The Other Side of a Chok
Usually, we think of mitzvot that we understand as the easy ones to keep, because we (we think) understand them, because they make sense to us, because they appeal to our logic. But a CHOK, that’s hard. We don’t understand them, they don’t make sense, they contain illogical aspects, they are not intuitive - we wouldn’t come up with them on our own, like many of the Mishpatim.

Rashi at the beginning of this week’s sedra tells us that our observance of a CHOK makes a statement to the world: We keep mitzvot because they are the commandments of G-d. We don’t have to understand them. It is enough that G-d commands them.

Let’s turn things around a bit. CHUKIM might be the easiest of the mitzvot to keep. We know in advance that there will always be something about those mitzvot that we will never be able to grasp. And so it becomes comforting that we are keeping them because we are commanded to keep them. No complications of understanding. We just do them because they are mitzvot. At a certain level, a committed Jew is very comfortable with that. It’s almost a load off one’s mind.

Not so the logical, common sense, reasonable mitzvot. Those are the ones that sometimes are difficult to keep properly. Your mind interferes some- times. You do the mitzva and you can question it because you don’t give up trying to understand it. Sometimes, you think you have a grasp on the mitzva, and then some element, some detail pops up and you aren’t so sure you understand things. That wouldn’t happen with a CHOK, because we are taught that those never can be mastered. Even Shlomo HaMelech, wisest of all people, had problems with Para Aduma. So CHUKIM are easier to come to terms with.

Actually, what is happening, is that you are discovering the CHOK part of a mitzva. They all have them The most “reasonable” mitzvot can throw a curve at us with a detail we don’t (and cannot) understand.

As soon as we realize that we are supposed to observe ALL mitzvot because they are the commands of the King, and none of them need ever satisfy our finite understanding, then we can be comfortable with all mitzvot - and them we can strive for greater understanding in a healthy way.