Parshat Chukat: Hocus Pocus - Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair

it always amazes me that people claim to be hardened atheists we'll open up a newspaper and start reading their horoscopes a non-jew once quizzed rabbi yohanan ben zakai about the purification process of the para o duma the red heifer he said you know this stuff looks like a bunch of hocus-pocus to me you get a cow you burn it you pulverize it and turn it into dust and now if one of you is impure from touching a cadaver what do you do if you sprinkle him with a couple of drops of this water that you mixed together and say you're pure Rabi Elkin and asked him have you ever been possessed no said the honcho well have you ever seen someone who was possessed yes what do you do with him well we put smoking roots underneath him and sprinkle him with water and the evil spirit runs away rabbi Yochanan said to the non Jew just listen to the words that are coming out of your mouth after the non Jew had left rabbi Yochanan pupils said to him Rebbe you pushed that fellow off with a reed what do you say to us he said to them by your lives the dead do not cause impurity neither does the cow purified nor the water rather the Holy One blessed be he says a statute I have instituted a decree I have decreed yours is not to transgress my decrees [Music] people often say to me look rabbi what is this mumbo-jumbo for the funny black boxes on your arm and on your head not wearing a mixture of wool and linen together not cooking milk and meat together and putting funny little metal cases on your doorpost isn't this just a lot of hocus-pocus so I say to them have you ever used the cell phone yes the answer do you understand how it works of course it picks up radio signals that travel through the air how does it do that well it's got a receiver inside it what's a receiver well it's it's on a chip what's a chip well there are thousands of these small circuits on this chip and well it sort of receives the signal and you know rubber you're right I don't really understand exactly how a cell phone works does that stop you using it of course not it's the same thing with Mitzvahs I don't have to know how a mitzvah works in order to do it as long as God knows how it works well that's fine by me [Music] [Applause]