click here to jump to start of article
Join Our Newsletter

Join 400,000 Aish subscribers
 GET EMAIL UPDATES



HOT TOPICS

Chukat(Numbers 19:1-22:1)

Essential Vitamins

Parshat Chukat speaks about the Para Aduma, the Red Heifer used in the times of the Holy Temple. The ashes of the Red Heifer represented the ultimate paradox - the ashes purified someone who was impure, but the ashes had the exact opposite effect as well: If someone was ritually pure, the ashes would make him impure.

King Solomon said that he was able to understand the logic behind all the Torah's commands - except for this one. So from here Solomon deduced: While we can try to understand the reasons for the mitzvot, the bottom line is we do them "because God said so."

If that's true, we might ask, why do so many of the mitzvot have an observable benefit - for instance, the weekly recharge that Shabbat provides, or the lessons of discipline we gain from keeping kosher?

Actually, we could ask the same question about our physical health: For example, it is understandable that our bodies require Vitamin C, but why did God put Vitamin C into delicious oranges? Why didn't God simply make Vitamin C pills, or put all the essential vitamins into something bland like oatmeal?!

The answer is that God created us with a drive for meaning and satisfaction. So while Vitamin C is an essential requirement, God wanted to give it to us in the most pleasurable form possible. The orange flavor is a great reason to eat oranges - but not the real reason!

So too with our spiritual health: Although we enjoy the practical benefits of mitzvot, the real reason we observe them is "because God said so." In doing so this raises our relationship with God to a much higher level of love and commitment. And ultimately, that is the best reason there could be.

Published: April 29, 2006

Give Tzedakah! Help Aish.com create inspiring
articles, videos and blogs featuring timeless Jewish wisdom.

Submit Your Comment:

  • Display my name?

  • Your email address is kept private. Our editor needs it in case we have a question about your comment.


  • * required field 2000
Submit Comment
stub

About the Author

Rabbi Shraga Simmons

More by this Author >

Rabbi Shraga Simmons spent his childhood trekking through snow in Buffalo, New York. He holds a degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and rabbinic ordination from the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. He is the senior editor of Aish.com and the director of JewishPathways.com.

An expert on media bias, he was the founding editor of HonestReporting.com, and is the author of David & Goliath: The Explosive Inside Story of Media Bias in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (2012). With drama and a biting edge, David & Goliath is a definitive treatment, fully resourced with over 2,000 footnotes. Readers are privy to secret negotiations with CNN executives, and how a grassroots campaign was cited by the New York Times as effecting sweeping changes in Mideast media coverage.

David & Goliath has been praised by politicians, professors and journalists: Former New York Mayor Ed Koch hails it as "Invaluable for anyone wanting the inside story," and James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal calls David & Goliath "of crucial importance for the future of the Middle East."

Rabbi Simmons lives with his wife and children in the Modi'in region of Israel.

Featured at Aish.com

May 24, 2013 / 15 Sivan 5773

Sponsors

    Torah Reading: Be'halot'cha
    (Numbers 8-12)

    Sign up today!