Lead Tidbit
The subtle follow-up to Chukat
With the Torah's announcement that Para Aduma is the quintessential CHOK, Rashi says that when the nations of the world scoff at us for doing things that don't seem to make sense, we say to them that we follow G-d's commands because they are edicts of the King - not because we understand everything.

There is an implication in the above, that non-Jews would not scoff at mitzvot like giving Tzedaka, the laws of damages, honoring parents, et al, because these kind of mitzvot do lend themselves to be readily understood (at least looking at them superficially). Aside from what the nations of the world ask us, there is another concern: What questions do our own Jews ask? And we have to be able to give them answers as well.

Many Jews have problems with CHUKIM. If you can convince me of the sense, logic, rationale of such-and-such a mitzva, I would consider following it (Baloney, you say, they probably will find another excuse not to observe the mitzva. And do they observe all the mitzvot they do understand? - Good point, but...)

And maybe we can convince our fellow Jews of the value and significance in keeping the King's commands, even when we cannot grasp their logic.

But there is another, more subtle area of mitzva that needs special attention. The laws of inheritance (for example, in this week's sedra) are labeled with the rare term, CHUKAT- MISHPAT. Almost an oxymoron. A CHOK is almost "easier" to accept because its obscurity is part of its character. And a MISHPAT is supposed to be so readily understood that other societies have similar laws that they derived on their own. Perhaps the toughest mitzvot to accept fully are the ones that we think we understand until a detail "throws us for a loop". Because we thought we had a "handle" on this mitzva, the "illogical" aspects of it threaten us more.

Bottom line: ALL mitzvot are edicts of the King and that is our prime reason for keeping them.