Raboyseyee and Ladies,
Snakes and Crocodiles?
Just last week, the heylige Ois shared how shocked and despondent he was to learn the entire Sefer Iyov (the Story of Job) may be one fictional tale, a parable only. No lesser a giant than the Rambam himself, so states with certitude.
And just as that reality was setting in, this week, the Ois is back with more shocking news: Yet another storyline, this one also mamish found in the script of the heylige Toirah, may also not have taken place? The Rambam is not done, far from, it and this week, he has more breaking news.
Raboyseyee, such information -if true- could cause one to go mamish overboard. So happens that the Ois finds himself on a decent size cruise ship on his way to Puerto Rico and there are many such opportunities. Thankfully, by now -in year 15 of weekly uninterrupted parsha posts- the heylige Ois has become jaded even when learning that entire episodes to which space is dedicated in the heylige Toirah may not be factual: Say it’s not so please! The news is no longer as shocking.
What’s happening this week? We will get back to this question below, ober let’s begin here. For the second consecutive parsha, snakes will appear and play a not so insignificant role in the narrative and more specifically in helping Moishe gain the confidence he needed to face Paroy and demand the Yiddin be let free. Let’s quickly chazir: Last week, we read this in Shmois 4:
וַיַּ֤עַן מֹשֶׁה֙ וַיֹּ֔אמֶר וְהֵן֙ לֹֽא־יַאֲמִ֣ינוּ לִ֔י וְלֹ֥א יִשְׁמְע֖וּ בְּקֹלִ֑י כִּ֣י יֹֽאמְר֔וּ לֹֽא־נִרְאָ֥ה אֵלֶ֖יךָ יְהֹוָֽה׃
But Moishe spoke up and said, “What if they do not believe me and do not listen to me, but say: יהוה did not appear to you?”
וַיֹּ֧אמֶר אֵלָ֛יו יְהֹוָ֖ (מזה) [מַה־זֶּ֣ה] בְיָדֶ֑ךָ וַיֹּ֖אמֶר מַטֶּֽה׃
יהוה said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he replied, “A rod.”
וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ הַשְׁלִיכֵ֣הוּ אַ֔רְצָה וַיַּשְׁלִכֵ֥הוּ אַ֖רְצָה וַיְהִ֣י לְנָחָ֑שׁ וַיָּ֥נׇס מֹשֶׁ֖ה מִפָּנָֽיו׃
[The RBSO] said, “Cast it on the ground.” He cast it on the ground and it became a snake; and Moishe recoiled from it.
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהֹוָ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה שְׁלַח֙ יָֽדְךָ֔ וֶאֱחֹ֖ז בִּזְנָב֑וֹ וַיִּשְׁלַ֤ח יָדוֹ֙ וַיַּ֣חֲזֶק בּ֔וֹ וַיְהִ֥י לְמַטֶּ֖ה בְּכַפּֽוֹ׃
Then יהוה said to Moishe, “Put out your hand and grasp it by the tail”—he put out his hand and seized it, and it became a rod in his hand—
Moishe was an eyewitness to the magic, he was about convinced to accept the role, but not fully. In this week’s parsha, we read this:
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְהֹוָ֔ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה וְאֶֽל־אַהֲרֹ֖ן לֵאמֹֽר׃
יהו said to Moishe and Aharoin,
כִּי֩ יְדַבֵּ֨ר אֲלֵכֶ֤ם פַּרְעֹה֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר תְּנ֥וּ לָכֶ֖ם מוֹפֵ֑ת וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹ֗ן קַ֧ח אֶֽת־מַטְּךָ֛ וְהַשְׁלֵ֥ךְ לִפְנֵֽי־פַרְעֹ֖ה יְהִ֥י לְתַנִּֽין׃
“When Paroy speaks to you and says, ‘Produce your marvel,’ you shall say to Aharoin, ‘Take your rod and cast it down before Paroy.’ It shall turn into a serpent.”
וַיָּבֹ֨א מֹשֶׁ֤ה וְאַהֲרֹן֙ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֔ה וַיַּ֣עֲשׂוּ כֵ֔ן כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר צִוָּ֣ה יְהֹוָ֑ וַיַּשְׁלֵ֨ךְ אַהֲרֹ֜ן אֶת־מַטֵּ֗הוּ לִפְנֵ֥י פַרְעֹ֛ה וְלִפְנֵ֥י עֲבָדָ֖יו וַיְהִ֥י לְתַנִּֽין׃
So Moishe and Aharoin came before Paroy and did just as יהוה had commanded: Aharoin cast down his rod in the presence of Paroy and his courtiers, and it turned into a serpent.
וַיִּקְרָא֙ גַּם־פַּרְעֹ֔ה לַֽחֲכָמִ֖ים וְלַֽמְכַשְּׁפִ֑ים וַיַּֽעֲשׂ֨וּ גַם־הֵ֜ם חַרְטֻמֵּ֥י מִצְרַ֛יִם בְּלַהֲטֵיהֶ֖ם כֵּֽן׃
Then Paroy, for his part, summoned the sages and the sorcerers; and the Egyptian magician-priests, in turn, did the same with their spells:
וַיַּשְׁלִ֙יכוּ֙ אִ֣ישׁ מַטֵּ֔הוּ וַיִּהְי֖וּ לְתַנִּינִ֑ם וַיִּבְלַ֥ע מַטֵּֽה־אַהֲרֹ֖ן אֶת־מַטֹּתָֽם׃
Each cast down his rod, and they turned into serpents. But Aharoin’s rod swallowed their rods.
Let us review: The RBSO appears to Moishe and appoints him as the individual to lead the Yiddin out of slavery. In a lengthy dialogue, Moishe (last week) protests that he is not suited for the task, while the RBSO maintains otherwise; Moishe is destined for leadership. Among his many concerns, Moishe expresses doubt as to whether the Yiddin will believe that the RBSO has appeared to him and appointed him to lead them out of Egypt. The RBSO responds by equipping Moishe with several “signs” (miracle tricks) to convince the Yiddin of his divine approval. Rather than rely only on oration or logical persuasion to accomplish their goals, Moishe and Aharoin will also be equipped with miracles; snakes, serpents and perhaps even crocodiles are part of the show. Crocs? Mamish? That’s not what we were taught in yeshiva but not to worry, thankfully we have been blessed with many exegetes and they were blessed with vivid imaginations. More on the crocs below.
In one of these miracles, Moishe is commanded to throw down his staff, and when he does so, it turns into a snake (nochosh). The RBSO then tells Moishe to grab the snake by the tail, and when he does so the snake reverts back into a staff. This miracle, along with two others, is used to convince the Yiddin that Moishe is the legitimate messenger of the RBSO. That was last week. This week, in our parsha, a similar miracle takes place. Moishe and Aharoin confront Paroy, bearing the RBSO’s command that the Yiddin be set free. Not surprisingly, their request meets with cynicism and rejection. However, to demonstrate that they have, in fact, been sent by the RBSO, Aharoin is commanded to throw down his staff, which turns into a serpent (tanin). Exactly what the difference is between a snake (nochosh) and a tanin (serpent), ver veyst, and is for another day. The bottom line: Not all agree that they are the same. FYI: the Malbim suggests that the tanin was not a snake but a crocodile. The bottom line: For our purposes, this week, both are some kind of snake. Another bottom line: Sadly we have all encountered some bad -and even very bad people- in our lives; they are all snakes of some variety. Shoin! Back to the narrative.
Unimpressed by the magic show, Paroy calls on his magicians, who also turn their staffs into serpents. However, Aharoin’s staff devours those of the Egyptians. As an aside, Rashi notes that the posik says that the staff of Aharoin devours the staffs of the Egyptians, rather than saying that the serpent of Aharoin devoured the serpent of the Egyptians. According to Rashi, this was a “miracle within a miracle,” because somehow the devouring took place after the respective serpents turned back into staffs. The bottom line: wood can also be swallowed, if you chap.
Let us recall that we have previously met both snakes and serpents though I bet most of you recall only one such incident: Back in Parshas Bereishis, on the fifth day of Creation, when the RBSO “decides” to create living creatures, we read this (Bereishis 1:21) : And the Lord (Elo-him) created the great taninim (serpents), as well as every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly…and every winged bird. Note that the posik begins with the creation of the taninim, exactly the symbol that Aharoin’s staff became in the court of Paroy. In the second perek (chapter) we read about the creation of man and woman, their placement in the Garden of Eden, the RBSO’s commandments to them, and their eventual downfall at the hand of the conniving snake.
It so happens that we did meet another set of snakes and serpents a few parshas back but this time only through Rashi who told us that when the holy brothers, as in Yoisef’s brothers, decided to save Yoisef from death -what righteous people they were at the time, (not!)- and instead throw him into a pit, that pit was indeed empty of water but was full of snakes and serpents. Yoisef survived that ordeal of course. The bottom line: When the RBSO has His eyes on you and is watching, no harm can befall. And this week, for the third time, the RBSO will feature snakes. They will be featured again in Sefer Bamidbar. Why was the snake selected? Why not the lion or any other animal or creature? Ver veyst? Is there such a thing as good and bad snakes? Or, all snakes -by definition- bad? And did this story really happen? Did Paroy’s magicians mamish recreate the magic tricks?
Let’s check out the Rambam who said this in his writings, “The Guide to the Perplexed.” As to how we are to understand that the magicians of Egypt were able to replicate the miraculous deed of Aaron; that they cast down their staffs, ‘and they became snakes,’ he says this: These magicians were masters of sleight-of-hand and deception, to make those watching momentarily ‘see’ things – and, in this instance, to ‘see’ the staffs as snakes. ‘This is why, at the conclusion of the episode, the Torah states that Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs’, NOT ‘their snakes’. What’s the bottom line? Did it happen as we were taught? Or, was it but a magic trick, sleight of hand? Our Sages elucidate, that even four- and five-year-old children in Egypt mastered the ‘crafts’ of sorcery and ‘sleight-of-hand, and that, in fact, Pharoah brought these young children who also performed this ‘miracle, as did Pharoah’s wife.
‘The Egyptian children, well-schooled in creating illusions, covered themselves with the skins of dead crocodiles, acted out with their movements to make the viewers ‘see’ those ‘crocodiles’ moving; and when the Egyptian sages cast down their staffs, these ‘disguised crocodiles’ grabbed them and concealed them under the skins, making the susceptible viewers believe that the staffs had ‘become’ crocodiles. ‘And who were those under the skins? The young children who were ‘learning’ these ‘skills’ at the special academy that taught this craft. They were referred to as חרטומים (sorcerers). Says the Malbim, azoy: The heylige Toirah does not say, of these sorcerers, that ‘they also did so’, to teach that their ‘miracle’ was fundamentally different from that of Aaron, in which his staff did in fact become a תנין’, which he translates as crocodile, and not as Rashi understands, as a snake. And now you know. Wow!
Nu, oib azoy, if the Egyptian sorcerers – be they older, or even 4 and 5-year-olds- were able to replicate Aharoin’s magic, what was the tachlis (purpose) of this trick? Why would the RBSO order this as their opening act? Ober says the Be’er Mayim Chaim that it’s quite poshit: The RBSO was intent on punishing Paroy because he went overboard in punishing the Yiddin, The RBSO told Avrohom that his progeny would be strangers in a strange land; He never mentioned the decrees, the slavery and male babies being thrown live into the Nile. Davka for that reason, the RBSO commanded Moshe and Aaron to perform this ‘miracle’, the very one even the young Egyptian children could replicate: To lull Pharoah into dismissing it, and, as a result, to further harden his heart, so that the RBSO could afflict him with all the makos set aside for him. Th bottom line: payback is a bitch and when the RBSO decides to get even, there is no force can stop Him.
Ober, if it’s emes that Paroy’s people could replicate the snake-staff act and that Paroy was not impressed, why wasn’t he impressed when Aharoin’s staff -or whatever it finally became-and did the swallowing trick? Why wasn’t Paroy moved and impressed? Taka an excellent question ober says the Netziv that Pharoah ‘blessed’ himself in his heart, that this too was sorcery, and that the powers of sorcery of Moshe and Aaron were simply greater than those of his sorcerers – and therefore ‘he did not heed them’. In other words: magic did not impress him.
Let’s also check this from Rabaynu Bachya who says so gishmak azoy: The RBSO chose this miracle of the staff becoming a snake and not some other animal – davka because the snake sinned and caused Chava to transgress, by loshon horo. It questioned the RBSO.
Similarly, Paroy sinned with loshon horo when he said: ’Who is Hashem that I should heed his voice. And the big deal? Don’t we all speak loshon horo? Of course we do, but one must avada be very careful when one speaks ill (loshon horo) against the RBSO. And we know this how? Ironically, snakes will make yet another appearance, this one in Sefer Bamidbar where will be reading how, following an event where the Yiddin spoke out against Moishe and the RBSO, the RBSO responded with fiery serpents that killed a bunch. Let’s read the posik from Bamidbar 21:5-6.
וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר הָעָ֗ם בֵּֽאלֹהִים֮ וּבְמֹשֶׁה֒ לָמָ֤ה הֶֽעֱלִיתֻ֙נוּ֙ מִמִּצְרַ֔יִם לָמ֖וּת בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר כִּ֣י אֵ֥ין לֶ֙חֶם֙ וְאֵ֣ין מַ֔יִם וְנַפְשֵׁ֣נוּ קָ֔צָה בַּלֶּ֖חֶם הַקְּלֹקֵֽל׃
and the people spoke against G-d and against Moishe, “Why did you make us leave Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread and no water, and we have come to loathe this miserable food.”
וַיְשַׁלַּ֨ח יְהֹוָ֜ בָּעָ֗ם אֵ֚ת הַנְּחָשִׁ֣ים הַשְּׂרָפִ֔ים וַֽיְנַשְּׁכ֖וּ אֶת־הָעָ֑ם וַיָּ֥מׇת עַם־רָ֖ב מִיִּשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
Hashem sent seraph serpents against the people. They bit the people and many of the Israelites died.
The plague was only halted after Moishe was told to fashion the cooper serpent which the Yiddin were instructed to look at. So happens that this has become a symbol of healing. The bottom line: Live snakes are bad, copper snakes heal. And when speaking loshon horo of others, leave the RBSO out of the conversation.
And we close with this: What is the general consensus about the snake/serpent we read about in Parshas Bereishis? Did it exist? Are there respected scholars -not oisvorfs- who believe this entire storyline refers to the Soton (Satan), the very one we mentioned last week, the very one who convinced the RBSO to test Iyov? And the bottom line is this: Whether the entire account is interpreted literally or allegorically, we are left with this figure, represented by a snake, that draws humans towards evil. Says the Rambam azoy: We know the Garden of Eden story is allegorical because there is a talking snake, and snakes don’t talk. Case closed!? On the other hand, the Ibn Ezra says farkert: The snake from creation was an intelligent animal that talked, thought, and walked upright like a human. Only after its sin was it downgraded to the level of all the other animals (or perhaps below the level of most animals). The bottom line: Among the classical Toirah exegetes, there are those that interpret that whole Garden of Eden story as being literal historical fact, while others interpret it allegorically. Well, blow me down. No swallowing please.
A gittin Shabbis!
The Heylige Oisvorfer Ruv
Yitz Grossman