In this week’s parashah, the Torah has two nearly identical pesukim: אֶת מִשְׁפָּטַי תַּעֲשׂוּ וְאֶת חֻקֹּתַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ לָלֶכֶת בָּהֶם אֲנִי ד' אֱלֹקֵיכֶם: וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת חֻקֹּתַי וְאֶת מִשְׁפָּטַי אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂה אֹתָם הָאָדָם וָחַי בָּהֶם אֲנִי ד':, You shall perform My statutes and observe My Decrees to follow them, I am Hashem Your G-d. And you shall observe my decrees and My statutes, which a person shall perform, and you shall live by them, I am Hashem.
Chazal expound a number of important lessons from these pesukim, as Rashi notes, but there may be an additional insight to be gleaned from their order and the differences between them.
The first passuk is exhorting us to follow the mitzvos. A person thinking about the mitzvos will accept mishpatim, logical statutes, before the chukim, the decrees we cannot understand. The command to do them all is, however, absolute. Ani Hashem Elokeichem, which throughout the Torah means that He gives reward and punishment for their observance.
The second passuk is discussing the next, more profound level. It is discussing how we should do mitzvos and what that expeience should be for us.
If we realize that the source of the mitzvos is Ani Hashem – the Compassionate Master of all, Who always was, is, and will be – then it makes no difference whether the mitzvah is a decrees or a statute.
Beyond that, the Torah tells us, that if we do chukosai and mitzvosai, My decrees and statutes, if we perform the mitzvos properly and with the recognition of Who the Giver is, then v’chai bahem, we will live through them – they will give us enjoyment, pleasure and delight. If we find the mitzvos a burden, it is because we have not yet reached this level, we are not doing the mitzvosai, the mitzvos as Hashem intended us to do them.
May we aspire to – and experience – the proper recognition and appreciation the greatness, beauty and pleasure of the mitzvos.
Gut Shabbos.
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