Parshat Chukat

Fight fire with fire and fight snakes with a copper snake emblazoned on a pole. This seems to have been G-d's strategy for saving Israel from the poisonous snakes that He, Himself sent to quiet their complaining. Was there something truly curative about this copper image of a snake that smacks suspiciously of idolatry, G-d forbid? Or was it simply a way to get the people to pick up their heads and gaze heavenward, where their real salvation would come? Was HaShem counting upon mankind's endless quest for straws to grasp onto?

Chukat (Numbers 19:1 - 22:1)

Parashat Chukat is read on Shabbat:

Tammuz 5, 5783/June 24, 2023

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