The pasuk states, וַיֹּאמֶר ה׳ אֶל־מֹּשֶה שְׁלַח יָדְׁךָ וֶאֱחֹּז בִּזְׁנָבוֹ וַיִּשְׁלַח יָדוֹ וַיַחֲזֶק בוֹ וַיְׁהִּי לְׁמַטֶה בְׁכַפּוֹ, And Hashem said to Moshe, “stretch out your hand and grasp its [the snake, נחש] tail.” He stretched out his hand and grasped it, and it became a staff in his palm.
R' Moshe Dovid Valle (1697-1777) shares a fascinating explanation. Let’s read this with precise attentiveness. Moshe is told to grasp the tail — בִּזְׁנָבוֹ — of the נחש. If we go, as it were, to the “tail” of the word נחש itself — meaning its final letter — we arrive at ש.
Now, since Moshe is told שְׁלַח יָדְׁךָ, send out his hand, so let’s combine the word יד with the ש taken from the “tail” of נחש. When we put these two together we get Hashem’s name ש-די.
In other words, the Torah is hinting that the way to combat the force of the נחש comes through invoking the Name ש־די. This is what is meant when it says יֹּשֵׁב בְׁסֵׁתֶר עֶלְׁיוֹן בְׁצֵׁל שַ -דַי יִּתְׁלוֹנָן, whoever sits in the refuge of the Most High, he shall dwell in the protective shade of Hashem. The name די-ש is the countering force.
Rabbi Alt merited to learn under the tutelage of Rabbi Mordechai Friedlander ztz”l for close to five years and received semichah from Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg ztz”l. Rabbi Alt has written thousands of Torah articles on numerous topics for various websites and publications and is the author of eleven fascinating and popular books. His writings, many of which have been translated into Yiddish, Hebrew, German, Spanish and French, inspire people across the spectrum of Jewish observance to live with the vibrancy and beauty of Torah. His shiurim can be found on various websites including Kol Halashon’s. Rabbi Alt lectures, writes and teaches, and is passionate about inspiring Jews of all levels of observance. He can be reached at [email protected] or on WhatsApp at +972 54 849 5217.
You can now download the weekly Fascinating Insights Torah sheet from the following websites: Dirshu, Torah Lectures, Torah Table, Ladaat, Chidush, Kol Halashon, Gilyonos, Din Online, Alon Olam, Parsha Sheets, Yiddishe Vinkel, and more.
See Shemos 4:3.
Shemos 4:4.
He was a student of the Ramchal and took over the Ramchal’s Yeshiva when the Ramchal was forced to leave Italy. He earned his livelihood from practicing as a doctor. Recently 15,000 pages of his writings were found. It is said that R’ Valle didn’t go to sleep until every Jew in every shul in Padua, Italy made it home safely in addition to davening that the Jews shouldn’t encounter a precarious situation. Interestingly, he was ten years older than his Rebbe, the Ramchal (1707-1746).
Tehillim 91:1.
