Chukat

[cellio]

I'm reading torah this week, which means I'll also give a short talk on the portion (Chukat). I'm not sure yet what I'm going to cover. Chukim are generally understood to be laws for which we can't really derive a reason but we do them because God says so (like the ritual of the red heifer that begins the portion). The Reform movement is based on the idea of individual autonomy, not (necessarily) community standards; do we even have chukim? Perhaps we do. (Or perhaps I'm speaking late-night nonsense.) I'll think about it more tomorrow.

Comments

[mishtaneh.livejournal.com]

Every community has standards — they are a large part of what defines the community and help hold it together. And, arguably there are "chukim"; they're just more likely to vary from congregation to congregation.

[sethg]

One thing I noticed about the parsha is that soon after the laws of the red heifer, which describe how you become ritually pure after contact with a dead body, you have the death of Miriam. Would you rather talk about death than talk about the whole chukim/mishpatim distinction?