DVAR TORAH
The third of the 4 parshiot read in place of the regular maftir is פרשת פרה. It is the story of the פרה אדומה who purifies those who are impure and makes impure those who are pure. Chazal say that we were introduced to the mitzvah of פרה אדומה at מרה, while we were still in the desert (there is a dispute about this very issue, but for the sake of this dvar torah we will accept the position that it in fact was given before we received the Torah at Har Sinai).
The issue with the placement of this mitzvah is that the practical laws of the פרה אדומה didn’t apply until we arrived in Eretz Yisroel. If so, why was it necessary to teach this halacha in מרה, even before we received the actual Torah at Har Sinai?
Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky explains that the mitzvot that we got in מרה were an introduction to keeping halacha. Although this mitzvah wouldn’t yet apply, it was significant in the lesson that it teaches. פרה אדומה is a mitzvah that is irrational. It defies the basic rules of logic and is difficult for the human mind to grasp. That is our introduction to keeping the Torah. We do mitzvot because Hashem said so. Not because it works for us or makes us feel good but because the creator of the world set out a blueprint of how the world should run and we follow it because we understand that He knows best; even if we don’t understand the reason for a particular event or commandment.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi
D. Sukenik
