Of Misery And Miracles

In my post of  June 17, 2010, I focused on the aspect of Parashah Chukkat where the purification rituals that required the sacrifice of an unblemished red heifer (parah adumah temimim) are described. This ritual is known as a chok and is one of the four inscrutable laws  (pl.chukkim) for which this parashah is named.

If you wish to refer to it, that post can be found here: http://bit.ly/d6DAAx+

Since this parashah will be read again in our yearly cycle this week , here are other details from my illustrations for Parashat Chukkat (above) and commentary for a second strange teaching that describes the miraculous events symbolized by a Bronze Serpent that was made by Moses with God’s instruction.

These may be found along with additional footnotes in my book, Between Heaven & Earth: An Illuminated Torah Commentary (Pomegranate, 2009).The book is distributed internationally and may be purchased directly from the publisher by calling: 1-800-227-1428 (US), {+44} 0 1926 430111(UK) or visiting http://www.pomegranate.com/a166.html.

Of Misery & Miracles continues the saga of the Israelites’ litany of complaints on their journey. Incensed at his chosen peoples’ ingratitude, God hurled a ferocious plague of ‘seraph’ serpents at them, causing pain and suffering beyond any previous imaginings. In the midst of this vicious attack, they beseeched Moses to call in yet another favor from God.  Here we see an agonized Moses, perhaps still reeling from the death of his brother compounded by the revelation that he will not live to enter the Promised Land. Aaron’s death is symbolized by an almond branch whose flower has fallen to the ground. Yet despite his personal grief, Moses followed God’s instructions to construct a ‘fiery serpent’and place it on pole so that gazing upward at it would assist the people in focusing on both their physical and spiritual healing. To emphasize the veracity of this miracle cure, The Midrash adds that Moses flipped the copper serpent into the air where it hovered momentarily before he placed it on the pole.  Chaim ben Moses ibn Attar, a 17th century Moroccan Talmudist and Kabbalist suggested that this reptilian episode also occurred to teach the Israelites that their affliction resulted from indulgence in ‘lashon hora’, or gossip, which originated with the Serpent in the Garden of Eden when it seduced Eve and Adam into tasting the forbidden fruit. So although the serpent was ostensibly a remedy for the effects of snake venom, its underlying purpose was to teach the difference between continued reliance on miracles and the use of ingenuity in coexistence with the laws of nature.

While composing this illustration, I thought about the possibility of nature complementing the nature of miracles and wondered whether the plague of serpents had any actual scientific basis. My first clue was learning that ‘seraph’ translates as ‘fiery, or burning, in Hebrew. Although snake venom can burn painfully, it still seemed there was more to this particular plague, given the numbers of people affected. I then wondered what diseases might have been prevalent in antiquity and learned about a microscopic parasite called  ‘dracunculiasis medinensis’, also known as ‘Guinea worm’.Unhappily, though a vaccine exists to prevent it, the disease is still a threat to world health today in poverty-stricken countries where access to treatment is limited. Early manuscripts describe this disease in New Kingdom Egypt during the second millennium BCE where it may have been imported through war prisoners and slaves from Mesopotamia. Actual evidence was found in the 1973 Manchester Egyptian Mummy Project’s discovery of a calcified male guinea worm in the prosthetic leg of a mummy; it was dubbed  ‘Pharaoh worm’. With all this information, I couldn’t resist including an image of this nasty little creature in its larvae form, just beneath the quote.  Though many versions of the copper serpent (nahash’ in Hebrew) exist, none intrigued me more than the logo adopted by the Israeli Paratroopers Brigade ‘Hativat HaTzanhanim’, upon which my illustration is modeled. Next to it is the ancient treatment for Guinea worm that may have been the origin of the caduceus, the classic symbol of medicine.

If I were asked to cite the ‘takeaway’ from this section of the parashah, it would be the reminder that healing our bodies is a process that inextricably intertwines science and faith.

The Challenge Of Change

Though  I am not fluent in French, the classic aphorism, ‘plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose’ (the more things change, the more they remain the same) seems particularly relevant with regards to Korah, the Torah portion from the Book of Numbers (BaMidbar) that will be read this Sabbath. This particular parashah is memorable to me personally, as it marks the Bar Mitzvah of my eldest son in 1988 and the beginning of the thought process and research that would become my book, Between Heaven & Earth: An Illuminated Torah Commentary (Pomegranate, 2009). As the story recounts the challenge made by the Levite Korah to the divinely ordained authority of his cousins Moses and Aaron, it reminds us that the often smarmy dynamics that characterize ‘modern’ politics has barely changed in 2.000+ years. From the AfterImages section of this book which also includes footnotes for the sources, here is an excerpt of the interpretation for the illustrations shown above and below:

“In The Price Of Power, we see the blue-robed Korah ben Izhar, a wealthy, prominent Levite. Despite his influence as cousin to Moses and Aaron, he craved more power and determined to challenge the authority assigned to them over the Israelites. He gathered 250 men with ambitious agendas of their own, and outfitted them in luxurious tallitot (prayer shawls) made entirely of blue wool. In a mockery of the ‘one-cord of blue’ commandment (Shelakh-Lekha), Korah, exhibits a serpents’ forked tongue as he and his party arrogantly confront Moses and Aaron with a cunning argument for the equal holiness of all the Israelites.

Yet, for such a clever man, he seemed unaware that challenging God’s wisdom would have dire consequences. The Mishnah  describes the violent ‘earthquake’ that swallowed Korah and his men as the ‘mouth of earth’, one of ten mystical things created before the first Sabbath of the world. The copper firepans (upper left) had once held incense offerings. These were obligatory when Korah requested the meeting with Moses and Aaron. They were all that remained of Korah’s party. The firepans were later gathered by Eleazar, Aaron’s son to be melted into plating for the sacrificial altar– a legacy of this tragic event. Louis Ginzberg in Legends of the Bible suggested the disgruntled sun and moon. They, too, challenged God and refused to voluntarily perform their duties if He levied punishment on Korah and his men. Ever after, sun and moon must be prodded into their daily cycles. With linguistic irony, the three Hebrew consonants in Korah’s name translate as ‘kereach’ or’ice’ and also as ‘bald’, both meaningful descriptions of his nature. The ‘ice’ refers to his cold, logical approach to spiritual matters while the ‘bald’ recalls the ‘bald spot’ he left among the Israelites when the earth swallowed his followers. 

When Korah challenged the right of Aaron to be High Priest, The Ark Of Judgment was employed to provide a test of faith in response. One of its k’ruvim sits on top of the Ark holding eleven barren staffs, each carved with the name of a tribe. The other keruv holds the staff of the tribe of Levi, which has put forth almond blossoms and fruit, confirming the choice of Aaron as High Priest of Israel. Aptly characterizing this tale is an unusual feature of Aaron’s staff: its dual fruits of bitter and sweet almonds. One variety begins sweet and turns bitter, like most disputes while the variety that begins bitter, but yields sweet fruit is akin to the achievement of peace. The motif on the shekel coin below commemorates the miracle of Aaron’s staff. The almonds in the hands below Aaron’s crown demonstrate that their name in Hebrew, ‘shaked’ is a permutation of ‘kodesh’ meaning ‘holy’: proof that God had chosen Aaron to bring holiness to the world.”

So where does that leave us now? In a metaphorical desert, I suppose; forced to define our own sense of morality in the face of our own media-driven misinformation campaigns. Then, as now, personal wealth and smarmy charm were exploited to secure a position of leadership with intentions that were far more self-centric than concerned with the spiritual and physical well-being of those who would be led. The major difference between now and then is the absence of a Divine Presence to dramatically balance the scales of justice, unless you naively believe that those who would rule us have a hot-line to Heaven.