The Weekly Sedra – Chukat-Balak

Near the end of this week’s first portion, Chukat, we read the strange story of the brass serpent.

When the Jews complained about the bland taste of Manna, G-d first sent serpents to kill them and then told Moses to make a statue of a serpent and raise it on a pole in order that anyone who looked at it would live.

Rashi quotes the Talmud andexplains that really it wasn’t really this statue that helped, but the fact that they raised their eyes to heaven.

This, of course, is very strange; if just looking at heaven was what saved them, then why didn’t G-d order Moses to tell the Jews to just look up? Why did he have Moshe make a serpent?

Here is a story which will help us understand.

The most joyous holiday in Judaism is Simchat Torah. Religious Jews dance and sing well into the night celebrating the holiness of the Torah.

But Yankel wasn’t happy. A few months ago he had a heart attack and it looked like his dancing days were over, in fact it looked like all his days would soon be over. Now he was having trouble breathing, he couldn’t work and he felt miserable all the time.

Yankel wasn’t really a Chassid, but every year he used to walk to Lubavitch and partake in the Simchat Torah festivities with the Chassidim; it gave him inspiration and joy for the rest of the year, but now just the thought of hour’s walk to Lubavitch made him cringe, his happy days were over.

But Yankel’s wife thought differently. “Yankel,” she said “I think we should go. I mean, you don’t have to dance, we’ll just watch. And as far as the walk goes, we can walk slowly, take two hours even three. Here, we can stop at your friend, Fival’s, house on the way, you can rest there. After all, we can’t just sit at home on Simchat Torah! And who knows, maybe the Rebbe will give you a blessing.”

So, that Simchat Torah he and his wife took their time and arrived in Lubavitch after a four hour walk. When they reached the town gate they could already hear the singing and dancing and knew they had made the proper choice.

“Thank G-d! Boruch HaShem!” His wife said to him, while Yankel just beamed with joy; he was still alive!! He would celebrate Simchat Torah!!

When they reached the Shul (Synagogue) Yankel went into the main door while his wife went around to the women’s section, entered and found a place where she could see all the dancing.

It was just one huge room. In the middle hundreds of Chassidim were dancing to a lively tune they themselves were singing while the women were on the other side of the room watching the festivities.

Then it happened;

The Rebbe (Rebbe Shalom Dov Ber the fifth Rebbe of Chabad circ. 1900) was dancing in the circle with the crowd surrounding him clapping their hands and singing at the tops of their lungs when suddenly he looked at Yankel, made a sign with his hand to his Chassidim and the sick man was pulled into the circle with the Rebbe who promptly grabbed him by the arm and began dancing with him around and around.

Yankel tried to protest but his voice was not heard above the noise. He even thought of resisting but he was too weak. He couldn’t understand how the Rebbe, who had a reputation for knowing everything, could make such a tragic mistake.

But the Rebbe danced with more and more vigor.

“Rebbe! Rebbe! Stop!!” His wife yelled out from the women’s section. Yankel even stumbled once or twice but the Rebbe held him up until finally poor Yankel let out a groan and fell to the floor unconscious.

“Oy! Rebbe!!” She screamed, “YOU KILLED HIM!! YOU KILLED MY HUSBAND!!”

They carried him out of the Shul, outside into the fresh air, and laid him on some hastily pushed together tables. Then from somewhere a doctor appeared briefly checked Yankel’s pulse and announced “He’s still alive! Bring some blankets and keep him warm. There is nothing we can do now but wait.”

Yankel lay there unconscious, pale as a sheet, surrounded by a small crowd, his wife crying and wringing her hands while some ladies tried to comfort her.

This lasted for about fifteen minutes when suddenly Yankel let out a loud moan, opened his eyes, looked around, sat up and asked what happened. His wife almost fainted. The Doctor was called out again, again checked the pulse and said and declared. “You’re healthy! Just take it easy.” and returned inside.

After a few more minutes the crowd also returned to the festivities in the Shul and Yankel and his wife were alone. “To tell you the truth”, Said Yaakov to his wife, “I feel better than I felt the last twenty years”. He stood up, brushed himself off, returned inside and never had heart problems again.

This answers our question about the serpent. The main power of the serpent was that Moses made it.

The Jews in the desert had forgotten that the uniqueness of the Jewish people was not to get spiritual (as they were in the desert) but to appreciate the true purpose of the PHYICAL (That is why G-d got angry at them for not entering Canaan) because physical can be higher than anything if used according to the Torah, but ONLY Moses had the power to reveal it.

Like the dancing of the Rebbe; ordinary dancing would have killed Yankel, in fact even a spiritual blessing wouldn’t have helped him, but the Rebbe’s dancing, a physical act, because it touched on the G-dly source of dancing, had the power to heal.

Similarly in the second of this week’s double portion, Balak.

In this portion the wicked anti-Semite, Bilaam, the arch-master of destruction is hired to eradicate the Jews by cursing them, but all he can manifest is blessings. In fact the clearest prophecies regarding the greatest blessing of all; Moshiach are found here.

Why couldn’t all this good come through Moses? Why did G-d send it through an arch-evil sorcerer?

Here is a story that will help explain.

One of the greatest Tzadikim of all time was Rabbi Yaakov Abuchatzera who was born in Morocco and passed away less than one hundred years ago.

Among the hundreds of miracles attributed to him is the following.

One day a wealthy woman, well know throughout the town (I think it was the town of Fez) came to Rabbi Yaakov with a desperate request.

“I want a blessing that my son should die.”

Her only son had been born paralyzed and now she was getting too old to care for him. At first she managed with helpers but now she was approaching the age of sixty, her son was almost forty and it was simply impossible to deal with. The woman was not particularly religious and now she had come to the Tzadik at her wit’s end.

“What? Said the Tzaddik, ”That is no blessing! Why don’t you ask that your son gets healed? That is a blessing. I only give blessings.“

”Rabbi“, she replied ”I’m not fooling myself. I’ve dragged him to the best doctors in the world, the very best, for almost forty years. And they all say the same thing; there is no hope he’ll never move, he can’t even talk. I can’t stand to see him suffer this way.

“I’ve been hoping against all odds for a cure, but there is no cure Rabbi… no cure in the world. Why should he suffer? Why should we all suffer? I simply can’t bear it any longer.” And saying this she burst out in bitter tears.

The Rabbi replied, “Bring him here.”

An hour later her son was brought in a wheelchair to the Rabbi’s home. It was really a pitiful sight to see. He was obviously incapable of moving a muscle, his head was held up by a brace and spit was drooling from his open mouth.

“Bring him to the back yard and lay him on the ground.”

It was a warm day outside. The porters wheeled her son through the house out the door to the yard and laid him in the sun on the ground in the spot that the Tzadik pointed out. Rav Abuchatzera then told everyone to leave the yard and close the door behind them, leaving him alone with the young man.

He sat down on a chair in the shade, took out a copy of the Zohar (a mystical explanation of the Torah) and began reading while the sun beat down on the ladies poor paralyzed son.

After a half hour the young man began moving around and yelled, “It’s hot here! It’s hot!”

“Don’t tell me,” replied the Rabbi “If you’re hot go tell your mother, she’s sitting in the house.”

The young man stood, looked angrily at Rav Abuchatzera and said “That is exactly what I’m going to do!”

He walked to the door, opened it and cried out “Mommy, that Rabbi put me in the hot sun!!”

His mother began screaming from joy, the news spread like wildfire, and in no time everyone, Jews and Arabs alike, were lined up before the Tzadik’s home laden with presents; eggs, chickens and the like, singing songs of praise for the holy Tzaddik.

But all this didn’t affect Rabbi Yaakov at all. He just sat in the backyard reading his Zohar as though nothing happened.

“I don’t see what is so amazing.” He later explained to one of his pupils, “If I do what G-d wants all the time, then why shouldn’t He do what I want once in a while?”

This is the reason that G-d revealed such high things through such a low person as Bilaam.

The job of the Jews is to transform the entire world into even higher than it was when it was created. In other words, that not only the Jews but also all the gentiles, all people, should serve ONLY the Creator.

As we say in the Alenu prayer thrice daily regarding Moshiach “All humanity will turn to You, Every knee will bend, every tongue will declare. etc.” and as the Rambam explains in the end of his work Yad HaChazaka. “The world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d.”

Just as the paralyzed son aroused even the non-Jews to respect the greatness of the Creator, so Bilaam brought the entire world (at least potentially) to see the greatness of the G-d of Israel; when sickness becomes health and evil advertises good, then everyone listens.

Therefore it was the cursed Bilaam that brought us the clearest prophesies regarding the ultimate good; Moshiach who will finally reveal the goodness of the Creator in the entire world.

May we all utilize all this potential, attach ourselves to the true Tzadikim like the Lubavitcher Rebbe and follow his plan to bring…

Moshiach NOW!!!