A Quick Punishment Leads Directly to Teshuvah

Parshat Chukat

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Bamidbar 21:5-8 contains what we might consider to be the quickest sin, punishment, retribution, and repentant turnaround in all of the Torah.

               

“The people spoke out against God and Moses, 'Why did you take us out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread and no water! We are getting disgusted with this wasteless/ insubstantial food.' God sent poisonous snakes against the people, and when they began biting the people, a number of Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, 'We have sinned by speaking against God and you. Pray to God, and have Him take the snakes away from us.'”

                

God then gives Moshe the solution for those who have been bitten: a copper snake raised on a pole (one international symbol for pharmacy), for people to gaze upon in order to be healed (this is a simplistic understanding of how the snake “worked”).

                

Chasam Sofer asks, why now, after 40 years in the wilderness, are the people complaining about the Manna? To further his question, we can wonder how the new generation might be expressing the sentiment that the manna doesn’t produce waste! If most of them were born, and they all grew up in the wilderness, then this is the only reality they know! How could they complain that the manna is just absorbed in the body, if they’ve never experienced waste-producing food?

                

He suggests that once they encountered other nations, and engaged with them in trade, they discovered the foods the Edomites (and others) ate, and had their first major exposure to the digestive system. However, the wheat they may have eaten did not produce waste, so they felt the Manna had destroyed their bodies.

                

Rabbenu Bachaye notes that the whole purpose of the Manna while they were traveling was to train them to have trust and faith in God. The moment they spoke falsehoods about God, they were punished with snakes, the symbol of speaking falsehoods (think Garden of Eden). [He quotes the Medrash Tanchuma that the punishment of snakes is measure for measure in a different way: the snake who eats anything and it all tastes the same to him will come and punish those who complain about eating the one thing that has many possible flavors.]

                

Rabbi Abraham Sabba (Tzror Hamor) suggests that their immediate response to the snakes of “We have sinned” brought immediate atonement for their sin. That God told Moshe to create a “Saraph” (5:8), even though Moshe made a “Nachash” (5:9) (both words seem to refer to a snake image) indicates that God’s intent was for the copper snake to serve as a healer for their ailments of the soul (refuat ha’nefesh).

                

No matter what the copper snake was meant to heal, and no matter the reason for the complaints at this time, the fact remains that the whole ordeal seems to begin and end very quickly. Even though the complaint about the Manna is understandable to us in 20/20 hindsight, the complaint about water makes no sense! Didn’t they see what just happened a chapter ago when they complained about water?

                

Could it be that they’re complaining about the new reality which will soon be upon them, that they’re going to have to shlep water and actually work hard to get the food they need once the Manna runs out and the well runs dry?

                

It’s hard to know, as the Torah doesn’t give us much background to the complaining.

                

But one thing is clear. When the guilty are punished with a swift retribution from God, without conversations or confrontations, without raised voices and ire between sides, an understanding is quickly reached.

                

Note how the Torah does not tell us that their food situation or water situation changed or improved. The tale concludes with the people owning up to their sin and with Moshe building the copper snake to help heal those who were bitten.

                

Then they move on to their next destination.

                

While I am not suggesting an overhaul of the justice system in this country (though with DNA testing, we often hear stories of innocent people sitting on death row for years), there are times – such as in the recent horrific shooting in the Charleston, S.C church, as well as other mass shootings in the country – where the perpetrator is known, there are multiple witnesses, and the blood is on his hands, where the swift punishment would drive the message home. A speedy trial without lengthy deliberations, as necessary.

                

It worked in the Torah! For the first time, the people immediately admit their guilt, and they don’t even get what they want!

                

Alas, God is the only One Who can be so sure. Until such a time when He chooses to punish accordingly again, we can marvel at how quickly the lesson is learned, and hope that in our own human way we can learn from His incredible example. 

Getting Angry, Speaking Calmly

Parshat B'Shalach
by Rabbi Avi Billet

After the splitting of the sea, the people begin to settle into their wilderness existence, and become the recipients of a daily dose of manna from heaven.

The instructions as to what this food is, how it is to be rationed, and how it is to be cooked and eaten are given piecemeal. In 16:19, Moshe tells the people not to leave any leftovers until the next day. Perhaps this was the precursor to every successful Passover program: no need to take leftovers to your room because there will always be a new helping of food the following morning.

For the second and last time, we find the people not listening to Moshe (the first was in 6:9, during the heart of slavery, before the plagues began). People leave food for the next day – and it spoils. Moshe's reaction is to get angry at them.

It is quite understandable why they did not listen to him in Egypt. His efforts to that point had only yielded more work and more suffering. The people, exhausted from their exertions, had not the wherewithal to listen to Moshe's promises of redemption.

In our story, however, why wouldn't they listen? After all, if the manna from heaven is so clearly a miraculous gift, and if since the last "not listening experience" you have witnessed this man bring about ten plagues, split the sea and drown your oppressors, why wouldn't you think there's something to what he's doing and saying? How could you come to ignore him completely?

Perhaps they ignored him because they were still living in a slave mentality reality. Perhaps a slave counts every morsel of food that comes his way, not believing he'll see something good again for a long time. So even though they were told not to leave anything over, either they couldn't help it because they were used to hoarding or they couldn't believe that such fresh food would literally spoil in the morning.

So why did Moshe get angry? Shouldn't he understand the mind games the people play with themselves?

A closer look at other times when Moshe gets angry with the word "Vayiktzof" may help us understand Moshe's impetus for bringing out his anger card. The commentary of the Baalei Hatosafot summarizes the three times this word is used to describe Moshe's getting angry. The other two incidents are: when Moshe's nephews do not partake of the goat sacrifice at the dedication of the Mishkan, shortly after their older brothers die; and when the soldiers return from the all-out Midianite war having spared the women of the nation they had been ordered to wipe out completely. [He also "got angry" at the Golden Calf incident, and when dealing with the Korach group – except that there the Torah uses the word "Vayee-char"]

In each case, the Baalei Hatosafot explain, Moshe forgot a law as a result of his anger: in the manna story - he forgot to tell the people not to collect manna on the seventh day; with his nephews - he forgot that after losing a close relative a mourner does not eat meat ; after the Midianite war - he forgot the laws concerning how to kosherize vessels they had seized in battle.

There are a number of common denominators in the three stories. I will focus on two of them. Firstly, the people deliberately ignored a direct command from God that had been channeled through Moshe. Secondly, Moshe was very aware that a precedent was being set as each circumstance was a first time episode.

It's a difficult balance. Sometimes anger is warranted, and sometimes anger only serves to bring a person down. In Moshe's case, the setback he suffered was that he forgot a law – God, Aharon and Elazar taught him the three laws, respectively.

But what was at stake? God's honor.

The difference between Moshe getting angry "for God's sake" and those who think "they know what God wants" is that he was the direct line, and knew exactly and explicitly what needed to be done. And, in every case, he was trying to set a precedent that people could one day turn to for guidance - namely through reading the Torah's account of precedent-setting moments.

But not everything works out "the way you want" and his personal outcome was forgetfulness. God did not get upset or punish people for violating the shabbos, for example. He just asked Moshe to give them a little rebuke. And when Moshe delivered the message as he was told, the people changed.

Sometimes an option that serves a more productive purpose than anger is saying in a clear and firm tone, "I stand for this exact thing that God said." If communicated properly and respectfully, there is a much better chance that people will listen.