SNAKES ON THE PLAINS by Rabbi David Cohen-Henriquez When I was a child there was in our house a picture that always called my attention. This picture was a Mola, a handmade art using reverse appliqué of colorful fabrics done by the native Kuna women of Panama. The image was of two snakes intertwined around a pole with wings on its’ sides. Being a physician, my father had received it as a gift. He taught me that this was a very ancient symbol called Caduceus and it was the symbol of Health and Medicine. Although it came through Greek and Roman culture, he told me we could also find it in Judaism, in the story of this week’s Torah reading. During their trek from Kadesh to the steppes of Moab the people of Israel start complaining once again about their ominous destiny of dying in the desert. They spoke against God and Moses and were very verbal about their discontent and their wish to go back. Infuriated God sends poisonous snakes to attack them. Aware of their transgression they repent and beg Moses to intercede on their behalf. God then instructs Moses to build a statue of a snake high on a pole, and if a serpent had bitten somebody, when that person looked up to the serpent of brass, they were healed. I still wondered why the symbol of healing was a snake. Then I discovered that beyond the mythological story of Greek gods there was a more rational explanation: the antidote for venomous snake’s bites is actually made out of the snake’s venom. That applies to our Biblical story as well: the words of complain of the Israelites towards God and Moses had sprouted from their venomous tongues, so the anti-venom would be to look up to the copper snake on high and by doing so they would lift their attention toward Heaven and repent. Remember the game snakes and ladders? It is a very simple children board game. The goal was to advance on a board towards the goal, and as you rolled the dice you could fall in space that made you slide down through a snake, meaning sending you back a few squares, and sometimes you could fall in a space with a ladder, that brought you up a few rows closer to you final goal. This is precisely what happened to the Israelites in the desert and to us in our personal lives. We all roll the dice in a life journey sometimes rising ourselves up by ways of virtues (the ladders) and sometimes we are sent back a few spaces due to our very human vices (the snakes). We contain inside of us the venoms and the anti-venoms. How will we use our tongues? Are we going to elevate ourselves in our trek towards our final goal by using healing words of praise, love and thankfulness, or are we going to be sunk to lower levels and be delayed by toxic, venomous words and thoughts? The caduceus is in your hand and the antidote is in your mouth. Use them wisely. MAY YOU HAVE A SHABBAT OF HEALING OF BODY, MIND AND SPIRIT
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 18:59:25 +0000
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