Obedience Beyond Understanding

Parashat Chukat | Based on Yismach Yisrael, Alexander Rebbe

There’s a profound Midrash:

“תָּבֹוא הָאֵם וּתְקַנֵּחַ צֹאָת בְּנָה” –

“Let the mother come and clean up the mess of her child.”

(Tanchuma, Chukat 8)

The child? Klal Yisrael, who sinned with the Egel HaZahav.

The mother? The Parah Adumah, the red heifer whose ashes bring purity.

But what’s the connection?

The Chet Ha’Egel wasn’t wild rebellion—it was panic wrapped in reason. Moshe was delayed. Maybe gone. They needed a leader. An intermediary. Their intentions were leshem Shamayim. But the Alexandrer Rebbe, the Yismach Yisrael, teaches:

“Sometimes the greatest mistake… is thinking we understand.”

That was their error.

They thought they were doing the right thing. They rationalized. They overreached.

So along comes the Parah Adumah—the antidote. A mitzvah that defies reason. A chok. A decree.

Even Shlomo HaMelekh, wisest of men, said:

“אָמַרְתִּי אֶחְכָּמָה – וְהִיא רְחוֹקָה מִמֶּנִּי” –

“I thought I could understand—but it is far from me.” (Kohelet 7:23)

When a Roman philosopher mocked this mitzvah, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai replied:

“The corpse doesn’t defile, and the ashes don’t purify—it’s a decree of the King.” (Tanchuma Chukat 8)

Sometimes the highest faith is not to ask “why”—but to do.

The Parah teaches us that we serve not because it makes sense,

But because He said so.

That’s the tikkun for the Egel.

That’s Torah.

That’s true avodat Hashem.