Parshat Chukas 5777
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week's parsha that Bnei Yisrael complained when they had to take a circuitous and difficult route to Eretz Yisrael. They became despondent and wished they would return to Mitzrayim. Hashem sent out fiery serpents which bit them and caused many casualties. At this point Bnei Yisrael repented and Moshe prayed on their behalf. Hashem told Moshe to make an image of a serpent and put it on a banner, and all who would look up at it would be cured.
Chazal ask in the Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah, and Rashi brings their words on the pasuk, did the serpent itself cure them? Rather, when Bnei Yisrael would look up at the serpent and subjugate their hearts to their Father in heaven they would be cured. Chazal explain that the Torah is teaching us a fundamental point about Kavanah. When we have the proper intention and truly depend on Hashem then we are answered.
The Sfas Emes asks, why did Moshe need to use a snake? Just tell the people to look up to the heavens, pray to Gd, and they will be cured! What was the point of the snake on the banner? (See the Maharal in the Gur Aryeh who also asks this question).
The Ramban explains that the fact that Bnei Yisrael were cured by looking up at the snake was a miracle within a miracle. Not only were they cured, but they were cured in an unnatural manner. That which brought on the illness was used to cure it; the same snake that bit them and caused so many to die, was also used to cure them. The Ramban explains that this is why the snake was used to cure them and they weren't cured by davening to Hashem without a snake, as the Sfas Emes asks. By being cured in an unnatural manner, they understood that this was a healing that came straight from Hashem and were therefore able to subjugate their hearts to Him.
The Sfas Emes takes this answer a step further. As the Ramban explains, the nature of the healing was supernatural; the bitter providing an antidote for the bitter. But the result was a cure of the physical body. And it was essential that precisely at the point of being physically healed Bnei Yisrael needed to look up at the heavens and subjugate their hearts to Gd. Looking up to Hashem at that moment expresses a longing to have a direct spiritual connection with Hashem and not be limited by the physical world. By first realizing our connection to nature and the physical, we are then able to reach out to Hashem and ask for a more direct and higher connection.
This is the meaning of the words in the Mishnah "V'Ki Nachash Mamis U'Mechayeh" does the snake on the banner bring life or death? Precisely during the moment of being healed physically one must ask himself who provides this healing. This is the answer to the question of the Sfas Emes; there had to be a serpent on the staff in order to express the point of acknowledging within the physical the greater power of Hashem running the world and providing us with life and sustenance.
This point is alluded to in the word used to describe the serpent on the staff. The word Nachash is not used, but rather the word Saraf, which might be translated to mean a fiery serpent. The Sfas Emes teaches that the word Saraf is used to express the idea that one must have a fire and passion to reach higher. One must feel unsatisfied with his life in the physical and seek to transcend his place in this world for something higher and more meaningful.
This is the point of the fiery serpent on the banner. We all have moments of inspiration and spiritual yearning. But the lesson of our parsha is to feel that same inspiration even during the ordinary and difficult parts our lives. One must have a passion to appreciate our connection to Gd even during our day to day involvement in the mundane, physical world.
Good Shabbos
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