* TORAH WEEKLY * Highlights of the Weekly Torah Portion Parshas Chukas For the week ending 9 Tamuz 5754 17 & 18 June 1994 ========================================================================= Dedication opportunities are available for Torah Weekly. Please contact us for details. ========================================================================= Summary The laws of the Parah Adumah are presented in detail. These are the laws of the "red heifer," which was used to ritually purify someone who came in contact with death. Miriam dies after the nation "wanders" for nearly 40 years in the desert, and is buried at Kadesh. The people complain about the loss of their water supply which had been provided for them until then miraculously by Hashem in the merit of Miriam's righteousness. Aaron and Moshe pray for the people's welfare. Hashem commands them to gather the nation at Merivah, and speak to a designated rock so that water will flow forth. Distressed by the people's lack of faith, Moshe hits the rock instead of speaking to it. Aaron and Moshe failed to produce the intended public demonstration of Hashem's power over the world. This demonstration would have been achieved if the rock had produced water as a result of speaking to it. Therefore, Hashem tells Moshe and Aaron that they will not be permitted to bring the people into the Land. The Bnei Yisrael resume their travels, but do not travel the most direct route to the Land because the King of Edom, a descendant of Eisav, denies them passage through his country. When they reach Mt. Hor, Aaron dies and his son Elazar is invested with his priestly garments and responsibilities. Aaron was beloved by all of the people, and they observe a national mourning period of 30 days. The Bnei Yisrael battle Sichon the Amorite, who fights against them rather than allow them to pass through his land. As a result, Bnei Yisrael conquer the lands that Sichon had previously seized from the Amonites on the east bank of the Jordan River. ========================================================================= Commentaries "This is the decree of the Torah" (19:2). The mitzvos in the Torah can be divided into three categories, as presented by the wise son in the Haggada of Pesach: Testimonies, Decrees and Judgments. `Judgments' are rational mitzvos that any culture could and should develop, such as laws against theft, promiscuity, and murder. Testimonies are mitzvos that are rational if one accepts the history of our nation, because they testify to events in our national history -- such as the mitzvos related to the Exodus that are fulfilled at the Seder. `Decrees' are beyond human rationality, and only sometimes can we even guess how this type of mitzvah may affect us; such as the prohibition against mixing wool and linen, or the mitzvah for a husband and wife to separate during her cycle until after she visits the mikveh at the appropriate time. Even the Parah Adumah, the classic `decree of the Torah', has been the subject of many explanations offered for the many seemingly contradictory details in performing this purification ritual. However, the essence of this mitzvah was revealed only to Moshe. When King Solomon, the most naturally gifted scholar in the history of the Jewish People, finished studying all other parts of the Torah, he thought that he understood them to the last detail. When he completed his study of the Parah Adumah, however, he realized that even with all of his brilliance and scholarship he was not able to truly understand this classic decree! He then drew the obvious conclusion that perhaps all other mitzvos too, even the most rational of the `Judgments,' are based on deeper reasons that his human mind had not penetrated. (Based on Chanukas HaTorah) "And he hit the rock with his staff.... And Hashem said `Since you did not have faith in Me to sanctify Me...'" (20:11-12). We always need to speak words of Torah and ethics even to someone who we think does not understand anything, until the result of all our efforts will be that the person will come to understand and to know solely as a result of the sheer volume of Torah spoken in front of him. A person should never despair nor refrain from teaching his child when it appears to him that the child does not understand, rather he must teach and explain everything to the child as much as time allows until the child understands and can fulfill that which he has been taught. If a stone which does not understand, can nevertheless fulfill the word of Hashem, then a person, even if it appears that he does not understand, will surely be able to eventually comprehend his lesson. (Rav Moshe Feinstein) "Then Moshe sent messengers ... `Please let us pass through' ...And Bnei Yisrael said `Let us come up the winding paths'... And Edom came out against him..."(20:14-20). Bnei Yisrael and Moshe present Edom with different plans and meet with responses that will lead to two different approaches for relating to Edom and his cultural cousins during our exile. Moshe says: We will not go in your `fields', to enter your professions; nor into your `vineyards' to socialize with you; we will go along the `main road' avoiding integration. We will not drink your `water' by sharing in your `torahs' and values, nor will we turn to the right or to the left from our tradition. Edom recoils at this extreme show of isolationism but does not want to attack the people. The masses have a different approach when they see Edom's rejection of Moshe's `ghettoization.' They inform Edom they are willing to travel the winding path of integration into the culture of their host, and will even pay for the right to soak up the knowledge that Edom offers. Edom hears this message of `submission' and only then wages his battle. (Rabbi Yerucham Uziel Milevsky) ======================================================================== Haftorah: Judges 11:1-33 The Haftorah presents us with one of the oldest and most interesting exchanges of diplomatic notes that refer to the events which are recorded in this Parsha. The King of Amon claims that the Children of Israel under Moshe's leadership took away his nation's land when they came out of Egypt. He demands, "Land for Peace!" Yiftach, the selected leader of those territories, refutes the unjust demand of the King of Amon. He does this by pointing out that when the Bnei Yisrael took possession of the territories in question the lands were not at all in the hands of the Amonites, but in the possession of Sichon, the King of the Amorites who had previously conquered the area. Sichon had answered the Bnei Yisrael's request for permission to peacefully pass through his land by making an audacious and unprovoked attack on Israel, yet it was he who was thoroughly routed. Sichon had refused to accept that Israel's intentions toward his land were peaceful, and instead chose to battle the Bnei Yisrael. (Rabbi Mendel Hirsch) ======================================================================== Perek Thought - Chapter 5 "The wise man does not speak before one who is wiser than him and does not break into the words of another" -- Pirkei Avos 5:7. When he debates a point with someone the wise man waits until the other person has completed all that he has to say, and only then will he respond if he has anything with which to challenge the statements. He will never break into the other's words, for this causes him to become confused and prevents him from properly expressing himself. The wise man, after all, is prepared to concede to the truth no matter who it comes from. It is also poor manners to insult a study partner or student by thus interrupting him as if to say that there is no value to his words. Nothing but arrogance can explain such behavior. Tiferes Yisrael ======================================================================== SUBSCRIBE! to one of the many weekly "lists" published by Ohr Somayach Institutions: dafyomi - "The Weekly Daf," Rav Mendel Weinbach's insights into and comments on the seven pages of Talmud studied this week. Always interesting and CONTROVERSIAL reading! ask - Ask the Rabbi Column. Rabbi Yehoshua Karsh, of Ohr Somayach Jerusalem, answers YOUR questions on Judaism. weekly - Summary of the weekly Torah portion, plus summaries of commentaries from various sources. Designed for ALL readers, from INTRODUCTORY to ADVANCED. parasha-qa - Challenging questions on the weekly Torah portion. Includes the answers so you can check yourself! 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