Parshas Chukas - Real Responsibility

Thoughts on the Parsha
Parshas Chukas

Real Responsibility

By: Daniel Listhaus

וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֶל משֶׁה עֲשֵׂה לְךָ שָׂרָף וְשִׂים אֹתוֹ עַל נֵס וְהָיָה כָּל הַנָּשׁוּךְ וְרָאָה אֹתוֹ וָחָי: וַיַּעַשׂ משֶׁה נְחַשׁ נְחשֶׁת וַיְשִׂמֵהוּ עַל הַנֵּס וְהָיָה אִם נָשַׁךְ הַנָּחָשׁ אֶת אִישׁ וְהִבִּיט אֶל נְחַשׁ הַנְּחשֶׁת וָחָי

“Hashem said to Moshe, 'Make yourself a burning one and place it on a pole, and it will be that anyone who had been bitten will look at it and live. Moshe made a snake of copper and placed it on the pole; so it was that if the snake bit a man, he would stare at the copper snake and live.”

-Chukas 21:8-9

As hard as it is to believe, we read through this week's parsha only to find that the B'nei Yisroel once again complained about their experience in the midbar (desert), saying that they remembered their time in Mitzrayim being more pleasureful than their current situation. In response to this, Hashem sent burning nechashim (snakes) to bite those who had complained. This was followed by the B'nei Yisroel doing teshuva (repentance) and approaching Moshe to ask him to please daven on their behalf. Moshe did so and Hashem gave him instructions to build a snake on a pole. Anyone who looked up at the model would be cured from his snake bite.¹

Rashi² is bothered that the passuk (verse) specifies that the snake that Moshe built was made of copper, yet nowhere in the passukim does it say that Hashem commanded him to make it of any specific material. Rashi writes that Moshe thought to himself that because the word for snake (nachash) is the same as the root for copper (ne'cho'shes), he realized that that was the material Hashem expected him to use with which to construct the snake.³

On the surface this whole story passes under the radar. After all, it sounds like yet another classic chapter of the B'nei Yisroel in the midbar (desert). They complained, they got punished, Moshe davened to Hashem, and the day was saved. However, there is an extremely important fact here which gets overlooked but is very worthwhile to focus on and think about.

In the time-line of this parsha, immediately prior to this episode with the copper snake, was the story of Moshe hitting the rock. Something that Moshe and Aharon did at that particular point was considered a cheit (sin), and because of their tremendous closeness with Hashem, much was expected of them and the repercussions were heartbreaking. It was decreed that Moshe and Aharon were to die in the midbar and not be allowed to enter Eretz Yisroel. It is impossible to fathom what it must have felt like for Moshe rabbeinu. After taking B'nei Yisroel out of Mitzrayim, receiving the Torah, and always being there to save the day for B'nei Yisroel, Hashem told him that he will not be able to enter Eretz Yisroel. All his life's work had been to prepare B'nei Yisroel to fulfill the mitzvos in Eretz Yisroel, and all of the sudden, because of what was seemingly a small misunderstanding, Hashem took away Moshe's life-long dream.

Most people after having gone through such a traumatic time would be completely beside themselves. Whether the response would be suicide, ultimate depression, or rebellion, one thing is for sure – chances would be pretty slim that a person in such a circumstance would ever have the same relationship with the one who took away his life's dream from him. Yet, not only did Moshe rabbeinu continue his role of leader over the very people who he could have easily blamed as being the primary cause of him losing his dream of entering Eretz Yisroel, and not only did he even daven on their behalf, he even maintained the same exact relationship with Hashem that he was able to understand clearly the material that Hashem intended he use for the nachash without it having to be explicitly communicated.

It is quite interesting how different the roles of a Jewish religious is from a regular government politician. When it comes to the political headlines, they either read that someone is running for some government position, or that a certain politician is shirking his responsibility. Yet, in Chumash and Tanach we find that the righteous religious leaders never ran for office, but rather ran away from office⁴, as the Mishna⁵ says, “Despise lordliness and stay away from government”. And when it comes to responsibility, even after having all his dreams swept away for a minor mistake because of a stressful moment, Moshe rabbeinu's responsibility did not waiver one iota. His responsibility of taking care of B'nei Yisroel was completely unaffected, and his close relationship with Hashem, with his deep understating of what Hashem wanted of him, remained fully in tact.

Although this precise level of responsibility may be unrealistic to be expected of us, the concept is definitely something that we must strive for to the best of our ability. We learn from Moshe that anger or a distance in relationship from Hashem is completely improper no matter what happens. We must keep in mind that beyond the goals we set for ourselves, and more important than anything that could happen to us, is the absolute necessity to remain unwavering from our emunah (trust) and bitachon (faith) in Hashem.

1See Rashi Bamidbar 21:8 who brings from the gemara Rosh Hashanah 29a that obviously a copper snake has no power to heal. Rather, the intent was that the B'nei Yisroel would look up to the sky to Hashem and subject their heart to Him.

2Bamidbar 21:9

3See Ramban 21:9 who offers a possible explanation as to what Moshe's exact calculation was.

4Moshe rabbeinu was very reluctant to accepting the position of manhig (leader) kk'lal Yisroel. Also, Shaul HaMelech was very reluctant to accept becoming king.

5Pirkei Avos 1:10

Parshas Korach - Favors are Easily Forgotten

Thoughts on The Parsha

Parshas Korach

Favors are Easily Forgotten

By: Daniel Listhaus

וַיִּקַּח קֹרַח בֶּן יִצְהָר בֶּן קְהָת בֶּן לֵוִי וְדָתָן וַאֲבִירָם בְּנֵי אֱלִיאָב וְאוֹן בֶּן פֶּלֶת בְּנֵי רְאוּבֵן

“Korach son of Yitzhar son of Kehas son of Levi separated himself, with Dasan and Aviram, sons of Eliav, and On son of Peles, sons of Reuvein.”

-Korach 16:1

Rashi¹ explains that what instigated Korach's argument with Moshe was the fact that he was jealous because Moshe appointed Elitzaphan ben Uziel as a nassi (literally: prince) over the B'nei Kehas.² Korach based his argument on what he assumed was logical. He assessed the situation and realized that Levi's son Kehas had four sons: Amram, Yitzhar, Chevron, and Uziel. Amram's two sons – Moshe and Aharon – assumed the two top positions of B'nei Yisroel. Moshe rabbeinu was the leader of the entire nation, and Aharon HaKohen was the Kohen Gadol. When Hashem commanded for the appointing of the nassi'im, Korach thought to himself that it was only fair that he assume the position. After all, he was the son of Yitzhar, the second-to-oldest son of Kehas. However, Moshe appointed Uziel's son. This disturbed Korach immensely and he decided to put together a support team and then went to argue head on with Moshe rabbeinu and tried to establish that just as this decision of Moshe made no sense, so too everything else Moshe said made no sense.

There are two basic questions that come to mind when reading the story of Korach. First, why did he wait this long to raise a stink? Elitzaphan was appointed nassi in Parshas Bamidbar.³ What took so long for Korach's jealousy to leak through? Why did he not immediately challenge Moshe?

Second, what was Korach's master plan exactly? Everyone loved Moshe rabbeinu. He was the messenger who took them out of Mitzrayim, split the Yam Suf, received the Torah directly from Har Sinai, and led B'nei Yisroel though the midbar (desert). Why was Korach so confident that striking Moshe at this particular point would not be met with an opposing force strongly backing up Moshe? After all, even when it came to a real nevuah (prophecy) when Yehoshua said when he found out the Eldad and Medad were prophesying that Moshe would die and Yehoshua would be the one to lead B'nei Yisroel into Eretz Yisroel, Yehoshua begged Moshe to throw them in jail for saying such a thing. Certainly everyone loved Moshe, and Moshe had Hashem and the majority of B'nei Yisroel who were always there to side with him. So how was Korach so confident that he would somehow win any argument with Moshe?

The Ramban⁴ writes that indeed Korach's timing was strategically intentional. Until this point it was clear to the entire B'nei Yisroel that Moshe was always there to save the day. Even by the eigel hazahav (golden calf) – unarguably the greatest sin of all time by our nation – Moshe somehow managed through the power of his tefillos (prayers) to abate Hashem's anger and threats to wipe out B'nei Yisroel. Very few people died from that event and the other times Hashem got upset at the B'nei Yisroel. This was something that was recognized by everyone to the point that if anyone would even think of attempting to do anything to hurt Moshe, such a person would have been immediately stoned by Moshe's followers – the B'nei Yisroel. However, Korach noticed a change that subconsciously had an affect on the nation as a whole.

When the B'nei Yisroel entered Midbar Paran and complained about the manna, Hashem responded with sending a fire of fury, which killed many people. Also, after the tragedy of the meraglim (spies), Moshe did not seem to make an effort to daven on their behalf and try to be mevatel (cancel) the gezairah (decree) of the death to all of the nassi'im who sinned and the gezairah of B'nei Yisroel living at the time to be unworthy of entering Eretz Yisroel and needing to die in the midbar.

Although it is in fact difficult to understand why Moshe's role as manhig k'lal Yisroel did not include davening at these particular points of time, or at least not having as great of an impact, it is clear that Moshe did what he was supposed to do. These events, and what seemed as Moshe's failure to stand up for them, caused the B'nei Yisroel to have some negative feelings towards Moshe rabbeinu. Korach sensed this slight change in attitude of the B'nei Yisroel toward Moshe and took advantage of the opportunity, which only fully presented itself at this point in time after the episode with the meraglim.

As we read through everything that Moshe did for the B'nei Yisroel this Ramban seems outlandish. Could it be that there was a real change in B'nei Yisroel's attitude based on the fact that more people had died during the complaining about the manna and the story of the meraglim? Moshe's tefillos to Hashem during times that Hashem wanted to wipe out the whole nation should have been viewed as a tremendous favor for an undeserving nation, not something that they should now have forever to hold over his head as a standard to expect. Yet that is precisely the feeling that the B'nei Yisroel felt. They got used to Moshe always being there to save the day, and began to expect nothing less. They subconsciously began viewing Moshe's tefillos as a right instead of a privilege. Therefore, when their expectations were not achieved, they harbored negative feelings against Moshe. Korach sensed this change in attitude and took immediate advantage.

The truth is that this is something most of us do on a daily basis. As Yehudim (Jews), our mission statement is to admit to our dependence on Hashem and realize that everything about us is a pure gift from Hashem. The Orchos Tzadikkim⁵ stresses this in the first three, of thirty, items he says is an obligation to think about twice daily. He writes that we must remember that Hashem created us from nothing; and even though He has no debt to us that He needs to provide for us anything, He created us as man – the top of the food chain and has kept us alive since the day we were born. Additionally, Hashem created us with all our body parts and with good mental health. All of this is purely out of Hashem's infinite kindness and we are accordingly indebted to Him and have the obligation to thank Him constantly.

Although this should make sense, it is somehow still hard to not take out our anger on Hashem when people get hurt or things do not go as smoothly as we would like to expect. Each morning we read the berachos (blessings) acknowledging the fact that Hashem opens our eyes to be able to see, gives us the ability to sit and stand, provides us with strength, and wakes us up every morning allowing our neshamos (souls) to return to our bodies. However, we must realize that these are not merely items on a checklist of things we expected from Hashem, nor are these our constitutional rights for living in this world. Rather, they are privileges which not everyone is privy to.

This mentality of thinking things are owed to us just because we expect it to be that way is exactly the fundamental force behind jealousy and was what propelled the whole story of Korach to begin with. Korach analyzed the family of Kehas and the positions available and decided that by right he should have been appointed as nassi.

May Hashem help us with our emunah so that we can better realize that because our expectations are not our rights, and that in fact everything we have is truly a privilege, we have an obligation to be forever thankful.

1Bamidbar 16:1

2Obviously this was not Moshe's personal preference or decision, rather Hashem told him who to appoint, as Rashi writes.

3Bamidbar 3:30

4Bamidbar 16:1

5Orchos Tzadikkim: Sha'ar Hazechira 

Photo Credit: http://fletcherclan.blogspot.com/2012/07/yelling-or-watering.html