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Why does Rashi (רש"י) describe different reactions to chukim in different places—sometimes "mocking" and sometimes "challenging"? The distinction reveals two fundamentally different types of divine decrees. One type has unknown reasons but no logical contradiction; the other defies logic entirely, like parah adumah making pure impure and impure pure.
This shiur explores a fascinating discrepancy in Rashi (רש"י)'s commentary on the concept of chukim (divine decrees). In Parshas Chukas, Rashi states that Satan and the nations "mock" Israel regarding parah adumah, while in Parshas Toldos, he says the yetzer hara and nations "challenge" other chukim like eating pig and wearing shatnez. Rabbi Zweig identifies this as revealing two fundamentally different categories of chukim. The first type consists of mitzvos whose reasons are unknown to us but which contain no logical contradictions. Examples include the prohibitions against eating pig or wearing shatnez. We simply don't know why these are forbidden—perhaps pig causes trichinosis, or shatnez creates skin problems—but there's no inherent logical impossibility. When people question these mitzvos, they "challenge" them through discussion and argument, suggesting alternative explanations or questioning the necessity of observing laws without known reasons.
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Parshas Chukas 19:2, Parshas Toldos 26:5
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