Chukas

The Red Heifer is touted as the perfect illustration of “chok”, the decree of the Torah, for it presents the quintessential paradox and internal contradiction. Its ashes purify those who are contaminated while those who prepare it become impure.‎

Rashi comments on the words זאת חקת התורה, this is the decree of the Torah, that the Satan & nations of the world taunt the Jewish people saying, what kind of commandment is this & what's the reason for it? Therefore the Torah labels it a decree for which we have no right to delve into its mysteries. The reasons are divine & not for mortal  ‎comprehension. 

Now, why shouldn't we question the Mitzvos? Wouldn't knowing the reason for the things we do only help to strengthen our commitment to Torah?

The Mishnah in Shabbos says that one may not read by candlelight on Shabbos without giving any explanation as to why not. The gemara later on explains the reason: if one reads by candlelight, one might come to fix the flame if the light flickers & that would be in violation of the rules of Shabbos. 

When Reb Yishmael read this law & the explanation for it, he felt that he could read by candlelight & avoid fixing the flame even if it flickers. He read by candlelight & then inadvertently fixed the candle when it flickered. When he realized what he did, he said "how great are the words of the sages".  ‎Why was it that this is what caused him to praise the words of the sages? Was he merely impressed that their suspicions were correct? 

The Vilna Goan explains that when Reb Yishmael learned the Mishnah, he wondered why there was no explanation given for this law. However, once he learned the gemara & knew the reason, he rationalized that he could take the risk but he failed. He realized how correct the sages were not to offer an explanation for this law. 

This is what Rashi meant when he said not to question the reasons for the mitzvos. Of course one could try to understand the reasons for the mitzvos. What he's saying,though, is not to let your understanding of the mitzva be used as an excuse not to do it. No matter how we deduce the reason, it's a decree which we have no right to question. (Torah treasury) ‎

The main anomaly is that this cow that purifies ‎those that are impure, makes all of those  that prepare it impure. The Rebbe from Lubabitch says that the Torah wants the pure ones, the learned ones, to be prepared to become impure by going down a level themselves in order to purify others.  Just as those that prepare the ashes become impure in order to purify others, so, too, we have to be prepared to go down a level to purify others.

Perhaps Rashi is addressing this as well.   Rashi, himself, tells us the secret to the mitzva of the Red Heifer, for, if you look at the Rashi after the section of the Red Heifer, he states a whole different explanation as to what the words mean, & actually gives a reason for the all the inconsistencies & translates all the words in a totally different way. He compares the Red Heifer to the Eigel, demonstrating how each thing corresponds to the Eigel & atones for the nation's sins of the Eigel. Therefore, the Red Heifer comes to counteract sin.

Even though the pure people need to counteract the actions of the sinners & help them see the light, it has to be done without compromising one’s standards.  This is what Rashi is saying; even though there are perfectly understandable explanations that are rational, yet it's classified as inexplicable to teach us that, even when we think we understand the reason & perhaps feel that it doesn't apply to us, know that the laws of the Torah are a decree not to be questioned, just followed!
‎

Korach

‎Korach, driven by his own jealousy, stirs the passions of his group into a frenzy of righteous indignation. He claims that Moshe fabricated commandments & misappropriated power. Therefore, Korach & his two hundred & fifty followers challenged Moshe by protesting Aaron’s appointment as the Kohen Gadol. 

The Posuk then states, ואהרן מה הוא כי תלינו עליו, and as for Aaron, what is he that you incite protest against him?
This is seemingly an odd question. After all, Aaron is the one who was appointed as Kohen Gadol; who else would they protest against?

Reb Meir Arik answers based on a gemara in Eruvin which uses three similar sounding words to teach us that a person's true character comes out in three situations, בכוסו, בכיסו, ובכעסו : one’s cup, how a person acts while drunk; with one’s pocket, how one relates to money; & lastly his anger, how one behaves when he loses control. 

Now, as far as Aaron was concerned, he couldn't be tested by his cup, for kohanim weren't allowed to become intoxicated; he couldn't be judged by his money for, in the midbar, they were all equal living off the maan. The only way to judge his character was by his anger. 

This is what the phrasing of the pasuk presents, ואהרן מה הוא, and Aaron, what is he - if you want to see what Aaron is all about, כי תלינו עליו, when you protest against him, testing him to see if he'll get angry, you’ll see that he doesn’t. You will then see and recognize how holy  he is. The question then is, how are you fighting against him?

This Mida of not getting angry is so powerful that when Reb Eliahu Lapian was asked why he merited long life, he said that it's because as long as he can remember, he never got angry at anyone or anything. 

There's a story told about רב צדקה חוצין, who was asked to do a bris on Shabbos in a town far from his home. Before Shabbos, he brought over the knife & all the equipment that he needed. Shabbos morning he walked for over two hours to that town to do the bris. However, when he finally got there, he was told that someone else had come & done the bris alrea‎dy! 

Imagine how we would have felt walking two hours for nothing, just to turn around & walk back. However, he said nothing and exhibited no anger, no resentment, nothing. We should take this lesson so that when things don't go exactly like we would want them or someone does something to upset us, we don’t let it get to us. 
We should emulate the ways of Aaron, who realized that the people who were fighting with him were really fighting with Hashem whose command he was following. It had nothing to do with him, so why should it bother him.  

If we, too, would realize that anything that happens to us, whether seemingly by accident or even at the hands of another person, is really Hashem’s doing.  Then we, too, will understand that nothing will be gained by getting angry. If we could take this lesson to heart, we will all be happier & the world will be a better place! 

Shelach

Our Parsha contains one section of the Shema in which is written ולא תתורו אחרי ‏לבבכם ואחרי עיניכם, and you shall not spy after your heart & after your eyes, Rashi says that the eyes & heart are like spies for the body: the eyes see; the heart desires; then the body commits the sin. 

While the words of Rashi make sense ‎in a practical manner, his explanation  doesn't follow the wording of the posuk.  The posuk first says, don't go after your heart & only then don't go after your eyes. Rashi’s explanation mentions that first the eyes see & then the heart desires whereas the posuk seems to say that the heart desires first. How is it possible for the heart to desire before the eyes see?

Answers הגר"א מישקובסקי  that really the words of Rashi & the words of the posuk go hand in hand. Practically speaking, the eye sees first & then the heart wants like Rashi says.  However, the posuk is telling us that the eye will only see what the heart wants it to see.  

With this, he explains the whole posuk beautifully.  Initially, the posuk states 'וראיתם אותו וזכותם את כל מצוות ה, talking about the Tzitzis which you will see & remember the mitzvos of Hashem - the seeing of the tzitzis will remind you of the mitzvos.  The posuk then continues, ועשיתם אותם, you will do the mitzvos which will guide your heart.  Doing the mitzvos will have the effect on you that לא תתורו אחרי לבבכם you will not follow your heart.  The power which the mitzvos have on a person is that they will train the heart not to desire so that the eyes won’t see what they shouldn't.  

Now this seems like a lofty unattainable goal. How do we try to attain this level?

The preceding posuk says, ונתנו על ציצת הכנף פתיל תכלת and you will put on the corner a thread of turquoise wool. The gemara explains that it was turquoise wool since the color is similar to the color of the sea which is similar to the color of the sky which is similar in color to the heavenly throne. All that will remind us of Hashem so that we won’t sin. 

Reb Moshe Feinstein asks, “‎Why did Hashem choose a color that was similar to the sea because it was similar to the sky & so on until he came to the one that was like the heavenly throne? Why didn't Hashem just pick a color that was the same as the throne to begin with instead of going through so many steps?”

He answers that the Torah is teaching us a very important lesson. In spiritual matters one can't just jump all the way to the top in one leap. Rather, one has to take one small step at a time until slowly one reaches the top. It's impossible to reach it in one step which eliminates toil and effort.  One who puts in the effort & works hard going from one level to the next will be able to reach the top. So, too, with us, if we work slowly taking one step at a time, reducing the number of times we look where we shouldn't, then slowly we can train ourselves & our hearts not to desire what we shouldn't.  This will enable us to purify our hearts & mind! 

Beha'aloscha

‎‎Our parsha contains a very interesting phenomena not found anywhere else in the Torah. A few seemingly misplaced pesukim are bracketed and separated from the pesukim before & after with upside-down letter Nuns. 

In an effort to explain this occurrence, Rashi states that the reason the Torah utilizes this unique configuration is to separate between two ‎troublesome episodes involving the Jews.

However, the Ramban questions this explanation since the section prior to these bracketed sentences does not seem to contain any misbehavior by the Jews while there are two instances of trouble afterwards: first, that they complained about the difficulty of the journey & second, that they complained about the manna, the special food created for them by Hashem. 

So the Ramban explains, based on a midrash, ‎that the sin that occurred prior to our section, was the  speed with which the Jews were anxious to leave Har Sinai, like schoolchildren running away from school. This desire stemmed from their belief that Hashem was going to give them more Mitzvos.  This is what the posuk means when it states 'ויסעו מהר ה, they traveled from the mountain of Hashem, their thoughts were to get away from there as fast as they could  because it was Hashem's mountain.  They wanted to run away before He had the chance to give them any more mitzvos. That was the sin of the Jews that occurred prior to our section, answering the difficulty with Rashi’s explanation.

Now, however, that the Torah wanted to separate between these two sins of the Jewish people, what is symbolic of the letter Nun and why inverted?

The gemara relates that when Dovid Hamelech wrote Ashrei, which is written acrostically with each sentence beginning with the next letter in the alphabet, the only letter of the Alepf Bais that's absent is the Nun. The gemara explains this omission by saying that the Nun represents נפילה, falling, or going down; Dovid Hamelech did not want to remind us of the failings of the Jewish people so he skipped the letter Nun. Therefore, in our parsha, when the Torah wants to separate the sins of the Jewish people it uses the letter Nun which symbolizes fall, to differentiate between and separate the sins. 

We are now left with one other unanswered question regarding our section:  why are the Nuns inverted? Reb Yonasan Eibeschuts explains with a midrash that compares Hashem to a deer. Just as a deer turns its head backwards when running away, so, too, Hashem, even when we sin & He's running away from us, He turns His head toward us.  Even in the time of our complaints and misbehavior, and Hashem is running away from us, He never, even for a moment, totally forgets about us. 

The inverted Nun, which is symbolic of falling, is used to teach us that,  just as the deer, Hashem looks back at us, ignores our flaws & and shortcomings and just focuses on the good in us. We have to apply this lesson to ourselves as well. Even when we want to run away from someone we consider unworthy, we shouldn't totally turn away. We should always look back‎.  Just as Hashem looks away from our flaws & sees our good, we should only see the good in everything too!