Sforno on Leviticus 19:19/ספורנו על ויקרא י״ט:י״ט

1One of the foremost ways in which to demonstrate our fear/reverence of the Lord is not by observing commandments which we find reasonable and useful, but by observing those commandments which we fail to understand, or worse, which run counter too what our intelligence dictates to our mind as being useful. Hence the Torah urges: את חוקותי תשמורו, you must make a special point of meticulously observing G’d’s statutes. The motivation for doing so must not be merely fear of punishment, but blanket recognition that “Father knows best,” that the fact it was G’d Who legislated these statutes proves that they are intelligent and beneficial for us even if we fail to understand this. It is interesting that the Torah enumerates examples of such chukkim in areas which have nothing to do with “religion” as such, but with the most mundane of our activities. Examples are: the efforts to produce better strains of domesticated animals, better strains of agricultural products, etc. In each of these situations, even though scientific research may lead us to conclusions other than the ones indicated by the Torah, we must ignore such results of our own research. [I am updating the wording of the author to make them more relevant to our century. Ed.] Clearly, He Who created this universe would not legislate something that would endanger its existence. What applies in the field of agriculture, our economic base, applies equally in the sexual mores we are to observe [including such matters as “cloning” Ed.] as well as our foods, [maybe outlawing certain kinds of additives, in addition to such matters as mixing milk and meat. Ed.] Even in such apparently unrelated matters as trying to divine the future, the Torah is on record with a variety of statutes limiting our methods of enquiry. All of these laws, of course, come under the heading of chukkim, statutes.