This week's Torah reading begins with a discussion of the laws related to the Red Heifer. These laws are the quintessential "Chok" - a Torah statute that is beyond our comprehension. Other commandments make sense to us, either initially (Mishpatim, eg. "Thou Shalt Not Murder") or once we start performing them (Edut, eg. Keeping the Sabbath).
Although there are these 3 different categories of laws, it is important to realize that none of the commandments actually fall neatly into any of them. Are contain aspects of all three. Even regarding the Red Heifer, there are aspects of the laws that we can comprehend (such as the connection to the sin of the golden calf), and even regarding murder we have to perform the commandment against it simply because God told us so. Otherwise, we might come to rationalizations as to why to permit it. Too many tragedies have taken place because of such thinking, some even brought about by people that claim to be religious.
To be truly religious is to realize that, as much as we'd like to think otherwise, we are quite limited. Yet, while realizing our limitations we have the chance to connect to God and to his infinite wisdom. We have a chance to be part of His plan, and, as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel once put it, be "a contemporary of God."
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