In this week's Torah portion, Chukat, we learn that when the Jewish people sinned by repeatedly complaining about Moses and Aaron, G-d punished them by sending "fiery serpents." Moses, who was the epitome of selflessness, prayed on the Jews' behalf, whereupon G-d instructed him to "Make a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole. And everyone who is bitten, when he sees it shall live." Moses followed G-d's instructions, and fashioned a serpent of copper. "It came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked upon the serpent of copper, he lived."
Our Sages explain that it was not the copper serpent that had the power to revive or kill; rather, "When the Israelites looked upward, and subjected their hearts to their Father in heaven, they were healed; if not, they perished." The purpose of the copper serpent was to arouse the Jews to repentance; once they repented, they were healed.
Chasidic teachings provide an even deeper dimension: A person who had been bitten by a "fiery serpent" was already "dead," by virtue of having already been injected with a poisonous substance. In other words, the "serpent of copper" had to affect what was essentially a "resurrection."
However, the power to resurrect the dead could not come from the same level of G-dliness that sustains "regular" life, as the person who was bitten had already lost that particular source of vitality. His "resurrection" had to be derived from an infinitely higher level, described in Chasidic philosophy as "the aspect of abundant mercies of the Divine Essence of Infinite Light, which is higher than the Source of life."
Thus, in order for the bitten person to be healed, he had to rise above the "regular" level of G-dliness that sustains life and access G-d Himself, to Whom "life and death are equal." The bitten person's repentance had to be so profound that it could transform death into life.
In fact, the "serpent of copper" expressed this concept of resurrection. The snake itself is symbolic of death, as it was through the serpent that death was introduced into the world in the Garden of Eden. In this instance, however, the "serpent of copper" had the opposite effect, saving people from death rather than killing them.
On the level of the soul, this "resurrection" is the service of turning darkness into light, transforming the Evil Inclination itself into goodness and holiness. By subjugating his heart to G-d, a Jew can turn even deliberate sins into merits, thereby rendering himself a proper vessel for G-d's infinite blessings.
Reprinted from the Parashat Chukat 5761/2001 edition of L’Chaim, a publication of the Lubavitch Youth Organization in Brooklyn. Adapted from Volume 13 of Likutei Sichot.
And the entire nation saw that Aharon died and they cried for Aharon for thirty days the entire Benai Yisroel. Why does the pasuk repeat itself that the entire Benai Yisroel cried for Aharon?
When a person kills someone by accident he is banished to the Orei Miklot. He is obligated to stay there until the death of the Kohain Gadol. When the Kohain Gadol dies, he is free to move back to his own city. It is therefore obvious that at any given time there should be people wishing for the death of the Kohain Gadol and happy when he dies. The pasuk is telling us that during the entire forty years in the desert there was no one who killed by accident. When Aharon died everyone was saddened (Meshech Chochma)
Reprinted from the Parashat Chukas 5784 email of R’ Yedidye Hirtenfeld’s whY I Matter, parsha sheet for the Young Israel of Midwood in Brooklyn, NY.
