Word Prompt – CHOK – Shmuel Phillips

The concept of chukas haTorah is interpreted by Rav S. R. Hirsch to mean laws which are essential pillars upon which the Torah rests (“chok” is often seen by the Gemara to refer to a detail of a mitzvah the lack of which invalidates a korban).

This term appears twice: once in connection to the Parah Adumah purification ritual and the other to introduce the laws through which non-kosher vessels can be rectified (Bemidbar 31:21). While these two passages both contain important lessons, the reason why they are deemed to be chukas haTorah may lie in the profound values that they represent.  

We are not defined by sins that we commit; the Torah was not given to angelic perfected beings. Rather, the key is in its processes of purification through which the Torah can take the impure and faulty and show how it can once again be made pure and holy. To err is human, but to purify and rectify requires the divine touch of the Torah and its guidance.

Ashreichem Yisrael lifnei mi ata metaher….