** This Dvar is dedicated to the memory of my grandmother, Chana Haddas Ressler, who (still) inspires me to read and explore ** This Lelamed Dvar is also available in your local App Store (iTunes and Android). I hope you enjoy and share this Dvar... _______________________________________________ Nature dictates that children look somewhat like their parents, fruits look like other similar fruits, and animals act in predictable ways. But if that were always true, then how do the laws of the Red cow, brought in Parshat Chukat, make sense? How could the impure be purified, while the pure become impure? How do these things make sense, if there is to be order in nature and creation? The Mofet Hador explains that we too were all given opposing forces. We were given the Torah, which tells us of these and other 'contradictions', and we were given the brain that wonders about all of it. The Parsha starts by helping us deal with these, and other issues. 'This is the law of the Torah" ...our laws make sense, even if we don't understand them. We're limited in our wisdom. In fact, King Solomon, who was given all the knowledge, couldn't understand the laws of the Red Cow, and said, "It is far from me". The logic is there, but none can discern it, and that too is part of nature. So when we come to a fork in our lives, and we're deciding whether to do what we know we should or what we think we could, we should remember this lesson: Our minds might be limited in understanding, but the Torah's wisdom is eternal. Shlomo Ressler _______________________________________________ Quotation of the Week: "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less."