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Some of the Torah’s laws make perfect sense to us. It’s easy to comprehend why the Torah forbids us to steal, or to commit murder, or commands us to assist those in need. Other laws are not so clear-cut. Why is it forbidden to wear a garment containing a mixture of linen and wool (shaatnez)? Why can we not mix milk and meat?
We can sometimes hazard a guess as to the reason, but this has the potential to get us into trouble. The Talmud relates that King Solomon, being the wisest of all men, felt free to disregard the command against marrying too many foreign women because he – unlike others – would resist the temptation to idolatry which was the “reason” for this law. The bottom line is that Solomon’s gambit didn’t work – his “reasoning” was incomplete (there were multiple rationales against too many wives) and hence he ended up committing idolatry. (See Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 21b)
Sometimes, our Sages tell us we simply have to accept the commands on the basis of “because it’s written in the Torah.” Consider this passage from the fifth century CE Pesikta d’Rav Kahana (piska 4, end):
One non-Jew asked Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, “This ritual of the red heifer (=maftir reading, Numbers 19:1-22) is like witchcraft. It requires bringing a cow and slaughtering it and burning it and crushing it and taking its ashes. If one of you is defiled by a corpse, you sprinkle these ashes mixed with water on him and it restores his purity.”
Rabbi Yochanan replied, “Have you ever seen a man afflicted by the spirit of madness?”
The non-Jew replied, “Yes.”
“And what did you do for him? “
The non-Jew replied, “We place a fire under him until it smokes, and sprinkle water on him, and the evil spirit flees.”
Rabbi Yochanan said to him, “Do your ears not hear what your mouth speaks. As it is with this spirit of madness, the same applies to the spirit of impurity.”
After the non-Jew left, Rabbi Yochanan’s disciples said to him, “Rabbi, this man you put off with a makeshift answer; what will you say to us?”
Rabbi Yochanan replied, “It is not the ashes and not the water which purify, but the decree of the Almighty. G-d enacted a decree and you are not allowed to transgress it, as the Bible states, “This is the decree of the Torah (Numbers 19:2).”
While it’s not always the most edifying answer, sometimes G-d – like any parent who has ever raised children – needs to fall back on the rubric “because I said so.”
- Rabbi Scott Hoffman
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