The parsha begins with the words, chukas haTorah, statute of the Torah, when, in fact, it is addressing the laws of Parah Adumah, Red Cow, which is a chok, statute whose rationale defies human logic. In other words, the parsha should have begun with the words, “This is the statute of the Red Cow.” Horav Yaakov Galinsky, zl, takes a practical approach towards explaining this, saying that a corollary exists between Torah and Parah, in that the anomaly which distinguishes Parah Adumah as a chok likewise applies to the Torah. The primary chok of Parah Adumah (exclusive of the entire purifying process, which is a spiritual dynamic) is the fact that, mitaheres es ha’tameim u’mitamaas es ha’tehorim. The spiritually contaminated person becomes tahor, pure, when the mixture of water and ashes is sprinkled upon him, while the one who prepares the mixture himself becomes tamei, impure. Thus, there are two perspectives, vantage points, for viewing the Parah Adumah: purifying agent; contaminant. Similarly, concerning Torah knowledge, there are variant ways to view the knowledge one has amassed.
A yeshivah student is studying in the bais hamedrash. Before him on a table are a number of tomes of Talmud, each opened to a specific page. Also on the table are opened volumes of commentary on the Talmud, from the Rishonim, Early Commentators, to contemporary scholars. Their notes and insights are all before the student as he works his way through a sugya, topic. With each commentary, his insight becomes clearer, his understanding of the topic more profound, as he delves deeper, plumbing the depths of the various insights into the Talmud.
At that point, a young man who has just recently joined the ranks of the observant, whose erudition is limited to a few verses of Chumash, comes over and stares at this scenario. Not really understanding what is taking place before his eyes, and why so many books are open on the table, he takes note of the Hebrew script of the books and exclaims, “Wow! You can read Rashi!”
Is this not mind-boggling? Do we have an idea of the inestimable value of Torah knowledge? How fortunate we are to be proficient in reading Rashi – and to be able to understand his commentary. Furthermore, we complete the entire Torah annually, while we all study Talmud with its many commentaries, Shulchan Aruch, and Poskim, etc. Do we ever take into consideration our overwhelming good fortune?
Another example of the Torah’s purification process (which we do not even begin to appreciate) is related. Rav Galinsky’s brother-in-law, Rav Zalmen Astullin, emigrated to Eretz Yisrael after living for years as a prisoner in the frigid tundra of Siberia. Suffering physically from lack of food and the subzero temperatures was not as deprecating as the dearth of spirituality. Every mitzvah he was able to observe was carried out with the greatest mesiras nefesh, self-sacrifice, although he had no minyan for Shabbos, Yom Tov, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur. Finally, he was allowed to emigrate to the Holy Land, broken physically, but spiritually intact. The joy of seeing Jews, observant, performing mitzvos in public, was overwhelming.
Rav Galinsky relates a story about taking his brother-in-law to the famous Lederman Shul in Bnei Brak. Rav Galinsky explained that the early (Vasikin) minyan was downstairs, with another minyan starting upstairs about thirty minutes later. As soon as the first minyan concluded their services, another started immediately. The same routine took place upstairs, with this process continuing on through part of the morning. Rav Astullin said he would remain in shul and take his time davening. When a number of hours had passed and he had not yet come home, Rav Galinsky began to look for him. The first place he searched was the Lederman shul, where he found his brother-in-law running back and forth from one minyan to another. Asking him what he was doing, his brother-in-law replied, “Can you imagine how fortunate you are? Every minute you have an opportunity to recite Amen, Yehei Shmei Rabba! I just could not bring myself to leave. This is a gold mine!”
Do we realize our gold mine – or are we in too much of a rush to leave early? I have often said that the last Kaddish is called Kaddish Yasom, the Orphan’s Kaddish, because no one is present to answer Amen!
The flip side of Torah erudition which contaminates the pure (so to speak), is obvious. We satisfy ourselves with learning measured amounts of Torah. In his Shem Olam, the Chafetz Chaim suggests that the ben Torah who thinks that he has achieved much in Torah should stand opposite a bookcase filled with sefarim, a Shas, a set of Mishnayos, and ask himself how many volumes he has completed and in how many of those does he have unsurpassed clarity? That should do the trick. On the one hand, we should never underestimate our knowledge of Torah. On the other hand, however, we should never overestimate our knowledge of Torah either!
