A Snake on a Staff – Parshat Chukat

There are a number of idioms and phrases whose source is unknown and have slithered their way into our language (pun intended…groan). In fact, you can search online for a list of reptilian, bovine, porcine, and general mammalian phrases and idioms. As an amateur etymologist, I find it quite fascinating and have fun with these usages.

I find it quite cool that the logo of the American Medical Association is, quite famously, a snake on a staff – and we even know the source of this concept of the healing snake.

In Parshat Chukat, yet again, the Israelites in the desert are complaining, this time about the Mann.1 To be saved from punishment, they are told to gaze upon a tall pole where they will see a copper serpent. This sounds an awful lot like idol worship. Is a copper serpent capable of healing? Chazal answer that in fact the serpent and pole were powerless to heal. But because the serpent and pole were so unusual and were physically higher up than the people, and the people were advised to look at them, the nation's eyes were raised upwards. Once they were raised upwards, they could then more easily reconnect to the Creator. That is in fact what saved them and not the simple act  of looking at the serpent. The unusual sight of the serpent helped them refocus and wake up to reality.

When we encounter unavoidable difficulties in life, how do we respond?2 Do we look for answers? Do we experience the suffering? Do we ask 'why did this happen to me' or do we ask a more growth-oriented question, 'for what purpose did this happen to me'? The difficulty has challenged us. It has even perhaps knocked us 'off-center'. So we try to reconnect. We try to find our center, our meaning. What is life asking of us?

If we find an answer, that's great! We can again feel that we are on the way to living a fuller life.  

If we don’t, we can still draw upon the defiant power of the human spirit to push forward and keep fighting. As Jerry Long said after suffering a paralyzing accident, "I broke my neck. It didn’t break me."3 He may not have had an answer for his suffering or why this accident occurred. But he was able to change his attitude towards his difficulty and build a life for himself.

Sometimes, we find the power/meaning from within. Sometimes we need a friend to help show us the way. And sometimes we need a splash of cold water on the face or a snake on a staff to help us reorient ourselves. But we never give up.

*Dedicated to Ilui Neshama of my Mechutan, Efrayim Fishel ben Eliezer Kroitoru, z"l.

Click here to read another logoParsha article on Chukat (Living a Paradox)

Notes

  1. Bamidbar 21:6-9
  2. We will not discuss 'avoidable suffering' here. If one can avoid it, he should. There is no merit to engage in suffering for suffering's sake. That, according to Dr. Viktor Frankl, is the description of masochism.
  3. His story appears in Dr. Viktor Frankl's works. Here is a link to an interview done jointly with Frankl. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx_s88bcJ_0

Have A Great Shabbat!laughing

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