Rabbi's Blog

One of the scariest and most dangerous things I do as I get older is look in the mirror. Looking in the mirror is sometimes a shocking but awakening experience. A few years back I had a completely black beard - not a hint of grey - until that dreaded morning when my beard received a visiting white hair. Although the black hairs thought the white hair was funny-looking and different, they put up with it thinking it was only there temporarily. Before they knew it, more white hairs had moved into the area and were not only visiting; they were here to stay. Nevertheless, in the beginning the white hairs were completely outnumbered by their black counterparts. Before long I noticed that my beard was black with some white patches. Now my beard has become mostly white with a few black patches.

The only benefit I would grant to having white hair is that some small amount of wisdom comes along with it. As I have grown older, the wisdom I have gained is the growing reality that I cannot convince or affect a change in someone in an area of Torah and or Hashkafa/philosophy who does not want to hear the other side. Some people are set in their beliefs and cannot or will not be convinced otherwise.

Some people find it bothersome that some mitzvos, namely 'Mishpatim', are categorized as mitzvos which make sense. Meaning, if we were to come up with rules and regulations for society, these mitzvos would be among them. The other category of Mitzvos, referred to as 'Chukim", commandments that don't have any logic, rhyme or reason to them, at least from the perspective of our human ability to discern. There are reasons for these Chukim, but they are above and beyond our comprehension. Surely Hashem has reason to command us to do these Mitzvos as well. There are examples where Chazal - the Rabbis - have tried to give reasons to these Chukim. To me this becomes no more than a source of frustration when speaking with a skeptical person. Quite often I try to give an explanation or reason for a Chok Mitzva and it is scoffed at and rejected out of hand.

Despite my frustration I will not attempt to give a reason to a well-known Chok of Shaatnez. Rather, I will leave it up to the great Torah commentator Ramban. This Mitzva forbids certain mixtures between animals, seeds, and materials. Traditional and Kabbalistic reasons explain that wearing Shaatnez, the combination of wool and linen in a garment, are forbidden because they it 'stops up' the flow of certain parts of the body if worn. In this week's Parsha Kedoshim Vayikra 19:19 the Torah states: "Es Chukosai Tishmoru, B'HemtichaLo Sarbia Kilayim, Sadcha Lo Sizra Kilayim, U'Beged KilayimShaatnez Lo Yaaleh Alecha". "You shall observe My statutes: you shall not mate your animal with another species; you shall not sow your field with mixed seed; and a garment that is a mixture of combined fibers shall not come upon you". On the words "you shall keep my Chukosai/statutes the Ramban first gives Rashi's understanding that Chukim are decrees of the King for which there is no reason given. The Ramban explains the 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 prohibition against wearing a garment made of wool and linen, but not in the case of mating of animals of diverse kinds for which there is a reason which we will explain. Clearly, the Ramban says the intention of the Rabbis [in defining statutes as the laws of the King for which there is no reason] was not that these are decrees of the King of kings for which there is no reason whatsoever, for every word of God is tried. They meant only the statutes are like the enactments which a king promulgates for his kingdom, without revealing their benefits to the people, and the people not sensing these reasons, entertain questions about them in their hearts but they accept them nonetheless out of fear of the government. Similarly, the Chukim of Hashem are His secrets in the Torah which the people by means of their thinking do not grasp as they do in the case of Mishpatim.

Now the reason for the prohibition of Kilayim - mating of an animal with another species - is because Hashem created different species in the world, both plants and moving creatures, and He gave them a power of reproduction enabling them to exist as long as Hashem desires their existence in the world. He further endowed them with a power to bring forth only after their kind and that they should NEVER be changed, as it says in Bereishis during creation, L'mineihu, after its kind. The Ramban explains that the reason for both plants and seeds not to be mixed together is that the inner essence and strengths of each plant must be distinct; no plant should receive or give nourishment from each other. Rather each plant and seed needs to maintain its own diet and not combine it with that of another species of plant. He also quotes a Breishis Rabba 10:6 in the name of Rebbi Simone that every plant, every seed, and even every blade of grass in this world has a counterpart, 'a mazal', in the world above us in the Rakia, the heavens. If one mixes these species together, it can contradict and nullify the natural state of laws in heaven, creating havoc in the world beyond our scope of understanding. The Yerushalmi in Kilayim 1:7 states that the laws of Kilayim are the statutes that God engraved into His world. The word 'Chok' is part of the word 'Chakakti' which means carved out.

The only exception regarding providing explanations for Chukim is the wearing of Shaatnez, the mixing of wool and linen. The actual reason for the Chukim regarding plants and animals was to maintain the natural state in which things were created. But mixing of wool and linen involves more than maintaining the natural way of the fabrics. Ramban refers to Rambam from Moreh Nevuchim who explains that at the time the Torah was given the priests of idolatry, who were masters of sorcery, had a certain garment made of Shaatnez - mixture of wool and linen -which they wore when performing their rites. Therefore, the Torah eradicates their idolatrous practices, commanding us to destroy their remembrance. These are some of the 'explanations' to some of the Chukim in the Torah. I guess some people will buy it and others just can't accept it.

Bottom line is, don't mess with God's world when He tells you not to. Unless otherwise instructed leave it alone, and that is the meaning of the Chok!

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky