On the שבת before we read פרשת החודש, in which we read about the קרבן פסח, we read the פרשה of פרה אדומה. And the reason for that is, because in order to be able to bring the קרבן פסח, you have to be טהור. And in order for a person who became טמא מת, became טמא by touching a dead body, in order for him to become טהור, he has to be sprinkled with the מי חטאת, with the water that had in it the ashes of the פרה אדומה. And therefore, we read first the פרשה of פרה אדומה. As it says in ירושלמי, מגילה, פרק ג הלכה ה, and it's brought down in רש''י, מסכת מגילה דף כט עמוד א, and the רי''ף brings it there, etc. And there it says that the דין הוא שתקדים החודש לפרה. Really, we should have read first פרשת החודש, and then פרשת פרה. Why? שבאחד בניסן הוקם המשכן, because the משכן was put up on the first day of ניסן, ובשני נשרפה הפרה, and on the second day of ניסן, that's when they burned and made the פרה אדומה. So the פרה אדומה comes after פרשת החודש. ולמה פרה קודמת? Why is the פרה first? שהיא טהרתן של כל ישראל, because in פרה אדומה you have the טהרה of all the אידן. Which means that we read first פרשת פרה. As רש''י says the לשון in the גמרא there, להזהיר את ישראל ליטהר, to warn, to prepare the אידן that they should purify themselves, שיעשו פסחיהן בטהרה, so they should be able to make their קרבן פסח בטהרה, and then we read פרשת החודש, ששם פרשת הפסח, because in פרשת החודש you have the פרשה of the פסח. So first we read the פרשת פרה, and then we read the פרשת החודש, which deals with the קרבן פסח. The פרשה we read is the פרשה of the תורה in פרשת חוקת, where the תורה starts with saying זאת חוקת התורה, this is the חוקה of the תורה, and it continues with all the דינים of the פרה אדומה.

Now, the reason that it's introduced with the term חוקה, so we all know that because a חוקה is a מצוה that has no reason. We know that there are three categories in the תורה: חוקים, עדות, and משפטים. משפטים are those מצוות that the שכל is מחייב, that the שכל itself, the logic of a person, tells a person that these are the מצוות you have to keep, which means that if the תורה חס ושלום wouldn't have been given, we would have understood ourselves that these are the מצוות you have to keep. As the גמרא says in עירובין: אילמלי לא ניתנה תורה, if the תורה wouldn't have been given חס ושלום, היינו למדים גזל מנמלה וצניעות מחתול, we would have learned out not to steal from an ant and to be צנועדיק from a cat, which means that the שכל itself would tell a person that these are מצוות you have to keep. These are מצוות of משפטים. The מצוות of עדות are those מצוות that have a reason, but if the תורה wouldn't have been given, we wouldn't have kept it. After the תורה told us to keep these מצוות, we know why we have to keep them, and most of them are מצוות which are an עדות, like a testimony for certain things, like פסח is an עדות for יציאת מצרים, etc. חוקים are those מצוות that have no reason at all. And as the לשון in חז''ל is that השם says that these מצוות you have to keep because חוקה חקקתי, גזירה גזרתי, I made the חוקה, I made the law, I made the decree, ואין לך רשות להרהר אחריה, you have no permission to even think about it, to look into it. Now, the truth is that most מצוות in the תורה are not חוקים. Most of them are or משפטים or עדות. Nevertheless, there are some which are חוקים. As the מדרש says in במדבר רבה, in פרשת חוקת, פרשה יט אות ה, and also in תנחומא there, that ארבעה דברים יצר הרע משיב עליהם, there are four things which the יצר הרע asks about, דכתיב בהן חוקה, because the פסוק says חוקה there: אשת אח, כלאים, שעיר המשתלח, and פרה אדומה. In the גמרא in יומא דף סז עמוד ב, there it says, את חוקותי תשמורו, so it says these are דברים שהשטן משיב עליהם, these are things which the שטן, the יצר הרע, they ask about, ואלו הן, these are these מצוות, and it mentions אכילת חזיר, eating חזיר, לבישת שעטנז, wearing שעטנז, חליצת יבמה, giving חליצה to a יבמה, טהרת מצורע, שעיר המשתלח, etc. So we see that there are quite a few מצוות which are in the category of חוקים. Nevertheless, out of all the מצוות which are in the category of חוקים, the מצוה of פרה אדומה is the greatest חוקה. As we find in the מדרש that שלמה המלך says: על כל אלה עמדתי, on all these, meaning all the other חוקים I was able to understand, ופרשה של פרה אדומה, חקרתי ושאלתי ופשפשתי, concerning פרה אדומה, I investigated, I asked, I looked into it, and then he quotes the פסוק in קהלת ז, כג: אמרתי אחכמה והיא רחוקה ממני. I said I will be smart, I will try to understand this, but nevertheless והיא רחוקה ממני, it is far from me. So we see that even though שלמה המלך was able to understand the reasons to all other חוקים, to the מצוה of פרה אדומה he could not understand the reason. So that shows that the real חוקה, the real מצוה which is completely beyond understanding is the מצוה of פרה אדומה.

This explains why the תורה uses the לשון in the beginning of the פרשה of פרה אדומה, זאת חקת התורה, this is the חוקה of the תורה. לכאורה it shouldn't have said זאת חקת התורה, this is the חוקה of the תורה, as if this is the only חוקה of the תורה. There are other חוקים in the תורה as we said before. But according to what we just said, that this is the main חוקה, that out of all the חוקים themselves, the real חוקה, the מצוה that has no reason at all is the מצוה of פרה אדומה, this is why the פסוק says זאת חקת התורה, this is the חוקה of the תורה, this is as if it's the only חוקה of the תורה because the real חוקה of the תורה, which is in the category of חוקה חקקתי, גזירה גזרתי, and there is no reason at all, this is the מצוה of פרה אדומה. But we still have to understand the expression of the פסוק. What we just said that the reason the תורה says זאת חקת התורה, even though there are more חוקים than פרה אדומה, is because this is the main חוקה, this only explains how it is possible to write זאת חקת התורה. But still, it would have לכאורה been better if the תורה would have not mentioned the word תורה at all. The תורה should have said זאת חקת הפרה, this is the חוקה of the פרה. Now that the תורה writes זאת חקת התורה we say it's no contradiction to the fact that there are more חוקים, because this is the main חוקה. But it still doesn't explain why is it important for the תורה to tell us that this is the main חוקה of all the חוקים. It would have been simpler if the תורה would have just written זאת חקת הפרה, this is the חוקה of the פרה, just like the תורה says זאת חקת הפסח, in פרשת בא, פרק י\"ב, פסוק מ\"ג, this is the חוקה of the פסח, this is the introduction to the פרשה of the קרבן פסח. So the תורה could have written here זאת חקת הפרה, this is the law, the חוקה of פרה. Why does the תורה not write that? The תורה writes זאת חקת התורה in order to tell us that this is the main חוקה of the תורה. Why is it important to know that this is the main חוקה of the תורה?

So the אלטר רבי, the בעל התניא in his ספר לקוטי תורה on פרשת חקת explains that the תורה wants to tell us that this חוקה of פרה אדומה is not just the main חוקה of the תורה, but this is really כללות כל התורה. This מצוה of פרה אדומה is the general concept of what the whole whole תורה is. Meaning, being that פרה אדומה is the main חוקה which has no reason and שכל whatsoever, this expresses the depth of what really the תורה is. Because in truth we know that the תורה is חכמתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, the תורה is the חכמה of השם, the wisdom of השם. Now we have to understand that if it is the wisdom of השם, it is impossible for a נברא, for a creature, how great he should be, that he should grasp the wisdom of השם. Being that השם is the בורא, is the Creator, so any נברא that was created by the Creator, there is no ערך, there is no comparison between the creature, so to speak, the נברא and the בורא. And therefore it's self-understood that it is impossible for the נברא to grasp what goes on by the בורא. Especially as the רמב״ם puts it, that concerning השם we say that הוא וחכמתו אחד, He and His wisdom are one, not like by a human being, that you have the person and the person has wisdom within him, so there are two things, the person and the wisdom, but by השם, הוא וחכמתו אחד, He and His wisdom are one. And even though it is impossible for us to understand how it is possible for Him and His wisdom to be one, nevertheless the רמב״ם quotes the פסוק, כי לא מחשבותי מחשבותיכם, my מחשבה is not like your מחשבה, השם's מחשבה and השם's חכמה is not like ours. החקר אלו-ה תמצא, if you look into השם will you find, השם's wisdom is not at all in the category of our wisdom, and it is impossible with our שכל to understand how His wisdom is. But the fact is that He and His wisdom are one. So it's self-understood that just like it's impossible for the שכל of a נברא to grasp the בורא, the Creator, השם Himself, so too is it impossible for the שכל of a נברא to grasp the שכל of השם, the חכמה of השם. And it's self-understood that being of השם is בלי גבול, infinite, unlimited, so the חכמה that He has, or better said, the חכמה which is really one with Him, is also unlimited, is בלי גבול. So how is it possible for an unlimited שכל to enter into the שכל of a נברא, which is בהגבלה, which is limited? It is impossible for an unlimited thing to enter the limited thing. Just like the גמרא says, it is impossible for פילא דקופא דמחטא, it's impossible to put an elephant through the hole of a needle. And the reason is because the elephant is big and the hole of the needle is small, so it's impossible for something that is big to enter into something that's small. But the truth is, even the elephant, which is big, it's still מוגבל, it is still limited, and it is only with a certain amount of times bigger than the hole of the needle. Nevertheless, being that this is bigger and the hole of the needle is small, you can't push the elephant through the hole of the needle. Certainly, you cannot push something that's unlimited through something that's limited, or into something that's limited. So how is it possible for the שכל of השם, חכמתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, which is the תורה, to enter into the שכל of a person? And therefore, in essence, it really is impossible to grasp the שכל of the תורה. And as the פסוק puts it in very simple words in איוב, in איוב כ\"ח, פסוק כ\"א, ונעלמה מעיני כל חי, that the תורה is hidden from the eyes of any living creature, because the תורה is the חכמה of השם, so therefore then any living thing, any creature cannot grasp the חכמה of השם. Nevertheless, we are able to learn תורה and able to understand תורה as much as it is possible. This itself is a חסד of השם, the kindness of השם, that He made that we should be able to grasp ענינים of תורה. He, so to speak, lowered the תורה to such a מדרגה, such a way that we should be able to grasp it. And this itself only came because השם is כל יכול, השם could do anything, and there is no such thing as a contradiction or an impossibility by השם, and therefore השם was able to take His unlimited wisdom and put it in such a way that we, with our limited minds, should be able to take it. And that is the reason we are able to understand certain things of תורה. And when we do a מצוה, which is the רצון of השם, the will of השם, we are able to understand to a certain degree the שכל, the meaning, the logic behind these מצוות. But the truth is, in essence, as much as we understand, this is like nothing compared to the real שכל which is in the תורה, and the real שכל of השם which is behind every מצוה. But because השם did us this favor and let us understand a little bit in most מצוות, it is possible for a person to make a mistake and think that really these are the complete reasons for these מצוות, and not realize that in essence the real reasons for the מצוות and the real ענינים that are in the תורה are really much deeper and much higher in such a way that it is impossible for us to grasp. They are really בלי גבול, and they are so high that it's completely out of the realm of the שכל of a נברא. And therefore, השם made it that we should have certain מצוות, even if there are a few, but certain מצוות in the תורה that have no reason for them. So when we do these מצוות that have no reason, we understand that באמת there is a great reason for it, the reasons are so deep that we cannot grasp. And when we do some מצוות that have no reason, this brings us to understand that in essence the whole תורה is like that. That even those מצוות that do have a reason, and even those words of תורה that we do understand, what we understand is not the real understanding of what it really is, this is just the tip of what the שכל of תורה is and the שכל behind the מצוות are, and really it is much higher and much deeper. But even amongst those חוקים, being that סוף כל סוף there is some reason, and at least שלמה המלך was able to understand, so after all, we could think that even though we don't understand it, but it is not because the שכל itself is beyond the comprehension of a human being. והראיה, שלמה המלך, which was also a human being, and nevertheless, he was able to understand. Therefore, השם gave us at least one מצוה that even שלמה המלך wasn't even able to understand, even though he was the חכם מכל אדם, he was the smartest person out of all people. And if he wasn't able to understand, and he said, אמרתי אחכמה והיא רחוקה ממני, \"I tried to understand this, and I see it's too far from me.\" So then a איד will understand that this is a מצוה that the reason is completely completely beyond the comprehension of a human being. And this will instill in the person the feeling that just like this one מצוה, even the way we have it, the way we fulfill it, we see in it that the truth is that this has such depth which is בלי גבול and is the חכמה of השם beyond the comprehension of a human being, so too are all other מצוות. And that is the reason השם gave us this one special מצוה, which has no reason whatsoever, that we should get the feeling that in truth this is the whole תורה. The whole תורה really is beyond our understanding. The essence of the תורה is the way it is the חכמתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא. And what we have is only that השם lowered His שכל in such a way to do us a חסד that we should be able to grasp a little bit of it. But in essence, all the מצוות are really חוקים, are really higher than understanding. And this is the reason the תורה says, זאת חקת התורה, this is the חוקה of the תורה, and it doesn't say זאת חקת הפרה, this is the חוקה of the פרה, to teach us that this חוקה is the whole תורה. In essence, what the whole תורה is is expressed in this one חוקה, being that this is the main חוקה, as we said before, because this is a מצוה that has no reason whatsoever, even שלמה המלך couldn't understand it. So from that, we get to understand what the whole תורה is. Because if we wouldn't even have one such מצוה, then people would think that after all, the תורה is a שכל which is בגדר the category of a human being to understand, and we wouldn't get the feeling that there is more to it. We would think that this is the essence of the whole תורה. But certain things we don't understand because our mind is not so great. A greater person, even though he has a limited mind, will be able to understand. But when we have one מצוה which is completely beyond understanding, that shows us that the depth of the תורה is really completely beyond understanding.

Nevertheless, we have to work on understanding the תורה. We have to work on understanding the reason of the מצוה. Why? Because this is what השם wants. He wants us to learn תורה with our שכל. He wants us to do the מצוות and try to understand the reason of the מצוות. But the reason why we should want to understand the תורה is in itself because השם commanded us in the תורה to learn תורה, to try to understand. But at the same time, we have to remember, as much as we understand, we shouldn't think that we have the whole תורה and we understand everything the way it is, and this is as far as the depth of the תורה goes. That is not so. This is only a חיצוניות of the thing. It is a very superficial part of what the תורה is. When משיח will come, then we'll get to understand much deeper parts of the תורה. As the מדרש says, that תורה של עולם הזה כהבל לגבי תורתו של משיח. The תורה we learn now is like הבל, like nothing compared to the תורה of משיח. And the question is, what do we mean? חס ושלום, this תורה is not the תורה of השם? How can we say this is הבל לגבי what we're going to learn then? But what it means is that the way we understand the תורה now is nothing compared to the way we will understand the same תורה later, the depth of the תורה. Just like the רמב״ם says that when משיח will come, we'll understand much more, even what השם is, so too will we understand much more in the חכמתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, the תורה.