Parashat Bekukotai

“If you follow my statutes and keep my precepts, then I will give you rain in its season”… What is the difference between statutes and precepts? Thousands of years ago, our Sages already explained the difference: statutes are acts criticized by the people, since they apparently have no obvious logic, such as the consumption of pork. (It should be clarified that in recent years some studies have shown the harmfulness of pork consumption). The precepts, on the other hand, are logical actions such as not stealing or murdering, which we would fulfill even without the Divine order. But why does God want us to do meaningless acts? First, it is fundamental not to forget that He is the greatest source of goodness, so everything He advises us is for our good, even if we have not yet found the meaning (like the research on the pig mentioned above). Secondly, if all the precepts made sense, it would be very difficult to generate a relationship with God, because there are many people who are good (or think they are), and there are others who do not steal (or are deluded into thinking they do not), but they do not do it believing in God, but because it seems inappropriate to them. The problem with this behavior is that sooner or later we would limit ourselves to perform only precepts that make sense, and our logic is constantly deceived by different factors, for example: while years ago honoring parents was very natural, today many young people are not clear that it is right. Therefore, it is essential that we do not leave God out of our routine, and that we value both laws and precepts.