Menachem Bluming Muses: Is Torah Logical?

Nope. It was never meant to be.

In the Torah in Numbers chapter 19, the Torah says, “this is the statute of the Torah” and then it teaches about the red heifer. When the Torah refers to a statute it is speaking of a mitzvah that has no logical understanding. Rather than saying this is the statute of the red heifer, as the Torah does about Passover: this is the statute of Passover, instead it says this is the statute of the Torah. This teaches us that the entire Torah is predicated on its being a statute, a law that cannot be logically understood.

We are encouraged and commanded to engage our minds in the study of Torah so that logic too can be a part of the process but yet the Torah itself never becomes logical. Even laws that make a lot of sense have details that defy logic.

So what is the Torah? Pure Godliness. Yes, sometimes it is enclosed in emotion or in logic but it always remains way beyond our understanding. The opportunity to study Torah is an invitation to connect with the divine.

What a great merit it is to study Torah!

Mendel (Menachem) Bluming based on Likutei Sichos 

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