Parashas Korach & Chukas - Keeping mitzvos before knowing why

I told my friend, “You should do what I tell you to do. Do me a favor - do you agree to do it?” He asked me, “Do what? You haven't specified yet what should be done. People would prefer knowing what it is you want, before agreeing.” And so, I explained:

While reading Parashas Chukas, I had the following question. The posuk says, “This is the chukas haTorah which Hashem commanded you... You shall take a red cow – which is complete – without any blemishes...” The Torah was very descriptive in explaining what the chok was. The problem is; why did it tell us what the chukas haTorah is now?

“When should it have explained it, if not now?” He asked.

I responded, “The Torah should have specified what the chok was in Parashas Beh'chukosai, where it was first introduced and asked to be kept.”

You see, a couple months ago in Parashas Beh'chukosai, Hashem commanded us to go in His chukim and to keep His mitzvos. The only thing is, we weren't exactly sure what we were supposed to do. The Torah didn't explain what the chok was – until this week's Parasha. So how were we supposed to do as Hashem commanded without us knowing what had to be done?

The answer, I believe, is: That's exactly the point. When Hashem asks from us to do something, there is no need to know a reason behind it. That was part of our bind to Hashem when we said, “Na'aseh v'Nishma!”

Before accepting the Torah, we didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into. We just told Hashem, “We will do (and only after) will we hear (what Hashem wants us to do.)

When Hashem commanded us to keep His chukim, He didn't need to specify what it was until He felt was a good time to explain it to us. Granted, it would be nice to know why we do the things we do (mitzvos) but if we didn't know, it doesn't have to stop us from doing it.

I was just speaking to a friend this morning; he was telling me that he wanted to learn the first chelek of mishna berura because he performs halachas every morning, but doesn't know why he is actually doing them.

That is where Korach went sour in last week's Parasha (I figured I would bring him in this week, since I wasn't able to last week.) Korach wanted to know exactly why we were doing mitzvos, and tried altering the halachos based on what he felt made sense.

For example, Korach exclaimed to Moshe, “Why should we have to put techeiles tzisis on our four cornered clothing? Suppose the garment was completely techeiles, then we shouldn't have to put any tzisis on the garment!”

It doesn't matter whether something makes sense to us in order to do what Hashem asks from us. That is precisely what a chok is - it's something we can't even comprehend, however, we do it anyways!

I give us a bracha that we should learn the reasons behind the mitzvos Hashem asks from us, and continue doing the ones which we aren't aware of the reasons. Maybe this should be a goal we set for bein hazmanim?

Have a wonderful Shabbos,
Nisso