Everyday Miracles

Parshas Chukas

Posted on June 15, 2021 (5781) By Rabbi Pinchas Avruch | Series: Kol HaKollel | Level: Beginner

 

The Mishna (Rosh HaShanah 3:8) notes the similarity between the raised hands of Moshe during the battle with Amalek and the copper snake atop the staff that induced healing for those bitten by the serpents following their complaint against G-d’s justice. “And it happened that when Moshe raised his hand Israel was stronger and when he lowered his hand Amalek was stronger.” (Shemos/Exodus 17:11) But could Moshe’s hands wage a battle or lose a battle? Rather this is to teach that whenever Israel looked on high and subjugated their heart to their Father in Heaven they prevailed, but if not they failed. Likewise we understand, “G-d said to Moshe, ‘Make yourself a fiery serpent and place it on a pole and it will be that anyone who was bitten will look at it and live.'” (Bamidbar/Numbers 21:8)

 

Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler (1) comments that these events demonstrate the incredible power inherent in a tangible image to impact the heart, for without such images it would be impossible for a person to focus and inculcate into the depths of his heart the spiritual concepts he has learned. The importance of this truth is why the Torah so strongly emphasizes the psychological effect of a physical icon.

 

Rabbi Dessler explains that the potential that comes from looking heavenward is the contemplation of the capacity for evil that is called “Amelek”. The nation of Amelek is the living manifestation of this awful force, but the capability for such malevolence is latent in everyone.

 

Witnessing Moshe’s hands heavenward inspired the warriors’ reflection on their own deeds and attitudes, as did the meditation of the Jewish Nation on the copper snake.

 

Rabbi Dessler further elucidates that this clarifies the rationale for the Torah’s choice of Hebrew verbiage to reference the pole – “nais” – a word that is commonly used to refer to a miracle.

 

One who contemplates the delicacy and magnificence of an orchid or the human eye appreciates that “nature” is simply the miracles to which we are accustomed due to our constant exposure. This familiarity serves to cloud our perception of the Divine in nature, such that we accept the tangible as being no more complex than its appearance indicates. Spiritual forces and consequences are easily missed and ignored. The departure from nature, that which people call “a miracle”, is the suspension of the order of nature to allow one to comprehend G-d’s role in the world and appreciate the reality of spiritual forces at play around us. One who ponders this concept realizes that those spiritual forces of miracles are no less present even when nature proceeds as one expects. Thus, the world “nais” is used to describe the staff upon which the fiery snake was affixed.

 

G-d has His plan for Creation, and our actions do not determine the outcome of events. Indeed, our responsibility during our time in this world is not to accomplish, but to make the right decisions – G-d conscious decisions – in our effort to succeed. But that does not mean our choices are meaningless. Our decision to either foster a relationship with the Divine or allow the strength of that bond to weaken and fracture impacts the spiritual realm in concrete, but humanly indiscernible, ways. Our Jewish lives are filled with icons – a Torah scroll, tzitzis strings, a mezuzah on the doorpost – to assist us in keeping our focus, to remind us of the spiritual forces and consequences, to serve as the “nais” that refreshes our appreciation of life’s daily miracles.

 

Have a Good Shabbos!

 

Imaginary Fears

Parshas Chukas Balak

Posted on June 29, 2023 (5783) By Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Series: Lifeline | Level: Beginner

 

Several years ago, one of the writers for Torah.org reached out to me in a hurry. He had made a mistake and wanted to stop the distribution of the email he had just sent.

 

What was his mistake? He had identified the weekly reading as “Parshas Bila’am” — this was, of course, in a year when Balak, half of this week’s reading, was read separately, unlike this year when it is read together with the previous parsha, Chukas.

 

Misnaming this particular parsha was what we might call a “scholar’s error:” The reading is named after the Moabite King Balak, but the story centers around Bila’am, the evil prophet hired by King Balak to curse the Jews. Balak is something of a minor figure in the parsha that carries his name; it is primarily about Bila’am!

 

But, of course, without the actions of Balak, the whole story of Bila’am would not have happened.

 

I heard the following from Rabbi Meilich Biderman, a well-known inspiring speaker. He asks, did you notice that Balak is in a panic about the Jews coming from Egypt, that he is terrified of them? He says the Jews “will eat up everything around us like the ox eats up the vegetables in the field” [22:4]. He expects the Jews to come through, ruin the fields, and eat the crops. That is what caused Balak to send messengers to Bila’am to hire him to deliver curses, and the entire parsha comes as a result of this fear.

 

Balak’s fear was entirely, unquestionably, 100% baseless. Hashem had specifically told the Jews “Do not bother Moav and do not provoke war with them, for I will not give to you from their land as an inheritance…” [Deut 2:9]. So Balak was afraid for no reason. And because he acted on his irrational fears, he brought destruction upon himself and his people.

 

What do we learn from this? The Torah, Rav Biderman said, is eternal, and there’s a lesson in here for us today. I should introduce what he says by explaining that our Sages teach that everything G-d does is good, in ways we do not understand, and specifically good for us.

 

Nothing comes to a person unless G-d wants it to be so, and He only wants the best for us.

 

So, he says, we shouldn’t be living in fear! We must remember that Hashem runs the world and there’s nothing to be afraid of. Obviously, we should behave in a way that is prudent and reasonable, but not second guess ourselves, regret bad investments, or be afraid of every distant possibility. Balak’s unfounded fears led to the entire story!

 

For those interested, it’s not really possible to retract or stop a bulk email once sent. So every subscriber did receive a class entitled “Parshas Bila’am” that day. Yet the teacher had nothing to be afraid of—few noticed, and none, to my knowledge, lost any respect for him. It was, after all, a wise man’s error!

 

It is interesting that Rabbi Biderman is often described as a Mashpia, which translates as “influencer.” In today’s culture, an “influencer” is a teenager or twentysomething with many social media followers, who convinces them to buy the brands that he or she is being paid to promote. Think about the difference between one “influencer” and the other. We can all be influenced, it’s just a matter of which influencers we listen to!