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, this was accomplished through a combination of Korbanos and also through the excitement about Hashem that is awakened during prayer. In the time of Galus-Exile, this is mainly accomplished through the excitement about Hashem in prayer. The lower the generation, the more passionate and fiery love of Hashem a person needs to awaken in prayer in order to separate the spiritual bad from the good and transform it into spiritual sweetness and Light.
Q4. How do we resolve the following contradiction: In one place, it says that the Satan (and Penina) had holy intentions when they brought about suffering, but in another place, it says that the Satan was jealous of the Beis Hamikdash and wanted to destroy it from sheer malice?
A4. All unholiness in this world, including the Satan and the Yetzer Hara, has a source in holiness. This source is like the harlot who is hired to test the prince, in order to bring out his great moral strength of character, in which case her intentions are good. Similarly, the source of unholiness and suffering is from Hashem’s desire to test the person and bring out the person’s greater inner connection to Hashem, or to cleanse him from sin to be able to connect to Hashem better. However, as the unholiness or suffering comes down into this world, it loses its connection to its spiritual source, and, as it is manifest in the physical world, it has no good intentions at all.
A1 & 2. This is the purpose of the copper snake: The word “ՔՁԱՇՄ-copper” contains the word “ՇԱՁ-snake” and represents the spiritual source of the “snake” as it is still connected to holiness, like the harlot who wants the prince to overcome her seduction. The idea of placing the “copper snake” on top of a pole was to represent that we need to elevate the unholiness of the Yetzer Hara and the physical suffering to its source in holiness, and remember that it also comes from Hashem and that there is a good and holy purpose behind it. The purpose of the Yetzer Hara is to challenge us so that we should overcome it, and thereby come to a much deeper connection to Hashem, and the purpose of suffering is to cleanse the person and bring the person to do Teshuva, and thereby connect to Hashem even more than before. Thus, when we see a “snake,” i.e., the Yetzer Hara or suffering, we use our minds to “elevate” it back up to its source in Heaven (represented by “looking up to heaven” to see the “copper snake at the top of the pole”), and focus on the inner, hidden good in the “snake.” By doing this, we transform the hidden good into revealed good, by revealing its source in goodness and holiness.
