In Parshas Chukas, we find the following story: The Jewish People were complaining about being in the desert, where there is no natural food or water, only Mun (Manna) from heaven and water from a rock.
For complaining, they were punished by having snakes come and bite people. (Since the people were speaking negatively about Hashem, saying that He shouldn’t have taken them out of Mitzrayim, they were punished with the snake, who also sinned with his speech by convincing Chava to eat from the Tree of Knowledge).
When people started being attacked by snakes, they asked Moshe to pray to Hashem to save them. When Moshe prayed to Hashem on their behalf, Hashem told him to make the image of a venomous snake and place it on top of a pole, and whoever looks at that snake-image will live.
We need to understand the meaning behind this: Why would looking at the image of a snake cure someone?!
“And Moshe made a copper snake, and he placed it on a banner. And so it was, that if a snake had bitten someone, then he would stare at the copper snake and live.” (Bamidbar 21:9)
It says in the Mishna (Rosh Hashana 3:8) regarding this: “When the Jewish People would look up [to the top of the banner where the copper snake was, they would also see the heavens] and remember Hashem and dedicate their hearts to their Father in Heaven, and then they would be healed.”
Q1: This is difficult to understand: If so, then why did they need the copper snake at all- if someone were bitten by a snake, he could just look up to Hashem and do teshuva. What is added by the copper snake?
Q2: Furthermore, what is the idea of staring up to the heavens: Does it not say explicitly (Yevamos 105b) regarding prayer that “a person’s eyes should face downwards to the ground, and only in his heart should he be focused upwards to Hashem?”
Q3: To understand this, we first need to look into the following: What is the purpose of the descent of the soul into this world?
Seemingly, the main purpose of a person is to connect to his Creator with love and fear, and the main connection is experienced through prayer, since the words of prayer, which are describing the greatness of Hashem in a manner understandable to people, making love and fear of Him accessible.
Now, it is certain that before the soul left the spiritual realm to descend into this World, and also after it leaves the body, it connects to Hashem much more strongly, with a deeper level of love and fear of Him, since the body doesn’t allow the soul to serve Hashem, and actually, it does just the opposite- because of its coarse nature, it forces the soul to enjoy bodily pleasures - even though the soul doesn’t want that - since its source, from which it derives is “a portion of Divinity from Above,” (Iyov 31:2) and it desires to connect to its Creator more than any desire for physical enjoyment.
A3: Now, it explains in the Zohar, (I, 4a) “Someone who does not transform [spiritual] bitterness into [spiritual] sweetness, has no portion in this [Divine] World [of Hashem’s revelation], at all.”
Since this process of transforming bitterness is the entire purpose of man, and this is the main reason he was created.
The Alter Rebbe proves that we cannot say that connecting to Hashem in prayer alone is the ultimate purpose of man:
Since, in the time of the first Beis Hamikash, people weren’t required to recite any fixed prayers at all. Even in the time of the second Beis Hamikdash, the Sages, known as the “Men of the Great Assembly,” only established a short version of prayer. We can be certain that in those times, their main service of Hashem was specifically in this context of “transforming bitterness into sweetness.”
The idea behind this is that the “strict judgements” of Hashem, as manifest in negative things in this world, can be “sweetened,” i.e., transformed into revealed good, by connecting them to their spiritual Source. Since all the bad things and “harsh judgements” - Heaven forbid - that come into existence in this world, are rooted in a source that gives them life, which is good and holy.
The Analogy of the Harlot and the Prince
This concept is explained by the analogy of the “harlot and the son of the king,” as explained in the Zohar. (II, 163a)
The analogy: A king wanted to test the moral strength of his son. To test him, he hired a harlot to try to seduce his son. If the son refused to be seduced, then the king planned to bring him into his private chamber and reward him greatly.
Now, the harlot knew that if she succeeded in seducing the prince, then the king would be devastated. However, she was also hired to test the prince. In her mind, she really wanted the son to resist her seduction, even as she was actively trying to seduce him. Since she was hired by the king and was loyal to the king, she would also be devastated if the prince would fail the test. Therefore, her whole inner desire is for the prince to withstand the test, even while she is the one charged with administering that test of loyalty.
Her entire inner will and desire is actually that the prince should not listen to her, she will enjoy that moral victory of the prince much more, since then, the king will appreciate her and honor her. Which is not the case if she succeeds in seducing him, she will then be in big trouble, since that was not the real desire of the king.
Similarly, the ultimate source of our Yetzer Hara-unholy desires, is from a good and holy place, from the holy desire of Hashem to test us, so that, by overcoming the test, we connect to Hashem in a way that is much deeper than if we were not tested.
The Meaning of Suffering and the Hidden Good
Q4: This is the meaning of the teaching of our Sages, (Bava Basra 16a) “When the Satan and Penina did something negative, their intention was for the sake of Heaven.”
This statement refers to two stories:
- A. Iyov was afflicted with terrible suffering, and the “cause” of it was the Satan’s prosecution of him on Rosh Hashana.
- B. Chana, the mother of Shmuel, the prophet, was constantly harassed by her co-wife, Penina, who made fun of her for being childless.
In both of these stories, there was an inner good intention behind the suffering of Iyov and Chana. Iyov attained atonement for not protesting Pharoh’s decree against the Jewish children, and Chana was forced to pray to Hashem until she was blessed with a child. Since, in both cases, there was a good purpose behind the suffering, we say that even the perpetrator of the suffering, the Satan and Penina, were “motivated” by holy intentions.
However, in another place, our Sages said, (Sukka 52a) “The Satan ‘placed his eyes’ on the first Beis Hamikdash and destroyed it.” This implies that he was actually jealous of the Beis Hamikdash and really hated it, with no holy motive whatsoever.
How do we resolve these two statements: Did the Satan (and Penina) have holy intentions, or not?
A4: The idea is as follows: Bad things are rooted it, and receive their lifeforce from, a source that is good and holy. As explained in the Zohar: “Can there be a spiritual servant who rebels against his Master?”
Even though, in the physical world there are many servants who act rebelliously towards their masters, nevertheless, this is only possible with physical, human servants, whose lifeforce is separate from their master’s. However, the spiritual “servants of Hashem” who feel how they receive their lifeforce from Hashem, which is obviously the case, since Hashem gives life to everything, how can something be aware that it receives its lifeforce from Hashem, and at the same time rebel against Hashem?
And the Zohar answers that it is similar to the analogy of the “harlot with prince,” as explained above, and it is this holy intention to test us or to cleanse us that gives life to all the bad things.
Just like the immoral conduct of the harlot’s seduction is derived from the good intention and desire of the king to test his son, so too, the spiritual forces of unholiness that produce bad desires and suffering derive from Hashem’s good desire to test us or to cleanse us.
Now, even though the source of unholiness is good, when it descends below through the chainlike order of spiritual levels (Hishtalshelus), it turns into truly bad things and mercilessly harsh judgements, in both material suffering and spiritual suffering at the hands of the Yetzer Hara.
Now, we have answered the contradiction posed above, regarding the question of whether the Satan’s intentions are holy or unholy: In the ultimate source of the Satan, in Hashem’s desire to test us or to cleanse us, the desire and intention is purely holy and good. Now, the spiritual forces of unholiness are still aware of their source, and therefore do not rebel against Hashem, because they know that the only reason they exist is to carry out Hashem’s mission to test or cleanse people. Therefore, as they exist spiritually, they still have “holy intentions.”
However, as this unholiness descends into this world, they lose all contact with their source and become totally unaware of any deeper purpose and intention to their desire to harm; they only intend to do harm for purely unholy and sadistic reasons.
Transforming Suffering: The Hidden Good
Now, when a person has suffering – Heaven forbid – he should realize that he shouldn’t judge the situation superficially to think that it is nothing more than the bad that it appears to be, since in truth its source is good.
Since, (Eicha 3:38) “No bad things come forth from Him,” only absolute good. It is just that it cannot be perceived, since the revealed aspect of this good could not descend into this lowly world, and it therefore remained Above.
This spiritual source of suffering is called its “ethereal lifeforce,” which is its true life-force that derives from Hashem.
This deeper level of connection to Hashem through suffering is referred to as loving Hashem “with all of your מְאֹד-might,” i.e., loving Hashem without any limits, as our Sages explain the verse, (Bereishis 1:31) ‘Hashem saw all that he had made, and it was טוֹב-good מְאֹד-exceedingly so,” “טוֹב-good is a reference to the angel of life, and מְאֹד-exceedingly is a reference to the angel of death,”
Meaning that this Yetzer Hara, who is also the angel of death, is in truth “טוֹב מְאֹד-exceedingly good,” beyond any measure or limit. It is just that this unlimited good didn’t come into revelation in our world and is not perceived.
This is also the meaning of the verse (Tehillim 118:18): “ה"ָּ י-Hashem has given me suffering,” since the name “ה"ָּ י” are the first two letters at the beginning of Hashem’s Name of י-ה-ו-ה, referring to the beginning and higher form of the revelation of Hashem, when the good still did not yet come into revelation and is not perceived, since the whole good is not yet revealed.
This is also the idea of the Tzadik, “Nachum Ish Gamzu, the man who would say, ‘This is also for the good.’” (See Taanis 21a)
One of the most famous stories of Nachum and his favorite saying: One time, the Sages sent him to Rome with a chest full of jewels and precious stones as gift to the Emperor, to help improve his conduct towards the Jewish People. On the way there, he stopped over in a hotel for the night. During the night, the people in the hotel stole all the jewels, and filled the chest with sand. Instead of getting worried, he said “This is also for the good.” He truly believed it.
