Torah is NOT Always Logical (8 Minutes)

1:36You've taken a piece of the rock or whatever material off, and you've made whatever you've engraved part of it. You can't erase it. It's you now. This is you. Yeah, but I'm not sure that's you already. This is the Torah. And where does he say it? How come he doesn't say it when we got the Ten Commandments? He didn't say these are the Ten Commandments. He didn't say all these Ten Commandments. This is all Torah. He didn't say that. When does he say it? He said it on the mitzvah of Parah Adumah. What's the significance? Shlomo HaMelech was gifted Chochmah greater than all people that ever existed and ever will exist until Mashiach will come. Chazal said that the Mashiach will have chochmah greater than Shlomo. But Shlomo had, if it wasn't written, we wouldn't be allowed to say it, chochmah, literally, one level below Hashem. Something that is unfathomable for us to understand. And he thought, with all of his chochmah, that he understood the entire Torah.

2:57But if you look at Ecclesiastes, chapter 7, verse 23, Shlomo says, "I said I would be wise, but it is far from me." I thought I was going to be wise, thought I knew the whole thing, but now I know it's far from me. What is he talking about? So the first explanation is he's talking about the para aduma. He says, "I thought I'd known the whole Torah, but now I arrived at this mitzvah of Parah Adumah, this red heifer, and I realized I have no idea what's going on here. What do you mean? It's just, you take the parah, you burn it, you add a few things to it, like Hashem said, everyone becomes tahor. What's the problem? No. Why? You read the rest of the verse, you say, wait a minute, the guy that purified everyone, he's tameh. What do you mean? But he purified everyone. Yeah, now he's tameh." What happened? Did he step in the mud? Did he step on something dead? No, no, he's tameh. Okay, fine. He's tameh. All right. But what about the details? What happens next? Because the person who helped him, he's also tameh. But he didn't do anything wrong. He just helped him. And yet, he's tameh. The one who was already tameh becomes tahor, and the one who was initially tahor becomes tameh. Shlomo HaMelech says this defies human logic. Even with all my chochmah (wisdom).

4:16I thought I was wise. I thought I knew the whole Torah. But now I know it's far from me. Why is it far from me? He says it's not just the parah adumah (the red heifer). It's the entire Torah. Meaning, I thought the Torah was supposed to be logical at all times, and I realized I was wrong. Sometimes there are things that are very logical. It's logical why you should keep kosher. It's logical why you should be modest as a woman. It's logical why you're supposed to be modest as a man. It's logical why you're supposed to observe taharat mishpacha, family purity. It's logical, but it's not logical why Hashem cares if you wear shatnez. It's not logical why? You can drive a car six days a week, but you can't drive the car on the seventh day. You can't drive a car on Shabbat. It's not logical. You can tell me it's fire. Okay. So what? It's good for us, so I can't. So why shut it off the whole week then? If it's so bad, if it's so bad to drive a car on Shabbat, let me just be a machmir. Let me just not drive the car the whole week. Let me live in a little igloo in Greenland. Why? You can drive a car six days a week, but you can't drive the car on the seventh day. You can't drive a car on Shabbat. It's not logical. You can tell me it's fire. Okay, so what? It's good for us, so I can't drive it on Shabbat. So why not shut it off the whole week then? If it's so bad to drive a car on Shabbat, let me just be a machmir. Let me just not drive the car the whole week. Let me live in a little igloo in Greenland.

5:34So you see, rabotai, that Shlomo HaMelech is trying to understand, and then he realized he doesn't understand. What does he understand? He doesn't understand the entire Torah. Why? Because he thought it's supposed to be logical. And the Torah is not logical. There are many things that are logical about the Torah, but we do not perform those mitzvot because they're logical. The only reason, and I repeat, the only reason—not one of the reasons, not the main reason—the only reason why we perform the mitzvot of the Torah is because Hashem said so. That's it. Anything you use on top of it to give yourself chizuk, ashrecha, good for you. But tachlis, bottom line, because Hashem said so, that's the only reason. And this is why... The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat says that Hashem only created the world for you to fear Him. This means that if you lived 60, 70, 80, 90 years, or even 120 years, and you had Yirat Shamayim, it was worth it for Him to create the entire world just for you. However, if you lived 120 years and did not achieve Yirat Shamayim, it would have been better for Him to destroy the whole world. Why? The entire world only exists because He wants us to have fear of Him. This foundational concept emphasizes the significance of developing Yirat Shamayim in our relationship with Hashem.

6:58There's different levels of fear. But nonetheless, a person needs to understand that fear is the first step in our relationship with Hashem. It's the first step because that means we understand what we're dealing with here. You don't fear Hashem? How are you going to do what He wants? Oh, you like Him? Okay, what happens if you don't like Him? Oh, you love Him? What happens if you don't love Him anymore? You woke up on the wrong side of the bed? You eat shrimp because you don't like Him today? You're going to date a non-Jew because you have some financial problems? Like many, people like each other and then they get divorced. No, but I really loved him, okay—until you didn't. Loving Hashem is not the foundation; loving Hashem is something you hope to get to after you have Yirat Hashem (fear of Hashem).