and neither has any meaning without the other. This union is called "heavens and earth" (shamayim va aretz). This is the first verse of the Torah. The last word, Israel, represents the same concept, for Israel is simultaneously a people, a person, and a land, which are or should be the laboratory of this unity. Th land of Israel is the heart, the lev, of all this, secret and invisible like the heart in the body and like the invisible hok. Who can tell me that if I give away the heart of the child I love, or of the person I love, or even my own, that peace will be advanced?
A person must be truly ignorant of the worth of this land and its role if he or she is prepared to give it away. All other generations knew this and remained faithful. Our love will not be any the less weaker. It is important for the rest of the world and our neighbors that we live as Cohanim, as a holy people.

In Judaism, this completeness is known as shalom. It represents one of the names of God, not only a cease-fire between opposing forces who make concessions as the price for an eventual co-existence.
Rav Yosef Guikatilia, the author of Guinat Egoz, comments on the meaning of masculine/feminine duality in the words of the Torah (sun, moon, fire…). Although he concludes that the duality is important even at the highest level of the seraphims (Isaiah 6,2), he states that no man can attain its ultimate meaning.

This teaches us that our duality (masculine/feminine, revealed/hidden) should be acknowledged for its source is in the Creator and only He is One, and that we need Him for our unity and our existence. Our duality has his source in His unity. This is the meaning of the Shema Yisrael.
Similarly, appreciating and loving those who are near to us means to appreciate and love what we do not fully comprehend with our intellect.
We must learn to live not only in a state of non-fulfillment but also in the presence of the invisible.
Furthermore, through the hok, the Torah shows us that the invisible is the true source of life. The hok teaches us to see the presence of the invisible and the wondrous in daily life, in human encounters, and in personal relationships.

How can we develop this?

What can we do to develop our capacity to grasp these two different dimensions of the Torah and to be more sensitive to what is beyond our comprehension?
Here are a few guidelines:
first of all study the Torah and do not remain at the peshat level once you have understood it: it is important to move on to the study of the different levels of meaning (peshat, remez, drash, sod). Commentators like the Shla and particularly Rabbenu Bahya recommend this method of study, unlike other commentators who do not distinguish between the different levels, thus making it difficult for beginner students;
adopt the rule of Maimonides (chapter 2, 13 of Hilkhots Limud Torah) which consists in according equal time to studying the written Torah, the oral law and developing one thought from another (lehitbonen davar midavar). In Jewish tradition, a Sage is someone who sees what is emerging, who sees the nolad: ezehu hakham? haroe et hanolad (Tractate Tamid 21a);
reflect on this commentary with all your senses and discuss your feelings and thoughts with those who are close to you;
dare to let yourself tune into the wealth of levels of existence in others. It is to encourage the union between the mind and the heart that I use poems on this site. The Torah does this in the Psalms and songs of the prophets;
learn to listen. This is the meaning of the Shema Yisrael. Only by truly listening to the other can we stop our tendency to judge and reach conclusions on the basis of facts and our own experience.

-

Memorization exercises

Memorize Devarim 30, 14 (below is a literal translation):
ki karov eleikha, for close to thee
ha davar meod, the word, very
befikha uvilevavekha, in your mouth and in your heart,
laasoto, to do it.

Organize a study group on this parasha
with your spouse, family, friends or fellow students.

- The following theme pertains well to this parasha: how can we become aware of, respect, listen and value the different levels of being in ourselves and in those who are close to us.
- Previous to the study session, the participants must read this commentary and the parasha in Hebrew or in English, and bring them to the study session.
- The group then decides on the length of the session, appoints a facilitator, and debates on the theme, with everyone making an effort to express themselves and to listen to the other.
- The study session is thus enriched by personal experiences and thoughts.