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Parashat Chukat, July 2, 2011, Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, 5771

Dear Talmidot, Parents and Friends –

 

1)       Faculty Devar Torah – Mrs. Bracha Krohn

2)       Mazel Tovs

3)       Mi She-Berach List

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Lions and Tigers and … Snakes?  Oh My!!

Mrs. Bracha Krohn

 

This week’s parsha tells us that when Bnei Yisrael had to go around Eretz Edom, after they were denied entry - adding to their journey once again – they just couldn’t hold back another complaint. Perek 21, pasuk 5 records their frustration. To paraphrase: “Why did you take us out of Egypt to kill us out here in the desert? We have no bread and no water and we are so fed up with this manna!”

 

Hashem’s response was to send fiery serpents, snakes that bit them and caused many deaths. Bnei Yisrael approach Moshe with regret and apology and beg for him to pray on their behalf. Hashem tells Moshe to make a copper snake and place it on the top of a pole. When the infected people look up at the snake they will be healed. And so it was – Moshe prepared the copper snake, people gazed at it, they were healed, and the nation marched on!

 

How is the punishment Hashem sent fitting? And doesn’t the snake-on-a- pole sound like some sort of avodah zara? Last question: does this story remind you of some other story you know?

 

First, let’s deal with the sin and the punishment. What was the nature of the nation’s sin here? They were basically claiming that they weren’t being taken care of at all! They say there’s no bread or water and they’re all going to die! What does Hashem do? He sends snakes – but the form of the verb “to send” here is actually not the grammar you’d expect. We would think the word would be VaYishlach, like when Yakov sends messengers to Eisav in Parshat VaYishlach. But instead, the form is not the common kal form but the piel form – VaYishalach. Nechama Leibowitz convincingly explains that the piel form connotes “set free” not “send”. Something which has been restrained is now being let free, let loose.

 

If we look in Sefer Devarim, perek 8 Moshe tells the people never to forget that Hashem is the protector – always has been and always will be. He says that when they enter Eretz Canaan, it will be hard to see G-d, since there will be no open miracles. They must, however, remember that Hashem is always behind the scenes. In pasuk 15, Moshe describes Hashem as the One who brought you through the scary desert where there were snakes and scorpions and no water!

 

We see from here that snakes were all around. So, what does it mean in our parsha, when Hashem sends snakes? The answer, we see, is that He is letting them loose on the nation, i.e. all this time He has been (miraculously, against the rules of nature) restraining the snakes. But when the nation complains and claims that Hashem is not taking care of them at all, G-d is forced to show the nation what real “not taking care of” looks like. It’s a perfect way to learn the lesson. As a parent lets a child have a natural consequence, this is their natural consequence. Hashem takes a break and shows the nation that they fell into the trap of taking G-d’s protection for granted.

 

The healing process reminds you of…how the nation was saved from Amalek, right? Rashi mentions, here in Chukat, a midrash which is almost identical to the one he quotes in Shmot, at the end of Parshat Beshalach. Just as Moshe holds up his hands in BeShalach, and if Bnei Yisrael look up they remain victorious, so too the Jews have to look up to the snake to be healed.

 

The real lesson, as Chazal teach us, is not that Moshe’s hands  - or the copper snake here – are really helping/healing, but rather the Jews’ gaze up to heaven and their remembering Hashem, with perhaps a prayer that follows, is what really saves the day and causes healing.

 

We need to learn this story and walk away with the lesson that we sometimes forget all that Hashem is providing and doing for us. Let us not complain or doubt His presence in our lives and cause him to retreat for even a moment, showing us how life is without his protection and providence. Just look around and find all the ways G-d'As presence is evident in your life and daven for more of the same!

 

Shabbat Shalom.

 

 

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Mazel Tov! 

 

Weddings:

Rebecca Isaacs (07-08) and Michael Feldman 

Stefanie Baum (07-08) Jeremy Sandel 

Yhi ratzon shetivnu bayit ne'eman bYisrael

 

Birth:

Rafaella (Birnbaum) ('03-'04) and Isaac Keschner on the birth of a baby girl, Lily Frances-Liana Fruma
Yhi ratzon shetizku lgadla lTorah lChupa ulMa'asim tovim.

 

 

 

Please help us stay informed - http://midreshetmoriah.org/send-mazaltov.asp 

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Mi SheBerach List

Please email midmoriah@gmail.com if there is a name you would like to add or remove!  

 

 

Shmuel ben Miriam-toddler whose cancer has returned (5/26/11)

Karen bat Lena - undergoing chemotherapy (5/4/11)

Faiga Leah bas Henya (5/3/11)

Chaim ben Chashka (3/3/2011) – diabetes complications 

Matityahu Yaakov ben Gittel Rivka (3/5/2011)

Tziporah Feiga Bat Sima Sheindel (2/26/2011)

Shira bat Deena Miriam – premature baby on a ventilator (2/19/2011)

Noa Batya bat Daniella Rut – 7 month old with leukemia (2/5/2011)

Leah Alona Bat Tziporah (2/5/2011)

Leora bat Sarah (2/5/2011)

Frimit bat Devorah (2/5/2011)

Rivah bat Jane (1/29/2011)

Amitai Yaakov ben Bracha - a 16 yr. old just diagnosed with leukemia (1/29/2011)

Dina Eta bat Chaya Tzippora Sheva (1/22/2011)

Aharon Yitzchak ben Deena Yehudis (1/6/2011)

Adi bat Zahavit (twin baby who is sick)

Reut bat Zahavit (twin baby who is sick)

Chaim Yissachar ben Chaya Mushkit (26 year old with 2 children, leukemia)

Shraga Feivel ben Sasha

Ari ben Rivka (young husband with brain tumor)

Inbal bat Nelya

Zacharia Kalman HaCohen ben Yael Margalit

Shai Ben Meital - 4 yr old with brain damage and seizures

Aviva Miriam bat Esther - 9 month old baby with cancer going through chemo

Tzipora Fayga Bat Sima Shaindel- 33 year old mother of 3 with Leukemia(9/19/2010)

Tzvi Ilan ben Gita (8/12/2010)

Chaya Tziporah Sheva bat Faiga (8/12/2010)

Chisha Bayla bat Miriam

Chaya Meira Mindel bat Chava Golda - Midreshet alumna with cancer

Refael ben Nomi- 10 month old baby who has meningitis

Avraham ben Elka (5/21/10)

Rivka Margalit bat Ita - 12 year old girl with a brain tumor (5/27/2010)

Rachel bat Re-ayah - mother of 7 with cancer that has spread

Batya Leah bat Sara - cancer

Noa Chaya bat Nava Yehudit - baby

Yehuda Moshe Yosef ben Miriam

Rayzel bat Rifka

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Midreshet Moriah

The Educational Wing

Shaare Zedek Medical Center

P.O. Box 3235, Jerusalem, Israel

tel: 972-2-652-7449 fax: 972-2-651-1524

www.midreshetmoriah.com

 

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