Parshas Chukas
The Irrationality of Teshuva
וידבר ד' אל משה ואל אהרן לאמר. זאת חקת התורה אשר צוה ד' לאמר, דבר אל בני ישראל ויקחו אליך פרה אדמה תמימה
Hashem spoke to Moshe and Aharon, saying: This is the statute (Chok) of the Torah which the Hashem commanded, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and have them take for you a perfectly red unblemished cow. (Bamidbar 19:1-2)
The Torah describes the mitzvah of Parah Adumah as a “chok”, a statute whose reasons are beyond the grasp of human intellect as Rashi explains that this mitzvah is referred to as a chok: Because Satan and the nations of the world taunt Israel, saying, ‘What is this commandment, and what purpose does it have?’ Therefore, the Torah uses the term “statute.” I have decreed it; You have no right to challenge it.”
Yet, a few pasukim later, Rashi seems to offer a very simple explanation for this mitzvah[1]: the Parah Adumah atoned for the Cheit HaEigel, the sin of the golden calf, as he explains: This can be compared to the son of a maidservant who soiled the king’s palace. They said, ‘Let his mother come and clean up the mess.’ Similarly, let the cow come and atone for the calf.
How do we reconcile these two explanations? On one hand Rashi explains that we can never understand the reason for this mitzvah. And, on the other hand, he offers a very simple explanation: it was a tikkun for the Eigel. So which is it? Is there a reason for this mitzvah or is it a Chok?
The Power of Teshuva
The Midrash Tanchuma[2] teaches that the process of teshuva only works for the yidden and it completely unapplicable to non-Jews. Why is that the case?
The Bnei Yissacher quotes the Gemara in Kesuvos[3] which teaches that a king cannot forgo his honor -מלך שמחל על כבודו אין כבודו מחול. When someone disrespects or disgraces the king, there must be ramifications. However, a father can forgive his children when they disrespect his honor.
The Jews and non-Jews have very different relationships with Hashem. For the non-Jews, it is solely a relationship of a subject serving his king as it says in Tehilim[4] מלך אלקים על גוים - God has reigned over nations. Therefore, there cannot be a remedy when they transgress and violate His Will; teshuva cannot help since the king cannot forgo his honor.
The yidden, on the other hand, are considered Hashem’s children as the Torah says, בנים אתם לה' כו'- you are the children of Hashem (Devarim 14:1). We are Hashem’s children and He is our Father. And, a father can forgive the child who dishonors him. Therefore, through the process of teshuva a yid can find forgiveness and rectification; the relationship can be salvaged and rebuilt.
This is a transformative process every yid can access. The power of Teshuva is specific to the yidden because our relationship with Hashem is unique.
The sin of the Cheit HaEigel was clearly beneath the yidden. They had just seen all the miracles in Mitzrayim. They experienced Kriyas Yam Suf. They had reached unimaginable spiritual heights. How, then, could they have even entertained the idea of idol worship?
The Gemara in Avoda Zarah[5] explains that they yidden were behaving unreasonably and the Gemara explains that the only reason that they sinned was to open the pathways of teshuva for the yidden in all the future generations.
The Cheit HaEigel opened the gates and forged the path that would allow yidden to access the transformative power of teshuva.[6] The Noam Elimelech, therefore, describes the Eigel as a “chok” – it is completely beyond our intellectual abilities to understand how the yidden could do such a thing. The sin itself was a decree from the Heavens to establish the process of teshuva. Teshuva had to be introduced in a way that was beyond all logic and reasoning because teshuva itself is a process that surpasses human understanding.
Therefore, to counter the “chok” of this sin, Hashem provided the “chok” of the Parah Adumah.
Now we can understand the reconcile the two different explanations quotes by Rashi. They are complementary to one another and not contradictory, as they might seem. The Parah Adumah is the teshuva for the Eigel. However, it is called a chok because that very process is beyond our understanding. And, the non-Jews struggle with that, as Rashi explains: the nations of the world taunt Israel, saying, ‘What is this commandment, and what purpose does it have?’ They don’t understand how the yidden can be transformed through this process. They cannot relate to teshuva because, as the Bnei Yissachor explained, teshuva is a foreign concept for them. It doesn’t work.
We Cannot Despair
Despair, יאוש, is more damaging than any sin. A yid cannot lose hope regardless of his behavior. When a yid feels trapped, when they feel like they cannot change, when they allow despair to devour their hope for a different future, they have truly fallen victim to the worse trickery of the yetzer harah. Without hope, a yid won’t even try to have a tikkun, to rectify his behaviors and tap into the power of teshuva.
The Chozeh from Lublin taught that the yetzer harah desires the despair that follows a sin more than the sin itself. This is a powerful statement. The past is always the past, the future is yet to be determined. All a person has is the here and now. And, what someone does in the present, the choices he makes, will determine the trajectory of his future.
When a yid forgets that he has a special, unique relationship with Hashem, that he can completely transform himself through teshuva, he is truly entrapped by the yetzer harah.
A yid must believe that he can change, that he can feel a closeness with Hashem despite whatever distance his actions might have created until now. Every given moment is an opportunity to change everything. There is always hope.
However, the first step to vanquishing that despair and finding that hope, is to look passed our behaviors, to decide that our past will not define our present. And, as one begins this process, the yetzer harah immediately begins erecting obstacles and roadblocks; fostering doubts that rock our confidence. His first tactic is to convince us that we are beyond redemption. The sins of our past have defined who we are.
However, Dovid HaMelech over advice to counter this when he wrote in Tehilim (34:15), סור מרע ועשה טוב- turn away from evil and do good. Typically, we interpret this verse to mean that a yid should turn away from sin and perform the mitzvos. The Chidushei HaRim famously taught that this pasuk means something slightly different. “Turn away from evil” means that a yid cannot focus on the negative behaviors that they may have done. Forget them for now. Don’t get caught up in what you might have done in the past. Rather, move on and “do good”.
The Seforim HaKedoshim (Igra D’Kalah, Panim Yafos and others) explain that this is an additional lesson Rashi is teaching us here. The Parah Adumah is an atonement for the Eigel. When the non-Jews and Satan challenge the Parah Adumah and demand the reason, they are trying to force the yidden to mention and discuss the Eigel. They want the yidden to respond, “We have the Parah Adumah as a process for forgiving the Cheit HaEigel.” They want us to talk and focus on the negative, on the sins of our past so that we will fall prey to despair. They want us to feel unworthy of a better spiritual future. Therefore, Rashi instructs us to simply answer: Therefore, the Torah uses the term “statute.” I have decreed it; You have no right to challenge it.
[1] Bamidbar 19:22
[2]Bamidbar 19:22
[3] 17a
[4] 47:9
[5] 4b
[6] The Kotzker Rebbe explained this is also why the Torah doesn’t mention that the yidden were ever forgiven for this sin.
