See, I have taught you chukim and mishpatim…You shall safeguard and perform them, for it is your wisdom and discernment in the eyes of the peoples…who shall say, “Surely a wise and discerning people is this great nation!”[2]
How exactly is that supposed to happen? Outside observers, seeing that the chukim make no sense to them, mock them – and us, for observing them! Isn’t that part of the very definition of chukim? How do they metamorphose into positive influencers?
Our answer begins with Moshe’s complaint to Hashem, when he was tapped to return to Egypt, and tell the Bnei Yisrael that their redemption was at hand. “But they will not believe me! Nor will they listen to me!”[3]
Chazal[4] criticize Moshe for this skepticism. But why! The Torah itself specifies that an unknown navi offers miracles and predictions in order to establish himself as legitimate. Why shouldn’t Moshe, at that time an unknown figure in the community, not ask HKBH to provide him with the necessary credentials to prove himself to the people? Additionally, Moshe implies that there were two problems: they would not believe him without offering some sort of sign; they would not listen to him. How does that compute? Where does listening to him enter the equation. Either he would offer satisfactory evidence of his Divinely appointed mission, or he wouldn’t?
Moshe’s argument was that in order to get the people to pay any attention at all to his words, they would first have to listen to them! Only then could he offer some sign to bolster his credibility. Moshe believed that no one would heed him at all. No one would take him seriously. He would never get to the point of offering some ose or mofais.
Experience tells us that he was correct! When people are told about something bizarre, or outside their experience, they don’t stay long enough to get into the weeds of evaluating the claim. They simply walk away. Moshe had a good point.
The point, however, neglected one factor. When people are offered some claim about something that they are familiar with, they have greater capacity to enter the argument, and weigh pros and cons. In Moshe’s case, the idea of Hashem speaking through neviim was ingrained in the collective memory of the Bnei Yisrael. It was not a bizarre claim from an alternative universe. Moshe should have realized that the people would engage. They would listen long enough for him to offer any sign that Hashem would provide him with.
We return to our pasuk. Chukim are met with mockery, because they seem entirely foreign and irrational. We know, however, that chukim also have their reasons, even though they are less accessible to us. Shlomo penetrated those reasons. Our meforshim have offered many suggestions about them through the generations.
When chukim are examined on their own, their rejection by outsiders is predictable, and understandable. The Torah here, however, says that when they see that we have mishpatim as well, everything changes. They see a community that lives by those mishpatim as well as by the chukim, and that the system as a whole succeeds in so many ways, including bringing them closer to Hashem. At that point, they are willing to enter into discussion and evaluation. They engage the chukim, and try to understand that there is real depth in them.
They begin to realize that G-d knew what He was doing when He gave these precious gifts to His people
- Adapted from Divrei Shaul, by Rav Yosef Shaul Nathanson, the Shoel U-Meishiv ↑
- Devarim 4:5-6 ↑
- Shemos 4:1 ↑
- Shemos Rabbah 3:12 ↑