Relooking, Relearning: Nachash v. Tannin

Parshat Va'era            

by Rabbi Avi Billet

It is time to set the record straight. 

The undertaking of this weekly dvar torah is often driven by a desire to find new approaches to oft-repeated ideas in our understanding of the Torah.

            

By "new" I mean "not the way you've been learning it since second grade."

Rashbam (Rashi's grandson who disagreed with him on a number of interpretations) writes at the beginning of Parshat Vayeshev (37:2) (shortly before he explains how Yosef's brothers did not sell him!), that he was talking with his grandfather Rashi who told him that if he only had the time "haya tzarich" - he would "have needed" - to rewrite his commentary on account of the novel ideas which come to him on a daily basis.

            

So if Rashi would argue with Rashi, we must get out of the box that says there is only way to learn. "Shivim Panim La'Torah" (there are 70 faces to the Torah) is how we are to learn – it is not meant to be a buzzword or phrase.

            

To bring some examples in narrative: Identifying ages of people – Avraham when (if) he was thrown into a fire, and when he discovered God; Yitzchak at the Akedah; Rivkah at her marriage; Shimon and Levi (and Dinah!) in Shechem; Moshe when he kills the Egyptian; the age of every Pharaoh we meet.

            

Some narrative tales: Og and the Ark, Noach being attacked by a lion, that Yishmael tried to kill baby Yitzchak, Yitzchak becoming blind because of the angel's tears at the Akedah, every image of "malachim"/messengers of God our minds have concocted, that Eliezer's camels flew across the desert, that Rachel gave Leah signs (maybe Lavan got Yaakov drunk), that Yosef knew a language Pharaoh didn't know, that the brothers sold Yosef, that Eisav was killed at Yaakov's funeral, that Moshe had a speech impediment (because he put coal on his mouth as a baby in Pharaoh's palace!), that Moshe did not strike the water to turn it into blood, and our identification of plagues involving animals (tzfardea, kinim, arov, arbeh).  

           

Much of our knowledge is embedded in us because school teachers love to teach Midrash stories. But the "Drash" part is meant to teach lessons. A story without a lesson is a fluffing of the Torah. Raise your hand if you have been extremely disappointed when you discovered as an adult that some of the things you had been taught as gospel truth are not even in the Torah. I thought so. Time to move past it, my friend. You are no longer in 2nd grade.

            

So let us dispel a rumor here and now.

            

I dutifully accept that the "signs and wonders" that are described in the Torah happened. I marvel that in a number of instances the Egyptian necromancers "did it as well" (7:11-12; 7:22; 8:3) until 8:14 (the plague of kinim/lice) when they were unable to mirror the act, and declared the plague to be coming from the Finger of God (8:15). If they were able to do it as well (even if they were using trickery and not "real" magic) that is some incredible feat! If I were Pharaoh, I wouldn't believe Moshe and Aharon either when they morph a staff, and bring forth blood and frogs.

            

But the one thing that is unexplainable to me is how the words "Nachash" and "Tannin" became interchangeable. At the burning bush, Moshe was given a sign to convince the Israelites he was sent by God, through his staff turning into a Nachash – which we understand as a snake. He performed this for the people in 4:30, and they believed him.

            

In our parsha, the instruction is given to Aharon to throw his own staff, so that it may turn into a "Tannin" before Pharaoh. Rashi immediately explains Tannin with one word: "Nachash." (snake/serpent) Why does he do that? Or, a better question, how could he do that?

            

The first time the word Tannin appears in the Torah is in Bereshit 1:21. There, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan translates what God created on the fifth day (Hataninim hagdolim) to mean, 

"Sea Monsters or 'whales,' or 'dragons.' Taninim in Hebrew; see Exodus 7:9. The Midrash states that it alludes to a pair of particularly great sea creatures, the Leviathan and its mate. See Isaiah 27:1, Psalms 74:14, 104:26, Job 3:8, 40:25."

It is not claimed to be a large snake - neither an anaconda or a python.

On 7:9, after translating "Tanin" as a viper, Rabbi Kaplan explains the term, 

"Tanin in Hebrew. Some say that this is the same snake (nachash) that it became at the Burning Bush (Exodus 4:3), see Exodus 7:15 (Rashi; Lekach Tov; Radak, Sherashim, s.v. tanan). Others say that by the Burning Bush, God gave Moses a sign for the Israelites, but before Pharaoh, the staff turned into a crocodile (Ibn Ezra; K'li Yekar), and that this was Aaron's staff and not Moses' (K'li Yekar, Zohar)."

The Shmot 7:15 reference is not a good proof, because Moshe is clearly being told to strike the water with his own staff there, the one which had turned to a snake (nachash).

            

Who really cares if it was a snake or a crocodile? Does it matter? Isn't it miraculous either way? Yes. But the Torah records two different animals because there were two different animals. And because each animal, in its own way, was important and significant.

            

The snake may have been to teach Moshe not to speak Lashon Hara about the Israelites over their not believing him. But the Midrash says it was also a symbol for Israel, against Pharaoh - who is compared to a snake, either as a deity, or as one who "bites" Israel - that Pharaoh, the snake, will be defeated by the staff, and he will ultimately become wood. Just as the stick does not bite, Pharaoh will no longer be able to bite. This is also symbolized in the grabbing of its tail – something no snake handler would do – you completely "own" it.

            

As for the Tannin, that was a message for Pharaoh alone. The Midrash Rabba (9:4) quoted by Chizkuni, Baal Haturim and others points to the fact that Pharaoh referred to himself as a Tannin (based on Yechezkel 29:3 – where Rabbi Kaplan translated it, "I against you Pharaoh, the great crocodile, who lurks within his rivers"), and the message was, "Just as this Matteh (staff) turns into a crocodile, consumes the other mattot (staffs), and will return to be wood again, you consume the 12 mattot (tribes) now, but you too will turn to dry wood and die."

            

So, in essence, there was a deeper message to be sent through the staff turning to a crocodile before Pharaoh, than that this is just a cool magic trick. We ought not to take the easy party line that "nachash = tannin, the staff always turns to a snake."

            

There are different staffs and different messages being sent to those who see God's wonders, each group according to their needs and their specific relationship with God. Moshe heard one message, the Israelites heard a different message, and there was one message assigned special for Pharaoh.

            

This lesson is not limited to our understanding of Torah narrative, but reflects the reality of our existence. Every event that unfolds is meant to teach something unique those who experience it, each person or group according to their needs in their lives under God's watchful eye.