Devar/5770/Chukat
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< Devar | 5770
עברית
English
And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live.' (Num 21:8)
The people were presumptuous, and were afflicted because of it: the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died (ibid 6). They immediately regretted and confessed their sin -- after which God gave them the cure for their illness: a serpent on a pole.
This is a strange cure, indeed. God took the people out of the servitude of Egypt in order to separate them from idolatry, and to bring them closer to Him, may He be blessed -- and here He put in front of them a cure which one may think, Heaven forbid!, was a form of idol worship! Not only that, but what manner of solution is gazing at a serpent? How exactly is that supposed to work?
Our Sages of blessed memory said in the Mishna, tractate Rosh Hashanah 3:6 Is it the serpent, then, which kills and gives life? Rather, whenever Israel would gaze upwards, and subjugate their hearts to their Father in Heaven -- they would be cured; but if not, they would die. In other words, the serpent itself was of no use. Its purpose was to be a sign, reminding each sinner that he needed to subjugate his stubborn heart and submit himself "upwards"; that is, to the King of Kings. By bending his will to the conform with the good, he would merit life. May it be His will that we turn our hearts Heavenward, and live many years in this world, and merit the life of the world-to-come.
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