Go Ahead and Ask Anyway

Last updated on: July 9, 2019 at 11:19 am by Hebrew College

Go Ahead and Ask Anyway 2019-07-09T11:19:42-04:00 Hebrew College

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

By Rabbi Emma Kippley-Ogman

Parashat Hukat (Numbers 19:1 – 22:1)

“Anyone who looks at four things, it would have been better if they had not come into the world,” the Mishna declares in a furious mood in Hagigah 2:1: “what is above, what is below, what is before and what is after.” If you’re anything like my children, the moment that someone tells you not to think about something, not to bother investigating it, that it is just not your business – that is the moment that piques your urgent curiosity to delve in exactly there. Indeed, for the rabbis of the Talmud, who shared this human drive, this Mishna becomes the jumping off point for their earnest explorations of what might reside above, below, before and after.

Rashi seems to take a strategy similar to this Mishna with the beginning of parashat hukat, which introduces the detailed procedure for how to prepare a purifying elixir from the ashes of a red heifer. The elixir mysteriously makes those who handle it ritually impure while purifying those who receive it. Torah introduces the passage with zot hukat hatorah asher tzivah YHVH – this is the law of Torah that God commanded. Torah’s laws can be categorized in many ways; here the relevant division is hukim vs. mishpatim, that is, laws that have no external logical explanation (hukim) and laws that make sense for safety and kindness in human governance (mishpatim).

Rashi writes about our verse:

This is the law of Torah, because the Adversary and the nations of the world will hold Israel to account, asking “What is this commandment and what is the reason for it?” Therefore it is called hukah, meaning, it is a decree before Me and you do not have permission leharher ahareha – to ponder it/think about it/raise doubts about it.

Rashi is referencing sources in midrash (BT Yoma 67b and Tanhuma Hukat 7) that link this mitzvah to others that are also described as hukah – among them the prohibitions against mixing wool and linen in a garment and eating pork; and the process of sending the scapegoat out into the wilderness bearing the sins of the people on Yom Kippur. In his commentary on the Talmudic passage, Rashi articulates his concern:

You may not think about them – lest you say they are acts of tohu [of the chaos that pre-exists creation] – What atonement can there be in sending this thing out, and what could there possibly be in the cliff to help you?

By using the word tohu, which appears in the second verse of Torah to describe the state of being before creation, Rashi links pondering the red heifer’s ashes with the Mishna in Hagigah’s contemplation of what exists beyond the boundaries of known space/time. In Rashi’s formulation, to ask how or why this ritual works is to gaze into that abyss.

But the other thing we know from Rashi’s commentary (and from the millennia-old sources he is citing) is that this is one of the passages in Torah that we’re likely to get asked about. It’s been happening for thousands of years, and it is still happening today.

Last week, while I was waiting in line for lunch, an evangelical Christian friend approached me with curiosity, respect, and excitement to ask what I thought of the project she’d recently learned about to recreate the vessels of the Temple (including of course the ashes of the red heifer of our very verse). She was surprised that I was not yearning for a literal restoration of the Temple, and sat me down to ask about the mechanics of atonement in a non-sacrificial Judaism and the authority of Torah in the evolutionary Judaism I was describing – recognizing that our living practices will always be changing even as they remain linked to our origins (which makes space to literally pray for a metaphorical yearning). This conversation, fueled by mutual respect and curiosity, felt far from the abyss Rashi feared, but rather essential to the kind of learning that builds participatory democracy – actually understanding each other’s worldviews. But it didn’t have to go that way. Rabbi Levi Yizhak of Berdichev (18th c. Poland) suggests that the Adversary might be asking about the red heifer to trouble Israel by raising the notion that this mitzvah’s purpose is to effect atonement for the transgression of worshipping the golden calf. With an intent to harm (rather than to learn), this inquiry is meant to raise the idea that there is some fundamental flaw in the relationship between God and Israel that must be repaired. The kind of contemplation Rabbi Levi Yitzhak would have us avoid by saying “it’s a decree don’t ask about it” is a questioning of our fundamental worthiness and connection.

Deep self-doubt can emerge just as easily from inner dialogue as from an external questioner. Rabbi Hayim Arye Leib (19th c. Russia) notices a doubling in Rashi’s comment “what is the commandment/what is the reason for it” and “it is a decree before Me/you do not have permission to ponder it.” He reads the doubling as two moments of inner doubt, one before doing a mitzvah and one after. Before, a person asks “What value and importance does this have? Might there be something more important to do?” and might thereby abandon the mitzvah that is in front of them. If they’ve done it even through the doubt, they might then ask afterwards, “What good does this mitzvah do? It must be one of the great ones,” and thereby stoke their own ego. Avoiding asking these questions would allow a person to simply do mitzvot without the self-doubt before or the self-aggrandizement afterward.

As they interpret Rashi’s proposed limit on discourse, these Hasidic rabbis have a laudable goal: allow us as Jews to seek to walk a path of holiness in the world without questioning our fundamental worthiness or puffing ourselves up with pride.

But in that quest we must not lose our fundamental curiosity and delight in exploring the mysteries we might never understand.

Talmud (Yoma 14a) suggests that the mystery inherent in contemplating the paradoxical action of the red heifer’s ashes goes back to ancient times, quoting King Solomon (Kohelet 7:23): “I thought I could fathom it, but it eludes me.” The next verse in that passage continues rhetorically: “The secret of what happens is elusive and deep, deep down; who can discover it?” But there is a long rabbinic tradition of reading rhetorical questions as invitations: Right – who can discover it? Keep seeking, keep contemplating, keep asking, with humility, confidence, desire and delight.

Ordained by the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in 2010, Rabbi Emma Kippley-Ogman is Associate Chaplain for Jewish Life at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN.

Previous Post

July 2, 2019

When the Earth Opened her Mouth

Next Post

July 16, 2019 Seeing Past Each Other’s Edges

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2026 March 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz