Chukath: Limits

The name of the parsha, Chukath, conveys the idea of chok, an edict that is not meant to be  understood. It is futile to try to comprehend the reasons for the decree. It is a rule, and that contrasts with a mishpat: law that is part of  an understandable system  of fairness, rational justice. 

The tension  between the chok and mishpat  motivates a great deal of human activity.  Political systems try to balance these ideas. Democracies emphasize the common, mortal understanding of fairness.  Other systems may benefit from the efficiency of the decree.   

Much of science is  occupied with the translation of seemingly arbitrary phenomena into  a consistent set of rules. It is a process of discovering the chukim, the inviolable laws,  that govern the quantum and the cosmos, and conceptualizing a pattern.  Science is very much about reducing the chukim to a minimum. 


The scope of the  statement ,  זֹ֚את חֻקַּ֣ת הַתּוֹרָ֔, this is the chok of the Torah,   is not clear.  It certainly  extends to the preparation of the ashes red heifer, and logically ( although logic is not necessarily applicable here)  could extend to the laws of corpse tumah ( ritual impurity) that follow. The  connection with mortality and transition stands out. The seven day ritual of purification, for which the red heifer ashes were prepared, is a method of recovery from the spiritual ( emotional?) effect of contact with death.  It is a road back to the world of the living. 

This is the chok of the Torah.  The Ohr HaChaim says that the performance of this ritual is equal to keeping all of the Torah because it constitutes an act of pure obedience . This is a ritual of obedience, devoid of logic. 

I think that it deals with an issue that defies logic: death.  The quarantine that follows exposure to a lethal process is, and probably always was, easy to understand.  But the water with the ashes of the red heifer have no logical function.  When the transition from the experience of death involves passing  through  irrational deference, it can become a renewal


The red heifer was given over to Aaron's son, Elazar, not Aaron.  This ritual that purifies the survivors, cleanses those exposed to death, is given  to the son, not the venerable father, the aged High Priest, who will  soon die (after passing the priestly robes onto his son, in the presence of Moshe and Elazar). The delegation of the duty to the next generation is a reminder of another fundamental meaning of  the word chok: a limit.  It reminds us that the chok of the Torah is an echo of the laws of nature.  Entropy always increases, all living individuals will eventually die,  Death is a chok and is usually perceived as a violation of mishpat, an injustice.

Chukath reminds us that the only constant is change; this is the inviolable law. All things have a limit, a chok, a portion set aside.  The limited portion, chok,  assigned to each of us by edict (chok) should be guided by our sense of mishpat, rational justice