Laws

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“This is the statute of the Torah that the Lord commanded, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and they shall take to you an unflawed red heifer, in which there is no blemish, and upon which a yoke was not placed” (Numbers 19:2).
“This is the statute of” – that is what the verse said: “Who can generate the pure from the impure? Is it not the One?” (Job 14:4), like Abraham from Teraḥ, Hezekiah from Aḥaz, Yoshiya from Amon, Mordekhai from Shimi, Israel from idolaters, the World to Come from this world…

Bamidbar Rabbah 19:1

וזאת חקת התורה THIS IS THE ORDINANCE OF THE LAW — Because Satan and the nations of the world taunt Israel, saying, “What is this command and what reason is there for it”, on this account it (Scripture) writes (uses) the term חקה about it, implying: It is an enactment from before Me; you have no right to criticize it (Yoma 67b; cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat 7).

Rashi on Numbers 19:2:1

The Gemara cites another baraita related to the scapegoat. The Sages taught with regard to the verse: “You shall do My ordinances, and you shall keep My statutes to follow them, I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 18:4), that the phrase: My ordinances, is a reference to matters that, even had they not been written, it would have been logical that they be written. They are the prohibitions against idol worship, prohibited sexual relations, bloodshed, theft, and blessing God, a euphemism for cursing the Name of God…

Yoma 67b:8-9

MISHNA: Concluding the laws of prayer in this tractate, the mishna raises several prayer-related matters. This mishna speaks of certain innovations in the prayer formula that warrant the silencing of a communal prayer leader who attempts to introduce them in his prayers, as their content tends toward heresy. One who recites in his supplication: Just as Your mercy is extended to a bird’s nest, as You have commanded us to send away the mother before taking her chicks or eggs (Deuteronomy 22:6–7), so too extend Your mercy to us…

Berakhot 33b:16-17

חקתי תשמרו ‎את YE SHALL KEEP MY ORDINANCES — These are they: “Thou shalt not cause two kinds of thy cattle to gender etc.”, (and the other ordinances laid down in this verse), for by the term חוקים are meant those enactments of the King for which no reason is given and those that precede are not of this character.

Rashi on Leviticus 19:19:1

Rabbi Elazar said: The way of the world is that a king issues a decree; if he wishes to fulfill it, he fulfills it, and if not, ultimately he has others fulfill it. But the Holy One blessed be He is not so, but rather, He issues a decree and He fulfills it first. That is what is written: “You shall rise before the aged, show deference to the elderly, and you shall fear your God, I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:32). It is I who first fulfilled the mitzva of standing before the elderly; “if you follow My statutes.”…

Vayikra Rabbah 35:3-6

And Rabbi Yitzḥak says: For what reason were the rationales of Torah commandments not revealed? It was because the rationales of two verses were revealed, and the greatest in the world, King Solomon, failed in those matters. It is written with regard to a king: “He shall not add many wives for himself, that his heart should not turn away” (Deuteronomy 17:17). Solomon said: I will add many, but I will not turn away, as he thought that it is permitted to have many wives if one is otherwise meticulous not to stray…

Sanhedrin 21b:16

This is the statute of the Torah. Rashi’s explanation is that a statute connotes commandments for which one does not need to know the reason for doing them. In these cases the commandment depends on doing and not on study. The language of ‘statute’ is not appropriate in conjunction with Torah, though, because study is a part of the Torah. Here, however, Moshe was told that even concerning Torah there would be a statute — the statute of the Torah — and he should not question the Torah of the red heifer…

Gur Aryeh on Bamidbar 19:2:1

כל חקיו ALL HIS STATUTES — Matters which are only the decrees of the King (decrees of God imposed by Him, as King, upon us, His subjects) and which appear to have no reason, and at which the evil inclination cavils saying, “What sense is there in prohibiting these? Why should they be prohibited?” — For instance: the prohibition of wearing a mixture of wool and linen, and of eating swine’s flesh, and the law regarding the red heifer, and similar matters (cf. Yoma 67b).

Rashi on Exodus 15:26:4

Rashi (Bamidbar 19:2) explains that the nations of the world and the evil inclination taunt Bnei Yisrael by questioning the logic behind certain mitzvot. Therefore, these mitzvot are called חוקה, meaning we are not permitted to question them. The answer to the nations' taunts lies in understanding that while there is a reason for every חק, it can only be comprehended after accepting the mitzvah without needing a reason.
This acceptance without understanding is what Hashem desires. The degree of faith in performing the mitzvah without understanding determines how much one will eventually…

Sefat Emet, Numbers, Chukat 2:4

The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 19:1-2) states, "Who can make pure from impure, for example, Avraham from Terach? Who made all these? Was it not the One of the world? Hashem said: 'I have carved a statute, I have decreed a decree... one cannot transgress my decrees... This is the Chukas of the Torah... the words of Hashem are pure.'" The Midrash is not merely teaching that Hashem's expressions are pure, for Hashem and His messengers are inherently pure. Rather, it means that Hashem's expressions purify man…

Sefat Emet, Numbers, Chukat 2:2

The Zohar (3:179b) distinguishes between “This is the chok of the Torah” and “This is the Torah.” Chok refers to the Oral Torah, as the essence of the Torah is beyond human comprehension and needed to be brought down to us. Chok implies engraving the Torah into our hearts and actions through practical application. The Chidushei Harim explained that the Oral Torah integrates the light of the Torah into every action, as the words of Torah are engraved into the body. Everything in the world contains a hidden light of Torah, as Hashem created the world with Torah…

Sefat Emet, Numbers, Chukat 1:3

YE SHALL KEEP ‘CHUKOTHAI’ (MY STATUTES). “And these are they: thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind, etc. Chukim (statutes) are the decrees of the King for which there is no reason [given].” This is Rashi’s language. But our Rabbis have not mentioned that the reasons for the commandments [mentioned in this verse] are hidden from us, and that the evil inclination and the idolaters raise objections against them, except in [the case of the prohibition against] wearing a garment made of wool and linen…

Ramban on Leviticus 19:19:1

One who says in his supplicatory prayers: "May He who showed mercy on a bird's nest prohibiting the taking of the mother together with the chicks, or the slaughter of an animal and its calf on the same day, also show mercy on us," or [makes other] similar statements should be silenced, because these mitzvot are God's decrees and not [expressions] of mercy. Were they [expressions] of mercy, He would not permit us to slaughter at all.
Also, a person should not be profuse in his mention of adjectives describing God, and say: "The great, mighty, awesome, powerful, courageous, and strong God…

Mishneh Torah, Prayer and the Priestly Blessing 9:7

From all this it seems clear, that if the red heifer contaminates all that it comes in contact with, surely the heifer itself must be the source of the contamination! The whole matter seems to defy our normal way of reasoning. Therefore, the use of the words "this is the statute of the Torah", at the beginning of this paragraph is to remind us that logic cannot be employed if we want to comprehend the meaning of this commandment. This is why our sages quote the wisest of men, Solomon, as admitting that comprehension of this mitzvah, or rather its mechanics, its halachic rulings…

Akeidat Yitzchak 79:1:6

חקת התורה, “a statute of the Torah.” The various commentators understand the word as meaning: ‘statute; royal decree.’ In other words, a law which defies understanding by the subject to whom it is applied. People asked to obey it constantly wonder why they have to obey such a law. The details of the red heifer legislation are not only devoid of logic but appear to defy logic in that contact with that cow defiles the ritually pure while purifying the ritually impure.
The truth is that the red heifer is one of the statutes which defies our understanding…

Rabbeinu Bahya, Bamidbar 19:2:4-5

זאת חקת התורה . Why did the Torah need this introduction? This is adequately explained by Eliyahu Mizrachi. There are numerous occasions in the Torah when such an introduction is used, e.g. זאת חקת הפסח, in Exodus 12,43. Even though the law is not in the nature of גזרה היא מלפני, "it is a decree that I have decreed," seeing that the reasons for this legislation have been explained, the Torah's expression here is in a class by itself since we have both the expression חוק and תורה. Surely one of these words is unnecessary…

Shenei Luchot HaBerit, Torah Shebikhtav, Chukat, Torah Ohr 2

Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi: There are four matters that the evil inclination decries, as “statute” is written in their regard: A brother’s wife, mixed species, the scapegoat, and the red heifer. A brother’s wife, as it is written: “The nakedness of your brother’s wife [you shall not uncover]” (Leviticus 18:16), but without children: “Her brother-in-law shall consort with her” (Deuteronomy 25:5). And it is written regarding the nakedness of a brother’s wife: “You shall observe all My statutes” (Leviticus 20:22)…

Bamidbar Rabbah 19:5

Most commandments are either based on reason or on traditions which have to be symbolised. The author calls the former מצות שכליות and the latter מצות שמעיות. An example of the former is the commandment to honour father and mother, whereas the commandment to rest on the seventh day is an example of the latter. Observance of the Sabbath is a symbolic form of acknowledging that G'd rested on that day when He created the universe. We observe certain festivals as commemorations of miracles which the Jewish people experienced on those dates…

Or HaChaim on Numbers 19:2:7-8

Another interpretation: “This is the statute of the paschal offering” – that is what Scripture states: “Let my heart be whole in Your statutes” (Psalms 119:80). David said: ‘Master of the universe, when I engage in Your statutes, let the evil inclination not have permission to look at me, as it is stated: “Teach me, Lord, Your way, I will walk in Your truth” (Psalms 86:11). [Do this] so that the evil inclination will not mislead me, and I will be ashamed before the righteous. Moreover, because it misleads me, I neglect the words of the Torah…

Shemot Rabbah 19:2

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