Believe it or not, the concept of Parah Adumah came up this week in a political argument I had with someone about President Trump. I told a friend that although I voted for President Trump, recognizing that his presidency could potentially be transformative in many ways, there are things he has been doing lately that have left me scratching my head. In the past, we’ve seen that there is often a method to his madness, but the way he is treating his northern neighbor and ally, Canada, and, in general, his on-and-off tariff war that shifts so quickly that it can give one whiplash, has been truly puzzling.
With Canada especially, the ruthlessness of his attacks and his economic warfare have shocked Canadians, threatening the stability of the entire Canadian economy. As columnist Rich Lowry wrote: “It’s important to realize the magnitude of the threat Trump is making. About three-quarters of Canadian exports go to the United States, accounting for 20% of Canadian GDP. The Canadian free-market think tank, the Fraser Institute, notes that 25% tariffs would subject the Canadian economy to ‘the biggest external shock in a century (apart from during the initial phases of the Covid pandemic).’
“This is the kind of thing a much larger country does to a miscreant nation when it is punishing it for pursuing an illicit nuclear weapon, invading a neighbor, or engaging in human rights abuses.
“Canada’s sin is to be party to a free-trade agreement—the USMCA—that it negotiated in good faith with the same U.S. president who is now browbeating it.
“Defenders of Trump’s approach to trade tend to cite China as an example of how pure free-trade theory doesn’t work in the real world. China is an authoritarian society, engages in massive intellectual theft and other unfair practices, and can’t be trusted not to cut off supply chains in a crisis.
“None of this applies to Canada, a friendly, English-speaking country that shares our values and fights wars alongside us, not against us.”
Chukim and Hakoras Hatov
Yet, my friend maintained, “Trump knows what he is doing. He is always right. Just wait and see. You know how much he has been right until now, and we must have hakoras hatov to him.”
To be sure, I am open to hearing plausible explanations for his conduct, but until I do, I will remain with my questions.
I also told him that, certainly, we must have hakoras hatov for the good that he has done and for the fact that he rid us of the miscreant Biden people. And we do. But still, let’s take it easy. He is not a chok that we are obligated to follow even if we don’t understand.
Parshas Parah, which we will lain this week, is a chok. Parah Adumah is a chok that we must keep and cherish, even if we don’t understand it. Last I checked, our president—as good as he is—is not.
I said it tongue-in-cheek, and I repeat it here in the same tone. I hope he understood what I was saying.
A Time to Suspend Our Seichel
Speaking of Parah Adumah, let’s pivot from politics to ruchniyus. In all truth, as Yidden who are supposed to use our seichel, we should never suspend our seichel unless the Torah commands us to do so.
That is one of the great challenges of serving Hashem—knowing when to use our own seichel and when to nullify it. Keeping the Torah properly and being an ehrliche Yid often requires a tremendous balancing act. On one hand, it is crucial to understand the greatness of the mitzvos that we perform and the churban created by an aveirah.
However, in order to understand mitzvos and serve Hashem properly, so that our mitzvos are not done by rote, we need to learn…a lot! For example, it seems obvious that one who says every word of davening but has no idea what he is saying is still doing something wonderful, but his davening cannot compare to that of a person who understands what he is saying and recites each word with kavanah and deep feeling, right?
On the other hand, there are times when too much knowledge is also not good. If we are not supposed to know certain things and decide to be oiber-chachomim and figure them out anyway, that is also not good. Look at the first chet in the world, the chet of Chava when she ate from the Eitz Hadaas. That chet came about because she sought knowledge beyond her grasp. The nochosh told her, “If you eat from the tree, you will be as smart as Hashem.” It was that desire for knowledge that led to a chet from which we are still suffering in 2025.
So, yes, knowledge is good, but only when it is coupled with bittul, with being mevatel oneself and realizing two things: First, that there are things that are not good for me to know. Second, that even when I attain knowledge, I must recognize that there is far more that I don’t know. I must be completely mevatel to the ratzon of the Torah and the words of the mosrei haTorah and mesorah, whether I understand them or not. In fact, sometimes not understanding is better. Why? Because when we don’t understand, our kabbolas ol is completely l’sheim Shomayim.
Of Cleaning and Matzah Baking
I don’t want to alarm people by bringing up the dreaded P-word—Pesach—but I once heard a beautiful shmuess from the Gerer Rebbe, the Pnei Menachem, on this topic. He spoke about how G-d-fearing Jewish women start cleaning for Pesach months in advance. First, they do the bedrooms, and by the time Purim is over, they begin tackling the dining room and even the kitchen. Finally, after weeks of cleaning, moving the chometz into boxes, and relegating it to a small part of a room, she reaches the night of bedikas chometz. It’s all gone! The house is sparkling, the kitchen is Pesachdig. She has no idea how she managed, but somehow, she made it to bedikas chometz. There isn’t a crumb of chometz left. In the morning, her husband takes the little bag with the ten pieces of chometz to burn, and the Yiddishe mammeh breathes a deep sigh of relief. She did it! The chometz is gone.
With a smile, the Pnei Menachem continued: “Now, what happens next? The husband returns from burning the chometz, puts on his Shabbos clothes, and where does he go? He goes to bake Erev Pesach matzos. What happens there? They take flour and mix it with water—yes, the very ingredients that make chometz—and carefully prepare and bake it quickly to ensure that it does not become chometz.”
The Pnei Menachem asked, “Why would we do such a dangerous thing? After months of cleaning, we’ve finally rid our homes of chometz, and now we deliberately bring flour and water back into the picture? Are we meshugah? You know what the answer is? The answer is that this is what the Torah commands. Whether it makes sense to us or not, if Hashem commanded us to make matzah this way, then we do it—and we do it b’simcha, singing Hallel as we bake those matzos!”
When to Suspend Our Seichel
Yes, we use our seichel in every way we can to keep the Torah properly, but when Hashem commands, we submit completely, even when we don’t understand.
And in light of this, let’s go back to politics.
My friends, even the best and friendliest politician does not deserve our suspension of seichel for him.
Don’t get carried away.
