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  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Common Sense
  • Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2006 22:27:52 -0500

Shoshanna Walker wrote:

There are many of the 613 positive and negative commandments that make NO SENSE (red heifer is the classic example). They are called "chukim" - ie; we are not supposed to understand the reasoning behind them.

HH: Doesn't "chukim" refer to the plural form of the Hebrew word for "statute, ordinance, decree"? I am familiar with this way of looking at such regulations of the law, but it may be that we have lost some of the meaning that the institutions had for the ancient Israelites, such as the reason why it was a heifer and not a bull calf, and the demand for the red color. Parts of the ordinance are quite comprehensible, enough for us to find the law meaningful, even if we do not grasp all the details.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard




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