Stop Complaining – Things are ‘looking up’!

Throughout the 40 year journey in the desert, there were a number of occasions when the people complained about their condition. Though they were fed miraculous food from heaven, though they drank from a miraculous well that followed them wherever they went, though they were protected from all threats by encompassing Clouds of Glory, nevertheless they repeatedly found reason to bemoan their situation and express their lack of gratitude.

In parshas Chukas, the people complained once again, and as a result, they were attacked by fiery serpents. Simply understood as a punishment, the serpents were in fact a natural consequence of the people’s action. They had been unappreciative of the divine sustenance and protection that had been granted them, and as a result they were given the opportunity to experience what their condition would be without it. The Clouds of Glory, the Midrash teaches, surrounded the nation on their travels in order to “flatten the high land, raise the hollows and destroy snakes and scorpions” (Rashi on Numbers 10:34). If not for God’s constant care, snakes and other dangers would have been a constant concern. If we do not appreciate our blessings, we often find ourselves experiencing what our condition would be without them. The point is not to punish us for our ingratitude, but to help us to nurture a greater consciousness of our good fortune.

Recognizing their error, the people turned to Moses and declared, “we have sinned, for we spoke against The Eternal and against you. Pray to The Eternal that He remove the snakes from us” (Numbers 21:7). God then instructed Moses to “make for yourself the image of a fiery snake and place it on a high pole, and it will be that whoever was bitten shall look at it and live” (Numbers 21:8). The Sages ask how this will heal the people, and Rashi explains that “when Israel looked upwards and committed their hearts to their Father in Heaven they were cured.”

But the Alter Rebbe asks if it was simply a matter of redirecting one’s focus above, then why did Moshe place the image of the snake on the staff and not simply tell the people to look up. He answers that the healing comes with the recognition that the source, root, and vitality of all things down in this realm is above. The snake that attacks us here below is merely a physical manifestation of the Godly root of the snake above. When we become aware of the Godliness in everything, then we are no longer afraid or afflicted. For the inner intention of all adversity is to bring us to this essential awareness.

Nothing we experience should be taken for granted or divorced from its source. When we are blessed with good fortune, we must be conscious of its origin. When we experience challenge, we must likewise endeavor to trace it back to its divine root. Everything in life is an invitation to look inward and upward. When our focus is directed outward and downward, we see only the challenges of the material world and all of those many things that are separate from us and not ours. But when our gaze is directed at the core and source of everything we experience, then we are aware of God’s infinite presence, we are constantly grateful for our manifold blessings, and we are immune to the snakes and other dangers that can no longer harm us.

—

Derived from Pnei Hashem, an introduction to the deepest depths of the human experience based on the esoteric teachings of Torah.  www.pneihashem.com