When we were little, we used to be very good at asking the famous question: “WHY?” Dad, why is the sea blue? Because it reflects the colour of the sky. Why?… And at one point or another Dad will say: “I don’t know…go ask your mother.”

Sometimes, there may be a scientific or logical reason why something happens – but we may not know the answer. Does this make us foolish or stupid? No. It is just that we may not have learned the answer yet. It is a very humbling experience to say: “I don’t know.”

Perhaps that is why Hashem gave us certain mitzvos (commandments) for which there is no apparent, logical, rational explanation. For example, the laws of the Parah Adumah – the Red Cow. If someone had come into contact with a dead body, they would enter into a spiritual state called tumah. In order to become purified once again, the person would have to go outside the camp for seven days, go to the mikvah, and then a Kohen would sprinkle him with a mixture of water and the ashes from the Red Cow. Then he would be pure and be able to re-enter the Temple. There are a number of things that we simply cannot understand about this process:

1. How does sprinkling ashes from a Red Cow cause someone to be purified?
2. Why is it that the Kohen who does the sprinkling becomes impure, while the person who was impure becomes pure?
3. Why isn’t going to the mikvah enough to purify this person as in other cases of spiritual impurity?

There are answers to these questions, but they are known only to Hashem. He could have given us all of the answers – but obviously He felt we could not comprehend the answers or that we do not need to know. That makes the law of the Red Cow a “chok” – a law for which there are no revealed reasons. Other similar laws are shatnez (the prohibition against the mixing of wool and linen) and kashrus.

It is part of being human to say: “I don’t know everything.” It gives us a sense of modesty and humility. This is a good attitude to apply to other areas of our lives as well. When we don’t understand why our parents or teachers may ask us to do something, or if they don’t explain why, it is sometimes because we are too young to understand. We should try to learn this midah of humility before Hashem and before those who might well know more than we do.