The ancient rabbis certainly did. They wrestled with the complexities of Jewish law and tradition, seeking not just to follow the rules, but to truly understand them. And in the process, they offered some incredible insights.
Take Moses, for example. Kohelet Rabbah, a fascinating collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes, sees him as the ultimate wise man. It references Proverbs 21:22, "A wise man ascended against the city of the mighty," interpreting it as an allusion to Moses ascending to heaven to receive the Torah. A bold image, isn't it? Moses, single-handedly scaling the celestial heights to wrestle divine wisdom from the angels!
But wisdom isn't just about receiving the Torah; it’s about explaining it, making it accessible. Kohelet Rabbah continues, “And who knows the meaning of a matter – as he explained the Torah to Israel."
Rabbi Mana of Shaab, quoting Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, adds another layer. He says that for every matter God told Moses, He also explained its tumah and taharah – its ritual impurity and purity. Think of it: a complete understanding of not just what is unclean, but also how to become clean again. What a profound gift!
But here's where things get really interesting, and where we see the limits of even Moses's understanding. When Moses reached the portion of the Torah dealing with priests and their potential exposure to impurity from a corpse (found in Leviticus 21:1), he asked God a very practical question: "Master of the universe, but if they do become impure, in what manner is their purification?"
And God... remained silent.
Imagine Moses's face. The greatest prophet, the lawgiver, the one who spoke to God face to face... stumped. He couldn't understand how a priest could become ritually pure after being in contact with death.
Then comes the portion of the parah adumah, the red heifer (Numbers, chapter 19). This is a particularly strange ritual. The ashes of a red heifer, burned in a specific way, are used to purify someone who has come into contact with a corpse. It seems counterintuitive, doesn't it? Ashes, a symbol of death, used for purification?
God then reveals to Moses, "That statement that I said to you: “Say to the priests,” and you said to Me: ‘In what manner is their purification,’ and I did not respond to you; this is their purification: “They shall take for the impure from the ashes of the burning of the purification." In other words, the red heifer is the answer.
But Moses still doesn't get it. “Master of the universe, is that purification?” he asks, incredulous.
God's response is powerful: “It is a chukah, a statute, and I issued a decree, and no creature can comprehend My decree,” as it is written: “This is the statute of the Torah” (Numbers 19:2).
A chukah. A law that defies logic. A divine decree that we, with our limited human understanding, cannot fully grasp. The Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, delves deeply into the mysteries surrounding the red heifer, seeing it as a profound secret of creation and spiritual renewal.
So, what does this all mean? Is it frustrating that even Moses couldn't understand everything? Or is there something liberating in the idea that some things are simply beyond our comprehension? Perhaps the point isn't to understand everything, but to accept that there are mysteries in the universe, and to trust in a wisdom greater than our own. Maybe, just maybe, that's a kind of wisdom in itself.