Believed that Hashem had a good intention in causing someone to steal the jewels and replace them with sand. When he arrived in Rome, the officials took the chest and opened it and were shocked to see sand, and wanted to make a decree to kill the entire Jewish People, G-d forbid. Then, Eliyahu the prophet appeared, dressed as a roman officer, and explained that it cannot be that the Jews would mock the Romans by bringing ordinary sand; this must be magical sand that turns into arrows and spears when thrown at an enemy army. They tried out the magical sand, and it worked - a handful of this sand defeated an entire enemy army! The Roman officials were so impressed that they immediately nullified the decree against the Jews, and instead sent back a chest of precious jewels. It turned out that the jewels being stolen was a blessing, since it impressed the Roman Emperor much more than jewels.
He would say this motto because he would contemplate the fact that, in truth, the source of bad things is good, and – in his thoughts – he would elevate those bad things to their source in holiness, to a level called “א י ַׁן-intangible,” i.e., a spiritual level that is not yet formed and defined, and therefore, matters are able to change before they become manifest in our physical world, and there, he was able to change things from hidden good to revealed good.
Like Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa said, (Taanis 25a) “The One (Hashem) who said that oil should burn, can tell vinegar to burn as well.”
This is referring to the following story: One Friday afternoon, Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa saw that his daughter was sad. He asked for the reason, and she replied that she had accidentally filled up the Shabbos lamp with vinegar rather than oil, and tried lighting it for Shabbos. He replied, “The One who told oil to burn should tell the vinegar to burn!” Those vinegar lamps burned the whole night and the next day, until they used them for lamps for Havdala.
How was Rabbi Chanina able to produce this miracle? Because he connected the physical things below to their spiritual source. In the source of oil and vinegar, both have the potential to burn, but when they come down into this world, oil burns and vinegar doesn’t. By connecting the vinegar to its source, he transformed it into flammable vinegar.
Similarly, Nachum was able to transform the hidden good into revealed good by reconnecting the hidden good to its source in holiness and goodness.
The Idea of Prayer and Refinement
This is the idea of prayer for a person’s soul as it exists, in a body, in this world: When the souls exists in the body, it endures great suffering, since its desire is to connect to its Creator, and the body does not allow this.
This is just like the Exile of the Shechina-Divine Presence: It is ‘forced’ to give life also to the wicked, even though it doesn’t truly want to. So too, the soul is forced to give life to the body even though it would rather not.
Its entire intention in existing in a body is not for its own benefit, but rather, it is only in order to elevate the body from “the dirt” of its coarse physicality, and it needs to be refined, like a silversmith refines silver, the more dross that is mixed into silver, the more intense fire the silversmith will need to sift out and refine the silver.
Similarly, the person needs to refine the body and separate it from the negative effect of the Yetzer Hara, by bringing the Yetzer Hara back to its source, as was explained regarding the analogy of the “harlot and the prince.”
The more spiritual bad is mixed into the person, the greater and stronger his connection to his Creator must be during prayer, in order to separate and remove that bad.
Therefore, in the time of the first Beis Hamikdash, when there was not so much bad mixed into people, they did not need as much fiery passion in prayer. Rather, the entire main focus of their service of Hashem was to elevate the bad and “harsh judgements” to their source in holiness, and this was mainly accomplished through the physical Korbanos-offerings, and this was sufficient to separate the bad and elevate it to its source, while the service of prayer was of secondary importance to serve this purpose.
However, in the time of the second Beis Hamikdash, the Sages instituted the fixed order of the prayers, which was a shorter version than the current version of prayers that we say nowadays. This was corresponding to the need of the fiery passion in prayer required to separate the bad that was mixed into the people in those times.
Since there became a greater mix-up of spiritual bad in people during the time of the second Beis Hamikdash, moreso than during the first Beis Hamikdash, they required more fiery love of Hashem in prayer in order to remove that bad. This is why the Sages established the order of the daily prayers, which added to people’s involvement in prayer, as compared to the previous era.
However, nowadays, we need to be involved in prayer with much, much more passion than in the times of the second Beis Hamikdash. Since, the lower the spiritual level of the generation, the more intensely passionate has to be their involvement in prayer.
In fact, the trend is that each succeeding generation is not on a higher spiritual level than the previous one. Just the opposite; each generation is generally lower than the previous, and because of the great increase of bad that becomes more mixed into people in each succeeding generation, we need to continuously intensify the fiery passion in prayer in order to separate that bad, and to remove the bad that is inside of us, and elevate it to its source in holiness.
As was explained above, in the analogy of the “harlot and the prince.” This means that a person should contemplate the fact that there is a lifeforce in the bad, and this life-force comes from Hashem; without it, the bad would not be able to live, and Hashem gives it life for the reason explained above, namely, in order to test the person and bring him to a deeper connection to Hashem.
If so, then it is not really bad at all, since his Yetzer Hara exists for his own benefit, and it is not truly “bad,” even though it appears to be.
Material Suffering and Its Source
The Alter Rebbe now applies this same concept to material suffering:
So too, regarding all the suffering in material matters, if a person will reflect on them in the way that was explained above, how their source is good and holy and for the person’s benefit, then “all the doers of evil will disperse.” (Tehillim 92:10)
This means that when a person is able to see the source of the suffering, and how it is coming from Hashem for the person’s own benefit, he will be able to “disperse” and remove the painful and negative state of things as they exist in this world. As explained above, as the “judgements” exist Above, they are connected to holiness, but as they descend into this world, they lose that revealed connection to their source, turning into “doers of evil,” i.e., purely harsh judgements that have no holy intention. However, when a person uses his mind to reconnect these “harsh judgements” to their source, he reveals in them their connection to their source, which causes their “harshness” to disappear.
This is the idea of “Nachum Ish Gamzu, the man who said ‘this is also for the good,’” and in fact, all the Tzadikim had the same approach towards suffering. It is just that Nachum Ish Gamzu was able to alter the reality in this world so that it correspond with how it is seen from Above to below, so that it should be actually visible below in this world, that it is good, even on a physical level. This is why he was named after his saying that “םג ַׁ-also זוַֹׁ-this is for the good,” meaning that the good should be perceived, like something you can point with your finger at and say “this is good.”
However, all the other Tzadikim, even though in their minds they were thinking about suffering with the same approach as Nachum, the revealed good remained Above as it was originally, without the good becoming perceptible in this physical world.
The Alter Rebbe is pointing out an important point: Only for certain people in certain situations does Hashem make miraculous transformations from hidden good to revealed good in a supernatural manner. Even though every Tzadik, and every Jew, takes this deeper approach to suffering, elevating it to its source in holiness, for most people, most of the time, the transformation is more subtle.
Most of the time, the result of “elevating” the hidden good to its source in revealed good will cause a transformation, but it will come in seemingly natural means. For example, someone is sick, and he thinks about how it is really from Hashem for his benefit etc., and then, by Hashgacha Pratis-Individual Divine Providence, he meets just the right doctor who gives him just the right medicine and he recovers. Or someone lost his job and is suffering financially, and after he thinks into how his suffering is to motivate him to Teshuva-repentance and it is for his own benefit etc., by Hashgacha Pratis he happens to find just the job he was looking for.
So too, each person experiences many of these instances, where his realization of the inner purpose of his suffering and the increase in trust and service of Hashem that results from it, brings him, by Hashgacha Pratis, to the resolution of his physical suffering, as well. However, usually the Hashgacha Pratis is “clothed” in natural means. Only people like Nachum, or occasionally regular people, experience supernatural, miraculous transformations of their situation by “elevating” the suffering to its source in holiness.
However, the idea of the “copper snake” reflected the mode of Nachum, a supernatural transformation of hidden good into revealed good.
The Copper Snake and Its Meaning
This is the idea of the “נְח ש ַׁ-snake of נ ְחֹש ֶׁת-copper” that Moshe had to place on top of a pole. It was needed in order to elevate the “snake” upwards, to its source in holiness, so that people would look upwards to Hashem, the source of everything.
Meaning, so that people shouldn’t think that the “snake” is something truly separate and independent from Hashem, in which case it would be truly bad and would always remain bad. However, when a person thinks about the snake in terms of how it can be traced back upwards to its source, where it is not separate from Hashem, and its lifeforce from Hashem at that level is like the analogy of the “harlot and the prince,” as explained above, then “no bad things descend from Above.” (Bereishis Rabbah 51:3)
Since in its source it exists for a holy purpose, to test or to cleanse people, even as it descends, it is not truly bad, but only superficially so. Therefore, this “נְחַש -snake” was made of “נ ְחֹש ֶׁת-copper,” which includes the letters “נְחַש -snake,” since it refers to the spiritual source of the “snake” the way that it is still included in holiness. This making of the “נְחַש -snake” into “נ ְחֹש ֶת-copper” causes it – the snake – to change it colors, i.e., its appearance, through reverting back to the level of its “א י ַׁן-intangible source,” where the bad is not so pronounced and defined, and the “severities” can be transformed into revealed good. And the wise will understand the above concepts.
Summary of the Maamar
Q1. The Torah says that Moshe made a copper snake and placed it on a pole, and whoever was bitten by a snake would look up the snake and live. What was the function of the copper snake in the healing process? If the purpose of looking up was to look up to Heaven and remember Hashem, then why not just have people look up to the heavens? What did looking at the snake accomplish?
Q2. Why should someone “look up” to the heavens to remember Hashem? During prayer, we are not supposed to look up. Rather, we look down, and just remember Hashem in our mind and heart?
Q3. What is the purpose of the descent of the soul into this world? If the soul had a more revealed connection to Hashem when the soul was in heaven than it has in this world, then what does the soul accomplish by being here?
A3. The purpose of the descent into this world is to transform the spiritual bitterness and darkness of the body, animal soul, and physical world into the spiritual sweetness and Light of Hashem. This is also known as “sweetening the harsh judgements” by elevating the seeming bad things to their source in holiness, thereby transforming them into revealed good. In the time of the first Beis Hamikdash, this was mainly accomplished through the Korbanos-sacrificial offerings. In the time of the second Beis Hamikdash, the Sages established the order of the daily prayers, which added to people’s involvement in prayer, as compared to the previous era. However, nowadays, we need to be involved in prayer with much, much more passion than in the times of the second Beis Hamikdash, since the lower the spiritual level of the generation, the more intensely passionate has to be their involvement in prayer.
In fact, the trend is that each succeeding generation is not on a higher spiritual level than the previous one. Just the opposite; each generation is generally lower than the previous, and because of the great increase of bad that becomes more mixed into people in each succeeding generation, we need to continuously intensify the fiery passion in prayer in order to separate that bad, and to remove the bad that is inside of us, and elevate it to its source in holiness.
As was explained above, in the analogy of the “harlot and the prince.” This means that a person should contemplate the fact that there is a lifeforce in the bad, and this life-force comes from Hashem; without it, the bad would not be able to live, and Hashem gives it life for the reason explained above, namely, in order to test the person and bring him to a deeper connection to Hashem. If so, then it is not really bad at all, since his Yetzer Hara exists for his own benefit, and it is not truly “bad,” even though it appears to be.
The Alter Rebbe now applies this same concept to material suffering: So too, regarding all the suffering in material matters, if a person will reflect on them in the way that was explained above, how their source is good and holy and for the person’s benefit, then “all the doers of evil will disperse.” (Tehillim 92:10)
This means that when a person is able to see the source of the suffering, and how it is coming from Hashem for the person’s own benefit, he will be able to “disperse” and remove the painful and negative state of things as they exist in this world. As explained above, as the “judgements” exist Above, they are connected to holiness, but as they descend into this world, they lose that revealed connection to their source, turning into “doers of evil,” i.e., purely harsh judgements that have no holy intention. However, when a person uses his mind to reconnect these “harsh judgements” to their source, he reveals in them their connection to their source, which causes their “harshness” to disappear.
This is the idea of “Nachum Ish Gamzu, the man who said ‘this is also for the good,’” and in fact, all the Tzadikim had the same approach towards suffering. It is just that Nachum Ish Gamzu was able to alter the reality in this world so that it correspond with how it is seen from Above to below, so that it should be actually visible below in this world, that it is good, even on a physical level. This is why he was named after his saying that “םג ַׁ-also זוַֹׁ-this is for the good,” meaning that the good should be perceived, like something you can point with your finger at and say “this is good.”
However, all the other Tzadikim, even though in their minds they were thinking about suffering with the same approach as Nachum, the revealed good remained Above as it was originally, without the good becoming perceptible in this physical world.
The Alter Rebbe is pointing out an important point: Only for certain people in certain situations does Hashem make miraculous transformations from hidden good to revealed good in a supernatural manner. Even though every Tzadik, and every Jew, takes this deeper approach to suffering, elevating it to its source in holiness, for most people, most of the time, the transformation is more subtle. Most of the time, the result of “elevating” the hidden good to its source in revealed good will cause a transformation, but it will come in seemingly natural means. For example, someone is sick, and he thinks about how it is really from Hashem for his benefit etc., and then, by Hashgacha Pratis-Individual Divine Providence, he meets just the right doctor who gives him just the right medicine and he recovers. Or someone lost his job and is suffering financially, and after he thinks into how his suffering is to motivate him to Teshuva-repentance and it is for his own benefit etc., by Hashgacha Pratis he happens to find just the job he was looking for.
So too, each person experiences many of these instances, where his realization of the inner purpose of his suffering and the increase in trust and service of Hashem that results from it, brings him, by Hashgacha Pratis, to the resolution of his physical suffering, as well. However, usually the Hashgacha Pratis is “clothed” in natural means. Only people like Nachum, or occasionally regular people, experience supernatural, miraculous transformations of their situation by “elevating” the suffering to its source in holiness.
However, the idea of the “copper snake” reflected the mode of Nachum, a supernatural transformation of hidden good into revealed good.
This is the idea of the “נְח ש ַׁ-snake of נ ְחֹש ֶׁת-copper” that Moshe had to place on top of a pole. It was needed in order to elevate the “snake” upwards, to its source in holiness, so that people would look upwards to Hashem, the source of everything. Meaning, so that people shouldn’t think that the “snake” is something truly separate and independent from Hashem, in which case it would be truly bad and would always remain bad. However, when a person thinks about the snake in terms of how it can be traced back upwards to its source, where it is not separate from Hashem, and its lifeforce from Hashem at that level is like the analogy of the “harlot and the prince,” as explained above, then “no bad things descend from Above.” (Bereishis Rabbah 51:3)
Since in its source it exists for a holy purpose, to test or to cleanse people, even as it descends, it is not truly bad, but only superficially so. Therefore, this “נְחַש -snake” was made of “נ ְחֹש ֶׁת-copper,” which includes the letters “נְחַש -snake,” since it refers to the spiritual source of the “snake” the way that it is still included in holiness. This making of the “נְחַש -snake” into “נ ְחֹש ֶת-copper” causes it – the snake – to change it colors, i.e., its appearance, through reverting back to the level of its “א י ַׁן-intangible source,” where the bad is not so pronounced and defined, and the “severities” can be transformed into revealed good. And the wise will understand the above concepts.
