Why is the parsha of parah adumah considered such a mysterious chok when the
Rishonim give reasons for it: it is the mother cow that comes to clean up the
mess of the cheit ha’eigel? Chasam Sofer
explains that parhas parah was one of the parshiyos given to Bnei Yisrael at
Marah, right after yetziyas Mitzrayim, before the cheit ha’eigel occurred. How can G-d give a means of kaparah for a sin
yet to occur without predetermining that such a sin will occur? This, writes the Chasam Sofer, was Aharon’s
complaint to Moshe in response to the eigel: “Atah yadata es ha’am ki b’ra hu” –
You knew this was going to happen, because there already was a parshas parah. The mystery of parah adumah is the great
mystery of how yediya and bechira coincide.
It was the sin of Adam of eating from the eitz hada'as which brought death into the world. Therefore, explains the Sefas Emes, for the parah adumah to serve as a metaheir for that tumah of death it must remain an unfathomable mystery, something that our da'as cannot comprehend. The correction for the pollution of the eitz hada'as must come from a higher source than da'as itself.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Let's go a tiny step further.
ReplyDeleteShlomo Hamelech said, אמרתי אחכמה והיא רחוקה ממני, which chazal say is
referring to the Parah Adumah.
The Brisker Rov [IIRC], understands this to mean that when Shlomo Hamelech
ran into the "problem" of the Parah, he suddenly realized that היא, the entire תורה,
was רחוקה ממני.
Because, based on this Chasam Sofer, the entire concept of שכר ועונש and historical
progression runs into the brick wall between ידיעה ובחירה
And the only reason I am writing this is because I did.
I think the C.S. in the Derashos explains that's why it's called chukas hatorah and not chukas haparah. But you made me realize there is one other point I should add to the post... I'm going to edit it now.
DeleteWhich explains the connection between the kabolas torah of Purim and ad d'lo yadah [bain tov l'rah].
DeleteIt all boils down to the assumption that belief starts as something that resonates inside; the philosophical justifications and fancy intellectual categories only come after the fact. Da'as is a product, not a cause.
DeleteMaimonidean's would probably take issue with that.
To combine the first R' Elchonon in kovetz ma'amorim, and the GR"A, emunah and the recognition of what is proper is within each individual - the chelek Elokah mi'ma'al. It is ga'avah and ta'avah that obscures it.
ReplyDeleteCritically, [iterating a recent topic] emunah is in the lev - i.e., emotion. On Purim, the kabbalah stemmed from ahava.
Thus, Shlomo HaMelech can be understood: I thought I could understand the Torah through chochma, but with that approach, it remained rechoka mimeni.
Conjecture: the primary destructiveness of the etz ha'da'as was in creating an intellectual, as opposed to an emotional, approach to life. Note that in the ten Sefirot, it one counts Kesser, one cannot count Da'as, and vice versa.
As in, חשבונות רבים is the antithesis of ישר