When God told Moses to come to Pharaoh, He told him to pierce through the circle with his line and draw the diameter of the circle. The ratio between the diameter and the circumference of the circle is pi (π), as we know. Pi is a transcendental number, meaning that it cannot be expressed as a fraction. It is approximately equal to 3.14. Mathematicians today try to outdo each other in calculating miles and miles (literally!) of digits after the decimal point. So, as easy as it is to draw the diameter through a circle, the greatest mathematicians have found no simple formula to describe the exact ratio between the circle, the warped serpent, and the line, the lock-serpent.
This mathematical phenomenon reflects a profound truth that underlies all of creation. On the one hand, the world is cyclic, and on the other hand, there is a direct path that cuts through the circles. Despite their proximity, we can never quite fathom the quantum leap required to connect the laws of the natural world with the Torah and Divine revelation. This is the secret of pi. It is this mystery that God transmitted to Moses when He accompanied him to Pharaoh.
It all began with the first sign that God showed Moses as he set out on his mission. His staff turned into a serpent and Moses fled from it. God told him to grab it by its tail and the serpent became a staff once more. The cyclic nature of reality seems intimidating at first, but to defeat its suffocating clasp, we can and must take hold of it to reveal how it too is a revelation of God’s direct light.
Moses was apprehensive about a head-on collision with Pharaoh. He was afraid of being captured in the suffocating cyclic figure of the “warped-serpent.” Once he knew that Divine assistance accompanied him, he successfully infiltrated Pharaoh’s domain. He penetrated the cyclic forces of nature with his straight-line until Pharaoh’s circular crown rested snugly upon Moses’ upright head.
