Parshas Chukas 5784

And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: When Moses ascended on High to receive the Torah, the ministering angels said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, what is one born of a woman doing here among us? The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to them: He came to receive the Torah. The angels said before Him: The Torah is a hidden treasure that was concealed by You 974 generations before the creation of the world, and You seek to give it to flesh and blood? As it is stated: “The word which He commanded to a thousand generations” (Psalms 105:8). Since the Torah, the word of God, was given to the twenty-sixth generation after Adam, the first man, the remaining 974 generations must have preceded the creation of the world. “What is man that You are mindful of him and the son of man that You think of him?” (Psalms 8:5). Rather, “God our Lord, how glorious is Your name in all the earth that Your majesty is placed above the heavens” (Psalms 8:2). The rightful place of God’s majesty, the Torah, is in the heavens. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses: Provide them with an answer as to why the Torah should be given to the people. Moses said before Him: Master of the Universe, I am afraid lest they burn me with the breath of their mouths. God said to him: Grasp My throne of glory for strength and protection, and provide them with an answer. And from where is this derived? As it is stated: “He causes him to grasp the front of the throne, and spreads His cloud over it” (Job 26:9), and Rabbi Naḥum said: This verse teaches that God spread the radiance of His presence and His cloud over Moses. Moses said before Him: Master of the Universe, the Torah that You are giving me, what is written in it? God said to him: “I am the Lord your God Who brought you out of Egypt from the house of bondage” (Exodus 20:2). Moses said to the angels: Did you descend to Egypt? Were you enslaved to Pharaoh? Why should the Torah be yours? Again Moses asked: What else is written in it? God said to him: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). Moses said to the angels: Do you dwell among the nations who worship...

(6) “They shall take to you a…red heifer” – Rabbi Yosei ben Rabbi Ḥanina said: The Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: To you I am revealing the rationale of the heifer, but for another, it is a statute, as Rav Huna said: It is written: “When I set a time, I will judge with equity” (Psalms 75:3), and it is written: “It will be on that day, there will not be light, pleasant [yekarot] vekipaon” (Zechariah 14:6). Yikfaon is written.40See II Kings 6:6, where the word vayazef meaning: It floated, is translated by Targum Yonatan as ukfa. Thus yikfaon is interpreted as “will float.” Matters that are obscured from you in this world41“There will not be light.” are destined to float to the surface [tzofim] in the World to Come, like that blind person who can see [detzafi], as it is written: “I will lead the blind on a way they did not know” (Isaiah 42:16). And it is written: “These are the matters that I have done, and I did not abandon them” (Isaiah 42:16). It is not written here, “I will do,” but rather, “I have done,” as I have already done for Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues. Matters that were not revealed to Moses were revealed to Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues. “Everything obscured [yekar] his eye has seen” (Job 28:10) – this is Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues.
Rabbi Yosei ben Rabbi Ḥanina said: He intimated that all the heifers will cease, but yours will endure.42This is expounded from: “They shall take to you.”

(3) “This is the statute of the Torah…” – Rabbi Yitzḥak began: “All this I attempted with wisdom; I said: I will become wise, but it is distant from me” (Ecclesiastes 7:23). It is written: “God granted wisdom to Solomon…[like the sand that is on the seashore]” (I Kings 5:9). What is “like the sand”? The Rabbis say: He granted him wisdom corresponding to that of all of Israel, as it is stated: “The number of the children of Israel will be like the sand of the sea…” (Hosea 2:1). Rabbi Levi said: Just as the sand is a barrier for the sea,24Thus, the sea is "contained" by the sand barrier. so too, wisdom was contained within Solomon. The parable they say: You lack knowledge, what have you acquired; you acquired knowledge, what are you lacking? “A man with no constraint to his spirit is a breached city without a wall” (Proverbs 25:28).
“Solomon’s wisdom exceeded the wisdom of all the people of the east” (I Kings 5:10) – what was the wisdom of the “people of the east”? They were knowledgeable and clever in divination by bird calls. Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel said: Regarding three matters I praise the people of the east: They do not kiss on the mouth, but rather on the hand; they do not bite with their mouth, but they cut with a knife; and they seek counsel only in a spacious area, as one consults only in the field.
“And all the wisdom of Egypt” (I Kings 5:10) – what was the “wisdom of Egypt”? You find that when Solomon sought to build the Temple, he sent to Pharaoh Nekho. He said to him: Send me craftsmen, at their standard wages, as I seek to build the Temple. What did he do? He assembled all his astrologers. They looked and saw people who were destined to die that year, and sent them to him. When they came to Solomon, he saw by means of the Divine Spirit that they would die in that year. He gave them their shrouds and sent them to him. He sent to him: Did you not have shrouds with which to bury your dead? Here they are for you, they and their shrouds.
“He became the wisest of all people [haadam]” (I Kings 5:11) – Adam the first man, what was his wisdom? You find that when the Holy One blessed be He sought to create Man, He consulted with the ministering angels. He said to them: “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:26). They said before Him: “What is man that You remember him” (Psalms 8:5)? He said to them: ‘Man, whom I seek to create, his wisdom is greater than yours.’ What did He do? He assembled all the animals, beasts, and birds and passed them before them. He said to them:25To the angels.‘What are the names of these?’ They did not know. When He created Adam, he passed them before him. He said to him: ‘What are the names of these?’ He said: ‘This one it is fitting to call bull, this one lion, this one horse, this one donkey, this one camel, and this one eagle,’ as it is stated: “Adam called names” (Genesis 2:20). He said to him: ‘And you, what is your name?’ He said to him: ‘Adam.’ ‘Why?’ ‘It is because I was created from the earth [adama].’ The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘I, what is My name?’ He said to Him: ‘Lord.’ ‘Why?’ ‘It is because You are Lord over all the creations.’ That is what is written: “I am the Lord, it is My name” (Isaiah 42:8) – it is My name that Adam the first man called Me. It is My name that I stipulated between Me and Myself; it is My name that I stipulated between Me and My creations.
“More than Eitan the Ezraḥite” (I Kings 5:11) – this is Abraham, as it is stated: “A contemplation by Eitan the Ezraḥite” (Psalms 89:1).26See Bava Batra 15a. “Heiman” (I Kings 5:11) – this is Moses, as it is stated: “Not so My servant Moses; [in all My house he is faithful [ne’eman]]” (Numbers 12:7). “And Kalkol” (I Kings 5:11) – this is Joseph, as it is stated: “Joseph sustained [vaykhalkel]…” (Genesis 47:12). The Egyptians said: Did not this slave reign over us only due to his wisdom? What did they do? They brought seventy tablets and wrote on them seventy languages. They would cast them before him, and he would read each and every one in its language. Moreover, he could speak in the sacred tongue, which they did not have the ability to understand, as it is stated: “He established it as a precept for Joseph [bihosef] [when he went out over Egypt]; I learned a language I had not known” (Psalms 81:6).27The Holy One blessed be He added a heh to Joseph’s name, granting him the ability to understand languages that he had previously been unable to understand. “Darda” (I Kings 5:11) – this is the generation [dor] of the wilderness, which had knowledge [de’a]. “Sons of Maḥol” (I Kings 5:11) – as the Holy One blessed be He pardoned [maḥal] them for the act of the calf.
“He spoke three thousand parables; [and his songs [shiro] were one thousand and five]” (I Kings 5:12) – Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said: We reviewed all of the verses and found that Solomon prophesied only close to eight hundred verses. Rather, it teaches that in each and every verse that he said there were two or three interpretations, just as it says: “[A wise admonisher in a heedful ear is] a nose ring of gold and an adornment of fine gold” (Proverbs 25:12).28These are two parables for one scenario. The Rabbis say: Three thousand parables for each and every verse, and one thousand and five songs for each parable. It is not written here, “his songs [shirav],” but rather, “its song [shiro]” – the song of the parable.
“He spoke to the trees” (I Kings 5:13) – is it possible for a person to speak to trees? Rather, Solomon said: Why is a leper purified with the highest of the high and the lowest of the low, the cedar and the hyssop?29Leviticus 14:1–7. It is because he exalted himself like the cedar that he was afflicted with leprosy. Once he humbled himself like the hyssop, he was healed by the hyssop.
“He spoke to the animals and to the birds” (I Kings 5:13) – is it possible for a person to speak to animals and birds? Rather, he said: Why is an animal permitted with two signs and the bird with one sign?30When an animal is slaughtered both the trachea and esophagus must be cut, but when a bird is slaughtered it is sufficient to cut one of them. It is because the animal was created from dry land. But the bird, one verse says from the earth, as it is written: “The Lord God formed from the ground every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens” (Genesis 2:19). And one verse says: “Let the water swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly [above the earth]” (Genesis 1:20). Bar Kappara says: They were created from the mud in the sea. Rabbi Avin said in the name of Rabbi Shmuel: Nevertheless, the legs of the rooster are like the scales of the fish.
“And to crawling creatures” (I Kings 5:13) – is it possible for a person to speak to crawling creatures? Rather, Solomon said: Why is it that the eight creeping animals that are written in the Torah, one who traps them or wounds them incurs liability,31On Shabbat. but the other creeping animals, he is exempt? It is because they have hides.
“And to the fish” (I Kings 5:13) – is it possible to say this? Rather, why do animals, beasts, and birds require ritual slaughter, but fish do not require ritual slaughter? It is, rather, from this verse: “Will flocks and cattle be slaughtered for them…[if all the fish of the sea will be gathered for them]” (Numbers 11:22).
Yaakov of Kefar Niboraya issued a ruling in Tyre regarding fish, that they require ritual slaughter. Rabbi Ḥagai heard, and sent and summoned him. He said to him: ‘From where did you issue this ruling?’ He said to him ‘from here: “Let the water swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly [above the earth]” (Genesis 1:20) – just as the bird requires ritual slaughter, so too, fish require ritual slaughter.’ He said to them: ‘Recline him and flog him.’ He said to him: ‘Is a person who speaks matters of Torah flogged?’ He said to him: ‘You did not issue a proper ruling.’ He said to him: ‘From where?’ He said to him: ‘From here: “Will flocks and cattle be slaughtered for them…if all the fish of the sea will be gathered for them” (Numbers 11:22) – these require ritual slaughter and these require gathering.’ He [Yaakov of Kefar Niboraya] said: ‘Strike your striking, as it is favorable for absorbing.’32Absorbing lessons for the future.
Yaakov of Kefar Niboraya issued a ruling in Tyre regarding an Israelite man who consorted with a gentile woman and begot a son, that the son is circumcised on Shabbat. Rabbi Ḥagai heard, and sent and summoned him. He said to him: ‘From where did you arrive at this?’ He said to him: ‘As it is written: “They verified their lineages by their families, by their patrilineal houses” (Numbers 1:18).’33Since lineage is determined by the father, he claimed that if the father is Jewish, the son is Jewish. He said to them: ‘Bend him over and flog him.’ He said to him: ‘Is a person who speaks matters of Torah flogged?’ He said to him: ‘You did not issue a proper ruling.’ He said to him: ‘From where do you prove it to me?’ He said to him; ‘If a member of the nations were to come to you and say: I wish to become a Jew provided that I can be circumcised on Shabbat day or on Yom Kippur, does one desecrate the Shabbat for him or not? Is it not so, that one desecrates the Shabbat only for the son of the daughter of an Israelite alone?’ He said to him: ‘From where do you derive this?’ He said to him: ‘It is written: “Now, let us establish a covenant with our God to send away all the wives, and those born from them, according to the counsel of the Lord” (Ezra 10:3).’ He said to him: ‘Are you flogging me on the basis of Tradition?’34The Prophets and the Writings. He said to him: ‘It is written: “Let it be done in accordance with the Torah”’ (Ezra 10:3). He said to him: ‘From what Torah?’ He said to him: ‘From what Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai: It is written: “You shall not marry them” (Deuteronomy 7:3). Why? “Because he will divert your son from following Me” (Deuteronomy 7:4). Your son who comes from an Israelite woman is called your son, but your son who comes from a Kushite woman is not called your son, but rather, her son.’35See Yevamot 17a. He said: ‘Strike your striking, as it is favorable for absorbing.’
Solomon said: Regarding all these I was able to comprehend, but the portion of the red heifer I investigated, I asked, and I searched; “I said: I will become wise, but it is distant from me” (Ecclesiastes 7:23).