<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; ">Chukas begins: "Zos chukas haTorah". [19:2] It refers to the law of the Para Aduma. As we know, a chok refers to a Torah law whose reason </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; ">is not revealed to man. Chazal teach that the parah adumah is connected with the Children of Israel's atonement for the egel hazahav. Yet, according to the gemara, the mitzvah </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; ">of parah adumah was given to b'nei Yisroel before the sin of the golden calf occurred. (Ein mukdam um'uchar baTorah).</span><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial">One question is asked why the Torah says "These are the decrees of the Torah?" ALL the mitzvot are decrees of the Torah. The answer given is that the entire Torah </font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial">must be viewed as chukim (beyond our human comprehension).</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial">And what I find quite interesting is that as this parsha deals with chukim (laws that have no human logic), this is the same portion where two of the most important characters in the</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial">Torah, Miriam and Aaron, die. In other words, as a chok makes little or no sense to us, so also death, makes little or no sense either.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial">We must accept the decrees, as well as death, with equanimity and faith.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">ri</span></font></div></div></div></div></body></html>