{"id":466,"date":"2014-03-28T01:03:54","date_gmt":"2014-03-28T01:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=466"},"modified":"2014-03-28T01:03:54","modified_gmt":"2014-03-28T01:03:54","slug":"shabbat-parah-5767-2007","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=466","title":{"rendered":"Shabbat Parah 5767 (2007)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>A Drash for Shabbat Parah 5767<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>by Marc Mangel<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement for 15 minutes a day of study: 20<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of Jenni\u2019s Bat mitzvah, when I began learning how to read; 10<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of our being here, when Susan began.<\/p>\n<p>________<\/p>\n<p>\u201cZot Chukkat HaTorah\u201d \u2013 this is a Chok, a statute of the Torah.\u00a0The commentators are in rare agreement on the Red Heifer:\u00a0 we cannot understand it.<\/p>\n<p>Rashi says \u201cYou do not have the right to question it\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">The Shalah (R. I Horowitz, 1600s):\u00a0 \u201c\u2026the metaphysical reasons of this legislation are totally obscure, andd even the commentators of the earlier generations who did have a measure of understanding have treated it as something sealed with many seals, and have not explained it adequately\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Nehama Leibowitz \u201cLet us not be among those who seek rational explanation for those things to which the laws of reason do not apply.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>R. Jacob Reiner, a modern Orthodox, writes \u201ca chok is a biblical imperative that defies all human logic and rationale\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">We can then ask:\u00a0 Indeed, then, what is the Torah teaching us with the Red Heifer?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">The answer:\u00a0 That there are some things that we are simply unable to understand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">Perhaps the most difficult of things that are cannot understand is why there is so much suffering in the world. R. Abraham Twerski, in his commentary on\u00a0 the Ramchal\u2019s Mesillat Yesharim (Lights Along the Way) notes that the Talmud tells us that Moses sought to understand why the righteous suffer and that God told him that this secret cannot be revealed to any living person.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">The Lubavitcher Rebbe once told a survivor: &#8220;<\/span><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">There are no words to console you.\u00a0 But you cannot allow the Holocaust continue in your life.\u00a0 We are day workers and our task is to shed light.\u00a0 We need not expend our energies in battling darkness. We need only create day and night will fade away\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">But how do we create day to make the night fade away?\u00a0 The Rebbe believed that each of us has a special mission, and that all of us can<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">Carry out <\/i><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">every good thought.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i>Use<\/i> our intelligence to solve actual problems.<\/p>\n<p><i>Express <\/i>our love by stretching out a helping hand.<\/p>\n<p><i>Give<\/i> our money and time to charity.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">The Rebbe concludes: \u201cA small talent that is put to use is far more valuable than a great talent that is wasted\u2026In\u00a0 its simplicity, a good deed is mightier than the greatest ideas ever concocted\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Shabbat shalom<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Drash for Shabbat Parah 5767 by Marc Mangel Advertisement for 15 minutes a day of study: 20th anniversary of Jenni\u2019s Bat mitzvah, when I began learning how to read; 10th anniversary of our being here, when Susan began. ________ \u201cZot Chukkat HaTorah\u201d \u2013 this is a Chok, a statute of the Torah.\u00a0The commentators are &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=466\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":53,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-466","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":467,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/466\/revisions\/467"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}