פרשת חקת

וידבר ה' אל-משה ואל-אהרון לאמר. זאת חקת התורה...

ה' spoke to משה and אהרון saying. This is the statute of the תורה…

                  At the beginning of this week’s פרשה, we are told about the פרה אדומה (Red Cow). The מצוה of פרה אדומה is a מצוה that is done by the כהנים when they need to make someone who has touched a dead body and is טמא (impure), טהור (pure) again. The מצוה consists of burning the cow and then sprinkling the ashes on the person in need. The פסוק that introduces this חוק (unexplained law) says זאת חקת התורה... (This is the statute of the תורה…).

                Why is it written this way? It seems like the פסוק is saying that this is the only חוק in the תורה. However we know that there are more! What’s going on?!

                רש''י explains that the reason for the way it is phrased is, because the other nations of the world are going to bother בנ''י  by saying, “what is this commandment?” And “where does it come from?” Therefore, the פסוק wrote חקת, which implies that “it is a decree from before Me (ה')”.

                To the Jewish people, ה' is the ultimate father. When our fathers tell us to something, we (should) do it. We trust our fathers! We understand that when they tell us to do, or not to do something that they are really looking out for our good.

                According to רש''י, the same thing is happening here. ה' our ultimate Father, is telling us, it doesn’t matter what the other nations say or do. You are My are my children, I love you, and you know that everything I do is for your best. So what that you don’t understand what this specific מצוה is about?! You just need to know that I am looking out for you.

                This is really a very important message for us. There are going to be times where bad things are going to happen to us (sorry to say but that’s just a fact). We are going to get hurt, we are going to feel sad, and there are going to be times where we may feel that there is no way we can handle what’s going on in our lives. There is one thing we ALWAYS need to remember, our Father in Heaven IS LOOKING OUT FOR US. He knows us, and he hears us. We just need to talk to Him and ask Him for His help. We need to know that ה' is and always will be on our side, there is no challenge that He gives us we can’t overcome. He is always taking care of His children. 

Have an Great Shabbos

Yoni Spigelman

With Help from: Rav Moshe Beigelman