The Copper Snake - How A Miracle Turns into Idolatry

^{10 Tamuz 5779 | July 13, 2019}

Parshat Chukat

Rabba Avital Engelberg

Class of 2015

Translated from Hebrew by Michal Kohane

Our Torah portion is full of transitions - from the impure to the pure at the beginning of the parsha; arguments and torments of the Children of Israel with Moshe and Aharon, as well as the Copper Snake, the transition to mercy and God’s way to stop the Children of Israel’s punishment.

The way God chooses to stop the snakes is through a statue that acts in a miraculous manner which can easily - and dangerously - be associated with idolatry. The mishnah in tractate Rosh Hashana 3:8 explains: “And does a snake cause death and life? But rather, as long as the Isrealites gaze upward, and their heart is dedicated to their heavenly Father, they would be healed”. The snake is only a symbol of the real thing, a reminder to look up and remember who is On High, who is the true Care-Taker and Healer, while the fear still lingers.

The fear still existed many years later, when it turns out that Moshe saved the Copper Snake for generations to come:

In the days of Hezekiah, in the year 700 BC, the Copper Snake still existed. Not only did it exist, but the Children of Israel worshipped it idolatrously. The Gemara asks how is it possible that Asa and Jehoshaphat, who were kings earlier and got rid of all idolatry, allowed this to linger, if it is an actual source of idolatry? And I would like to add to this question and ask, how can it be that such a symbol which was used to heal the Children of Israel in the desert became a tool for idolatry?

The Gemara attempts to answer the challenge regarding Asa and Jehoshaphat with the words - “But rather, our forefathers left it a little place where it was allowed”. The original Hebrew is complicated, because we don’t exactly know what the Gemara meant by saying מקום הניחו לו אבותימן להתגדר בו. What does it mean “they left it a place where it was allowed”? Did they realize that the Copper Snake is already used as idolatry, but opted to leave Hezekiah ‘something to do’? Did they deliberately maintain idolatry for a few generations?

The various interpretations on this subject open for us an opportunity for value-based observations on religious rulings and halachic decision-makings in a complex world.

The Yalkut Shimoni on our parasha explains that neither Asa nor Hezekiah break the Copper Snake because the Copper Snake was made by Moses following the Holy One, blessed be He’s instructions:

Therefore they assumed that the serpent was 'out of touch' as a divine creation.

Hezekiah, who comes generations later, sees in the snake a very problematic situation with a clash of values. On the one hand, the Copper Snake is a divine creation, while on the other hand, he cannot stand idly by when he sees how this holy and ancient object turns into idolatry. In a world of such halakhic values clashing, Hezekiah chooses to crush the serpent. His desires for a holy people exceeds the value of preserving that which is in existence even if at a certain time it was a symbol of holiness. Hezekiah sees that even a symbol of holiness, an object that once saved the people, now harms him, and therefore, he cuts it off.

The Chatam Sofer on Tractate Pesachim (56a) explains what happened in a slightly different way:

For the people who believe in God, the Snake helped. It’s role was to remind the Children of Israel that it is not only the book of medicine which aides, but also relying on God. The combination of the Snake and the Medicine Book increased God’s awe in the world. The Chatam Sofer explains that there were indeed people for whom the Snake was a source of idolatry, but because there were people who were helped by it, and there was room for it in the world.

In other words, the Chatam Sofer tells us that even if there are problematic things in the world, as long as the righteous benefit from them, then they belong to the world, even if they harm those who have less faith. But from the moment that the object causes only damage, then it can be destroyed. The Chatam Sofer’s approach is, “feed it to the wicked and let it die”; namely, in halachic deliberation over a problematic matter, what we should be focused on are those who believe in God and not the concern for the sinners. We don’t have to worry about the observance of those who don’t observe the mitzvot. As long as the faithful benefit, we can preserve it; when the faithful ones have no benefit, then the object can be broken.

The last interpretation I would like to share is that of the Pesikta Zutrata, from the Lekach Tov on Parashat Lech Lecha, and so he writes:

This is the way of the world: Moshe does not have to worry about what happens a few generations in the future, but he must see his own generation clearly and shepherd his people in the right manner. “There is nothing before the judge except what his eyes can see.” The role of the sages in each generation is to correct, renew, and add - so that we will not remain with idolatry, only because the same object was holy once upon a time.

So how does a miracle become idolatry? How does an object which was holy, made by the word of God, become in Hezekiah ’s time, a statue that incense was offered to it? When we try to keep what is in existence, ‘because that’s how it always was’, the Lekach Tov warns us that sometimes we pay a big price if we opt to maintain, at any cost, that which has been until now. Sometimes we need the courage to really see what is happening around us, and at times, even sorrowfully, break the holiness of the past, so that we can preserve the sacredness of the present.

Shabbat Shalom, and may we all be able to see the present with our open eyes, so that we too will merit to maintain the holy.