Musar sobre Números 21:40

First of all, the episode of the serpent, who spoke lashon hara of the Holy One Blessed be He and thereby brought death to the world. And (Bereshith 29:20): "If G-d will be with me and guard me," concerning which Chazal have said: "if He will guard me against lashon hara." And the episode of Joseph (Ibid. 37:2): "And Joseph brought their evil talk to their father," this being the catalyst of the descent of the Jews to Egypt. And (Shemoth 2:14): "In truth, the thing has become known" (see Rashi there and what we shall write below). There, too, (4:1) Moses our teacher, may peace be upon him, says: "But they will not believe me," and the Blessed L-rd counters (Ibid. 2): "What is this in your hand?" … (3) …and it became a serpent." Also there (6): "And, behold, his hand was leprous as snow." And (Ibid. 17:2): "And the people quarreled with Moses… (7) …over the quarrel of the children of Israel, etc." followed by (8): "And Amalek came and warred with Israel, etc." And (Ibid. 23:1): "You shall not bear a false report, which applies to both the speaker and the receiver [of lashon hara] (as we find in Makkoth 23a), followed by (2): "Do not be after many to do evil." And, in reference to the me'il [the outer robe of the ephod] (Ibid. 28:32): "A border shall there be to its mouth roundabout," and the entire section. And (35): "And its sound will be heard when he comes to the sanctuary, etc." And the entire section of Tazria and Metzora: the plague-spots of houses, the plague-spots of clothing, the plague-spots of men, (Vayikra 13:46): "Solitary shall he sit"— even outside of the camp of Israel. And his atonement— "chirping" birds. And (Ibid. 19:16): "Do not go talebearing among your people," (Ibid. 17): "Reprove, shall you reprove your neighbor, but you shall not bear sin because of him." And (Ibid. 25:17): "You shall not wrong, one man, his fellow," which relates to verbal wronging, which is also in the category of evil speech. And (Bamidbar 5:1): "And they shall send out of the camp every leper"— even if he were as great in Torah as Doeg. And (Ibid. 12:1): "And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, etc." And the entire section of Shelach Lecha, which speaks about the spies. And (Ibid. 21:5): "And the people spoke against G-d and against Moses." And (Devarim 23:10): "When you go out as a camp against your foes, guard yourself against every evil thing [davar ra]," concerning which Chazal have said: "davar ra" may be read as "dibbur ra" [evil speech]. And in Tetze, the "giving out of an evil name [motzi shem ra]," and (Ibid. 24:9): "Remember what the L-rd your G-d did to Miriam, etc." And (Ibid. 27:24): "Cursed be he who smites his friend in secret," which refers to lashon hara. And it is known that all of the "cursings" were preceded by blessings; and they opened with blessing, saying: "Blessed is he who does not smite"— whence we derive that one who is heedful in this is blessed.

"'therefore the rulers said, let us enter into an accounting' (Numbers 21:27). Therefore the rulers - of their [evil] inclinations said come and consider the accounting of the world - the loss incurred by doing a mitzva against the gain earned through it, and the gain obtained by doing a sin against the loss incurred..."

This reflection has varying degrees of arousing, respectively, for those of wholeness of understanding, those of lesser understanding, and for the general masses. Those of wholeness of understanding will be roused to watchfulness by their coming to see clearly that only perfection and nothing else is worthy of their desire, and that there is no greater evil than the lack of perfection and distance from it.

Therefore, they will choose only to maximize these means and to be stringent in all of their details, finding no rest or peace due to worry lest they possibly lack what will bring them to the perfection that they desire. This is what King Shlomo, peace be unto him, said: "fortunate is the man that fears always" (Mishlei 28:14), which our Sages explained (Berachot 60a) refers to matters of Torah.

ויעש משה נחש נחושת . The Tzror Hamor, in his commentary on Parshat Bo, in connection with the מזוזות ומשקוף, describes how jealous G–d was of the honor of the righteous, more so even than of His own honor. This is why the word מזוזות, plural, is mentioned first (corresponding to Moses and Aaron), whereas the word משקוף, lintel (which is above the מזוזות which corresponds to G–d), is mentioned last. Moses was unwilling to have that which symbolized G–d mentioned last, therefore when relaying the command, he mentioned the word משקוף first (compare Exodus 12,7, when G–d commands Moses, and Exodus 12,22, where Moses relays these instructions to Israel). We have a similar situation here in chapter 21,5-9. The people spoke up against G–d and against Moses. G–d dispatched נחשים ושרפים against them, the נחשים because they had spoken out against G–d, the שרפים because of their having criticized Moses who is compared to an angel of the שרף variety. Therefore, after the people repented, G–d told Moses to make a שרף for himself to put it on a pole, etc. Moses however, did not make a שרף; he rather made a נחש, seeing that he considered restoring G–d's honor as more important than restoring his own honor, even though a שרף was what G–d had instructed him to make. From all this we learn to what extent we must be careful not to besmirch the honor of Torah scholars, righteous people, etc.

We learned (Bava Bathra 78b): R. Shmuel b. Nachmani said in the name of R. Yonathan (Bamidbar 21:27): "Therefore, the rulers say: 'Let us come to Cheshbon, etc.': 'the rulers' — these are the rulers over their yetzer. 'Let us come to Cheshbon' — Let us come and make the world's accounting ['cheshbon' = account], the loss [entailed by the performance] of a mitzvah against its reward; and the reward of a transgression against its loss." The plain meaning is well known: this [the reward of a mitzvah] is forever, and this [the "loss" of a mitzvah] is temporal. Also, this [the "reward" of a transgression] is a negligible pleasure, and this [the reward of a mitzvah] is awesome. For "one moment of pleasure in the world to come is greater than all the pleasures of this world," and the opposite for transgression.

They also expounded "the city of Sichon" in a different fashion, viz. (Ibid. 28): "For a fire has gone forth from Cheshbon, a flame from the city of Sichon. It has consumed Ar of Moav, the possessors of Arnon" — If a man makes himself like a young ass [ayir - similar to ir, "city"], which docilely follows the cajoling talk [(sicha, intimated by "Sichon") of its driver], in this case, the yetzer, "A fire will go forth from Cheshbon" — from those who reckon the account of the world, "a flame from the city of Sichon" — the tzaddikim, who are referred to as "sprouts" [sichin, intimated by "Sichon"], and it shall consume those who make no reckoning of their end." The explanation (in my humble opinion) is, according to the other phenomenon of which Chazal apprise us, that the rasha takes his portion and the portion of his neighbor [the tzaddik] in Gehinnom. This is the intent of "for a fire has gone forth from Cheshbon" — that is, the fire of Gehinnom, created by the sins of the tzaddikim will go forth from them, i.e., it will not prevail over them. And over whom will it prevail? Over the reshaim, who make no reckoning of their end. And thus, the conclusion of the verse: "It has consumed Ar of Moav" — intimating that it will consume the lusters, (viz. [Ibid. 25:1): "And the people began to lust after the daughters of Moav"). (Ibid. 21:28): 'the possessors of the heights of Arnon' — the haughty of spirit."

Another way of explaining this additional dimension of fondness is that it refers to the two "lights," the light of the written Torah, the hidden light, as well as the light of the oral Torah, i.e. the Talmud. The words מימינו אש דת למו, would refer to the dialectics, the sometimes fiery debate employed by the sages in clarifying halachic points in the Talmud. It is interesting to note that the letters in the words דת למו spell תלמוד when re-arranged. The arguments between scholars reported in the Talmud are quarrels for the sake of Heaven, i.e. the "fire" generated by these debates is holy, not destructive. Concerning such arguments David says in Psalms 29,11: "May the Lord give strength to His people, may he bless His nation with harmony." I have written earlier on the meaning of the word שלום. Our sages have explained Numbers 21,14: את והב בסופה as an allusion to the harmony which eventually results from quarrels which are carried on by people who harbor pure motives (Kidushin 30b). Our verse may contain a similar hint; though concerning the subject matter under discussion the Rabbis engaged in the debate were at opposite sides, this had no bearing on their personal relations with one another which remain harmonious. In fact they made a point of emphasizing this at the end of such discussions. This is why they are described as "beloved by G–d. The words אשדת למו also are a hint at what is related in Taanit 4a: Constant apparent anger in certain young scholars has its root in Torah (discussions); this is referred to in Jeremiah 23,29: "Behold! My word is like fire, says the Lord." The fire alluded to in our verse is the fire of anger. It is caused by debate of points of Torah. The young scholars become angry when they observe people making all kinds of excuses for themselves while observing the strict letter of Torah law. Their anger is comparable to the anger and jealousy Pinchas felt on behalf of G–d when he slew Zimri. Most people who find excuses to ignore certain parts of the Torah object to interpretations of the law as stated in the Talmud.

When Israel continued to sin, we read in the Torah Numbers 21,1: וישמע הכנעני מלך ערד … וילחם בישראל וישב ממנו שבי, "The Canaanite, king of Arad….engaged Israel in war and and took some of them captive." This means that at that point in time even what had previously remained "captive," i.e. the balance of the gifts from the Gentile nations prior to Israel accepting the Torah, was taken away from them. Whenever Israel will do תשובה, G–d will restore all these gifts. Israel will atone for its sins, and these gifts will act as protection for them.

5) (Ibid. 8): "whoever was bitten": This implies, even one who was not so eminent. And this is followed by (9): "if the snake had bitten a man," [connoting an eminent man]! Also, in the beginning (8), re'iah ["seeing"] is written; and, afterwards, (9) habatah [gazing (intently)] is used.

We shall answer the questions in order: As to their saying "against Elokim and against Moses," they emulated in this, the primal serpent, who also spoke against the Holy One Blessed be He, who said that the reason the Holy One Blessed be He did not permit eating from the tree of knowledge was (Bereshith 3:5) "For Elokim knows that on the day you eat from it… you will be like elohim" [which Onkelos translates 'great ones'], wherefore He withheld this good [of eating] from you. Here, too, in giving you manna, He gave you "faulty bread," and He is destined to exact punishment of you through it [see Rashi], that your bowels will burst, when you are not meritorious; for He wishes to conduct himself with you according to the attribute of din. And, in truth, it was not so. For it was in His mercy and lovingkindness that He gave them bread from heaven, which contained no waste, the like of which he had not even given to our holy forefathers, as it is written (Devarim 8:3): "And He fed you the manna, which you did not know, and which your forefathers did not know, to make it known to you that not through bread alone shall a man live, but by all that issues from the mouth of the L-rd shall a man live." And he also wished to spare them exertion. For is it not known that the cloud of the L-rd dwelt among them, because of which it is written in the Torah (Devarim 23:13): "And a place shall there be for you outside the camp [outside the cloud of glory], and you shall go out there outside." Therefore, He gave them manna to eat, which produces no waste and which is absorbed into the organs, so that they would always be clean and pure, wherefore it is written thereafter (7): "because we spoke against Hashem" [connoting "mercy"], who gave us manna in His mercies.

We shall now come to explain "And let Him remove from us the snake." They reflected that by their words they had aroused against themselves "the great prosecutor," the great snake, and [they said to Moses:] "Pray to the L-rd that He remove it from us," so that the plague cease entirely and the protection return as it was. And Moses heeded their words and prayed for them. (Ibid. 8): "And the L-rd said to Moses: 'Make for yourself a fiery serpent, etc.' That is, as to your asking that it be removed entirely, (that they be protected as at first and the snakes not touch them), it is impossible to seal its mouth altogether, that they be guarded as at first. But your prayer will avail for this: that from now on, I will not incite the snakes against them. And though they are nevertheless dangerous, "make a fiery serpent for yourself and place it on a high pole," that they can always reflect that it was their speech that aroused the serpent on high to prosecute them before the throne of glory, [as we find in Tanna d' bei Eliyahu, that the lashon hara one speaks ascends until the throne of glory, as it is written (Psalms 73:9): "They have placed their mouths in the heavens, etc."], and through this they will be humbled before the L-rd and He will have mercy upon them. This resolves the fourth question.

"He was afraid and distressed;" the former was due to Jacob's fear that the accuser in the Celestial Regions might have come across sins committed by Jacob that he had not been aware of. He was also afraid that Esau's merit in having performed the commandment of honouring father and mother during all the years Jacob had not performed it might now support him. We find that Moses too was afraid before engaging Og, King of Bashan, in battle, fearing that the merit of Abraham might assist Og, as explained by Rashi on Numbers 21,34. [The merit of Og referred to must be that he became instrumental in Abraham saving Lot, by having told him that the latter had been taken prisoner, even though that had hardly been Og's motive, as Rashi himself explains on Genesis 14, 13. Ed.] Bereshit Rabbah 76, 1, quoting Rabbi Pinchas, understands our verse in a similar vein. "There were two people who had received specific assurances from G–d, and still they were reported as being afraid. One is the choicest of the patriarchs, Jacob, to whom G–d had said: "I shall be with you;" in the end we nonetheless find him afraid of his upcoming encounter with Esau, seeing the Torah says: ויירא יעקב. The other person was the choicest of the prophets, Moses. G–d had told him "for I shall be with you" (Exodus 3,12). Still, we find G–d had to tell him in Numbers 21: "Do not be afraid of him (Og)." G–d certainly would not have bothered to reassure Moses had he not been afraid, (though the Torah did not report this as a fact). Thus far the Midrash.

The line 18,7) ,ואל הבקר רץ אברהם) may be understood as parallel to the heavenly meat that the angels are reported as having fried for אדם הראשון, as reported in Sanhedrin 59. Abraham prepared the bread but did not serve it, since the time for manna which would be ground for the righteous in the heavenly region called שחקים was not yet ripe. Since Adam, however, had already been the recipient of meat from the heavenly regions before he sinned, Abraham saw no reason not to offer meat to these guests from heaven. The bread he prepared assumed a sacred character, seeing Abraham had been feeding the poor at all times, and the reason his descendants were found worthy to feed on heavenly bread was because of their ancestor Abraham's mercy. Unfortunately, the Israelites sinned when they made derogatory comments about the manna, describing it as לחם הקלקל, "bread that is lacking in substance" (Numbers 21,5). This heavenly bread will only appear again in the future that we have spoken of. The reason that

ושבית שביו . We have mentioned earlier that the Sifri interprets this to mean that even non-resident Canaanite prisoners are included in the permission granted to take them as prisoners. We must remember that our internal conflicts, our battle with the evil urge, is also due to the curse resting on Canaan whose strength is derived from Samael in the Celestial Regions. We find an allusion to this in Numbers 21,1 where the Torah reports that the Canaanite led by the king of Arad took prisoners, שבי, from among the Jewish nation. This king, or the nation he represents, is perceived as having used scales that were not true in his hands (Hosea 12,8). In Job 39,5 the word ערד is used to describe a wild ass. The verse in Job refers to the "releasing" of such an animal to wreak havoc. Know therefore that it is sin and not the wild ass which causes death. Israel learned this lesson in Numbers 21 where Moses was told to construct the copper snake and people who looked up to it, i.e. looked to G–d for help were saved (cured from the bites of the snakes mentioned in 21,6), whereas the others died from the bites sustained (Rosh Hashanah 29). In this connection the Talmud (Berachot 33a) recounts an occurrence where a wild ass terrorised a community and people told Rabbi Chaninah ben Dotha about it. The Rabbi asked to be shown the lair of the animal in question. When he was shown the lair he placed his heel on the entrance to the lair. The wild ass emerged, bit Rabbi Chaninah ben Dotha and died as a result. Rabbi Chaninah ben Dotha hauled it on his shoulder and brought its carcass to the house of study. There he told his students that it was not the wild ass that had brought death to the community but the sins of the people who had been bitten by it. At that time the people said: "Woe to the people who have encountered the wild ass, and woe to the wild ass that has encountered Rabbi Chaninah ben Dotha." Rashi comments: "I have found in Halachot Gedolot that they say in ארץ ישראל "When a wild ass bites a human being and the wild ass reaches water first the victim dies; if the victim reaches water first the wild ass will die. A miracle occurred in the case of Rabbi Chaninah and a well of water suddenly opened beneath his heel. This is no idle legend. When the Israelites conquered the land of Canaan the Canaanites died from such bites, but miracles occurred for the Israelites who crossed the Jordan. Afterwards the Canaanites started dying. These were what are referred to as מלחמות שוות, normal wars.