After leaving Mitzrayim, a whole world
of opportunities opened up for Bnei Yisrael as they ventured into the desert.
One thing that continued for them though was that Hashem continued to openly
share with them His commitment to them as His nation. Chief among these
commitments was giving them the Torah. And while the full giving of the Torah
takes place in next week’s parsha, its dissemination began earlier.
After three days in the desert, the
nation had run out of water; and after crying to Moshe and his subsequent tefillos,
Hashem provided them with water. However, the pasuk tells us that He gave them something
else then as well. “שָׁ֣ם שָׂ֥ם ל֛וֹ חֹ֥ק וּמִשְׁפָּ֖ט” “There
He gave them a statute and an ordinance” (Shemos 16:25). Rashi explains
that at this time, before obligating them in the mitzvos, Hashem gave the Bnei
Yisrael three mitzvos to study: setting up a court system, Shabbos, and Parah
Adumah. Setting up a justice system makes sense as something you would need to
know immediately in order pre-empt any potential problems once the Torah is
given. But why would the mitzvos of Shabbos and Parah Adumah be the first
mitzvos presented?
Rabbi Yaakov
Kaminetzky explains that by directly providing them with water, Hashem had just
shown Bnei Yisrael that their basic survival requirements were completely dependent
on Him. What better way to reinforce this idea than by presenting them with Shabbos,
a day where no production is allowed and survival is entirely dependent on
Creation, set up by Hashem. Therefore, Shabbos was one of the original mitzvos
presented here.
The mitzvah of Parah Adumah
makes less sense; after all, while Shabbos technically applied even before the
Torah was given, there was no practical application of Parah Adumah at this
time. Why would it be given now? Reb Yaakov focuses on Rashi’s explanation that
these mitzvos were given for study, not necessarily for immediate practice.
What was the purpose in giving mitzvos simply for study with no practical
application?
There are parts in the
Torah which do not make sense to us. Not just that we don’t see how they fit
into our lives, but that the mitzvah in its entirety just doesn’t make any
sense! However, we must still look at them and treat them the same as the parts
of the Torah which are understandable to us. The prime example of this idea is
Parah Adumah. Chazal tell us that even Shlomo HaMelech, the wisest of all men, couldn’t
figure out what was the purpose of Parah Adumah. But that’s part of the idea of
Torah, just because it has something which human intellect cannot understand doesn’t
mean that it’s not true. There is a higher intellect which tells us that it is
necessary, and that’s what we must trust.
We see that the mitzvah
of Parah Adumah is a true introduction to Torah. Hashem gave us a book of
infinite wisdom, and we are obligated to study its laws and practice them to
our full capabilities regardless of our understanding. Even though Parah Adumah
was not practical at the time, and even though after many years of study we
still do not understand its true meaning, it comes from Hashem and so there
must be an explanation. What better mitzvah to use in order to give us the full
introduction to the Torah!
Shabbat Shalom!
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