Parashat Chukat
„The class of statutes turns in essence, more than anything, toward the future... as a sowing and preparation for the future to come.”From A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace, 15
Parashat Chukat opens with the Red Heifer, the mitzvah that became a symbol of something we are unable to understand yet are obligated to fulfill. Rav Kook explains the essence of the chok (statute) as laws that the Holy One gives because their logic is future-oriented, and therefore in the future they will be better understood. We 'creatures of the present' measure everything according to the world we know now, and if we do not see an immediate benefit, we hurry to think it has no meaning. But the Torah does not look only at humanity and the world as they are today, but also at the hidden potential, and the future. Some of the statutes are seeds of a moral and spiritual consciousness that humanity is not yet ripe to contain, but observing them already now prepares us for it, generation after generation.
From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.