Good Shabbos everyone! This is what
they call being tossed into the deep end. So thank you all for having bared
with me.
In Parshas Chukas the Jews are
finally travelling to the land of Israel and again, as we’ve seen many times,
they start complaining.
וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר הָעָ֗ם בֵּֽאלֹהִים֮ וּבְמֹשֶׁה֒ לָמָ֤ה הֶֽעֱלִיתֻ֙נוּ֙
מִמִּצְרַ֔יִם לָמ֖וּת בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר כִּ֣י אֵ֥ין לֶ֙חֶם֙ וְאֵ֣ין מַ֔יִם
וְנַפְשֵׁ֣נוּ קָ֔צָה בַּלֶּ֖חֶם הַקְּלֹקֵֽל׃
“The people spoke against G-d and Moshe: ‘Why
have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is no
food and there is no water, and our soul is at its limit with the light food.’”
[Bamidbar 21:5]
If there seems to be one underlying
theme about which they repeatedly complain – it is about the mann. It would
seem to be that the mann is the greatest thing going. It tasted like whatever
each person desired. Someone wants milchigs one night – it tastes like dairy.
Someone wants fleishigs the next night – it tastes like meat. There was no
bodily waste created by it. It was great! Yet, it seems that when Bnei Yisrael
start complaining, they always complain about the mann. What are they really
upset with?
Additionally, there is something not
very apparent in this weeks parsha, but we’ve fast forwarded 38 years without a
comment. The last complaint before the spies was about the food, and 38 years
later it is about the mann again. Again, what are they so upset about? Why
haven’t they gotten used to it in 38 years?
It becomes even stranger. The pasuk
continues:
וַיְשַׁלַּ֨ח יְהֹוָ֜ה בָּעָ֗ם אֵ֚ת הַנְּחָשִׁ֣ים הַשְּׂרָפִ֔ים
וַֽיְנַשְּׁכ֖וּ אֶת־הָעָ֑ם וַיָּ֥מׇת עַם־רָ֖ב מִיִּשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
“Hashem sent the snakes, the burning
ones, against the people, and they bit the people, and a large multitude of
Israel died.” [Bamidbar 21:6] Throughout Sefer Bamidbar, Hashem punished the
people in different ways. Here, Hashem uses a new method – they are attacked by
snakes. Why snakes? Why could they not just drop dead? Why did the earth not
swallow them up like last week? Why did fire not come down from heaven and
consume them like in Parshas Shmini? Why snakes?
The Jews then tell Moshe they are
sorry and to pray for them. And then Hashem responds:
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהֹוָ֜ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה עֲשֵׂ֤ה לְךָ֙ שָׂרָ֔ף וְשִׂ֥ים
אֹת֖וֹ עַל־נֵ֑ס וְהָיָה֙ כׇּל־הַנָּשׁ֔וּךְ וְרָאָ֥ה אֹת֖וֹ וָחָֽי׃
“Hashem said to Moshe, ‘Make
yourself a burning one and place it on a pole; and it will be that anyone who
has been bitten will look at it and live.’” [Bamidbar 21:8]. The remedy for
snakebites was to look at a snake! This has to be the most peculiar anti-venom
serum ever created! Just look at the snake and you will be cured.
On a side note,
the international symbol of medicine has become the staff with two snakes
wrapped around it. The source for that is here – the cure was the snakes
themselves. But what is the message? Why punish with snakes and then heal them
with the snakes?
To answer this, we need to start
with a Gemara in Messeches Yoma 76a. The disciples of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai
asked him, “Why did the mann not descend for Israel once a year (in a quantity
enough to last them for a whole year)?” Rabi Shimon bar Yochai answered them
with a parable to a king who had an only son. He provided his son with his
needs of sustenance once a year, for the whole year. Therefore, the son only
came to see the king once a year, when he needed money. However, when the king
provided the son sustenance every day, he saw him every day and was able to
build a deeper relationship with him.
Based on another, but similar
Gemara, the Sefas Emes explains the punishment for the snake after the sin in
Gan Eden. The snake was punished by:
עַל־גְּחֹנְךָ֣ תֵלֵ֔ךְ וְעָפָ֥ר תֹּאכַ֖ל כׇּל־יְמֵ֥י חַיֶּֽיךָ׃
“You shall crawl on your stomach and eat dust all the days of your
life.” At a glance this punishment would seem great since dirt is everywhere so
the snake should never go hungry. However, the curse is that Hashem is, in
effect, saying to the Snake: “Here is your sustenance. Do not bother me again.
I do not want to see you ever again.” The contact that every other living
creature needs to have with its Creator does not apply to the Snake. This is
not a blessing. It is a curse.
The Bnei Yisroel had a similar
feeling every day. Every single day people would worry – how am I going to feed
my family? Every day they were afraid – maybe the mann will not fall tomorrow
and my entire family will be wiped out in famine. The result was that everyone
had their hearts focused on their father in heaven. The mann came from heaven
so they needed to pray every day: “Master of the Universe, give us food.” That
is why the mann came down every day.
This is why Hashem gave mann every
single day. He wanted Klal Yisrael to realize that we are dependent on Him. That
is also precisely why they did not like the mann. Human beings do not like to
feel their dependence. We like to delude ourselves and think we are
independent. That is why they kept on complaining about the mann. They knew
Hashem wanted them to depend on him, but they resented that and wanted
independence.
Now the punishment they received
makes sense. The punishment came from snakes because the people were acting
like snakes – they did not want to be dependent on Divine handouts. That was
the fate of the Snake. The Ribono shel Olam was sending them a message: Snakes.
You want to be like the primordial Snake? Then the snakes will bite you.
Do you know what the cure for this
is? “You shall stare at the copper snake and be cured.” The Talmud [Rosh
Hashannah 29a] comments that it was not a matter simply of looking at the
snakes – because snakes cannot cure. The idea was that they put the snake on a
high place and raised it on a flagpole. When they lifted their eyes towards
their Father in Heaven, they were cured. The cure was in looking upwards and
figuring out from where their Help came from, and upon whom they were
dependent.
The aveyra was saying, “I want to be independent. I do not want to realize my dependence on the Almighty.” The punishment was: You are acting like snakes – you will get bitten by snakes! The cure came when Israel cast their gaze up toward heaven. This is a lesson that is as important today as it was then. We think that with all our wisdom, we can go and we can come, and we can invent and we can function independently. However, it is “He who gives you strength to act with valor.” We dare not say, “It is my strength and the power of my hand which has made for me all this valor.” [Devorim 8:17] We need Him for every step and breath we take. The lesson of the snakes is one we need to integrate into our daily lives.
“Modim Anachnu Lach…” Modim does not only mean ‘we thank.’ Modim means ‘we admit…’ that our lives are given over to Your Hand, and that our souls are delivered to You, and that Your miracles are with us every single day. We need to admit these facts, even when it makes us uncomfortable and uneasy. It is the way Hashem creates a full relationship with each of us.
Good Shabbos.