וַיְשַׁלַּח ה’ בָּעָם אֵת הַנְּחָשִׁים הַשְּׂרָפִים
BIBLICAL SOPHISTICATION
Hebrew is an extremely sophisticated language. Almost all nouns have a 3-letter “root”, which with the addition of prefixes and suffixes, differentiates one term from the other. Verbs, also with three letters root, can be combined in seven different ways (binyanim), with different meanings that the untrained eye might not notice. This brief explanation should be enough to understand a deep “philosophical” idea behind the subtle details of a biblical verb in our Parasha, Chuqat: VAYISHALLACH.
In this week’s Parasha, the people again complain and rebel against God. At one point, they suggest that they should not have left Egypt and want to come back. God punishes this insubordination by “sending” poisonous snakes that claim numerous victims. “Sending” is the way almost all translations, Jewish and non-Jewish, rendered this term in our Parasha: “And God sent the poisonous snakes toward the people… (Bamidbar, Numbers) 21: 6”. However, this translation is wrong and does not capture the subtlety of the word VAYISHALLACH
TO SEND OR TO RELEASE?
There are two ways to vocalize the Hebrew word “וישלח”: one is VAYISHLACH, and the other is VAYISHAL-LACH. Without going too much into detail, the first vocalization means “to send”. Our Parasha mentions, for example, that Moshe “sent” emissaries to speak with the nation of Edom (20:14) and then Emor (21:21), etc. This word is repeated many times in the Tora, and there is even a Parasha with the name VAYISHLACH (YAAQOB MALAKHIM…), and Jacob sent angels. The second vocalization of the same word is VAYISHALLACH (with a dagesh, that duplicates the letter “L”) is less common. Its meaning is not “to send” but to release”: One example: VAYHI BESHALLACH PAR’O ET HA’AM, which also misinterpreted by almost all translations, is rendered as “And it was when Pharaoh ‘sent’ the people (of Israel)”. Now, what is the difference between VAYISHLACH and VAYISHALLACH? The first means “to send”: “A” sends “B” for a specific purpose or mission (SHELICHUT or SHALIACH). The second VAYISHALLACH means: “to release”, “to unleash”, “to let go”, and it expresses the idea that “A”, who is somehow in control of “B”, now “sets B free”, and “B” now acts on its own. Obviously, Pharaoh did not “send” the Jews on a mission outside Egypt: Pharaoh had not choice but to “let them go”, he “frees them” “releases them” from their captivity, and once free the Jews act on their own. The semantic difference between these two terms is not negligible.
GOD’S MODUS OPERANDI
Let us now return to the snakes: VAYISHAL-LACH does not mean that God “sent” the snakes to bite their victims. But that God “released” “unleashed” them. Our Sages explained that in the desert Bore Olam, the Creator protected us from our enemies, the devastating climate, desert animals, sand storms, etc., with the “‘anane kabod”, a virtual cloud, or a “firewall.” Divine punishment then, does not consist in God “sending” the poisonous snakes, but rather in God’s “suspending” His special protection, enabling the poisonous snakes to act according to their nature and instinct. I remember an unforgettable scene from “Jurassic Park” that can illustrate this idea. The Tyrannosaurus Rex, a carnivorous, very dangerous dinosaur, was contained by a 10,000-volt electric fence. And that fence separated him from the goats, his daily food, and from the humans who were visiting the park. … For some reason, the electrical power was disrupted, and the fence was now useless. The tyrannosaurus Rex was now “free,” and following his instincts, he devoured the goats and chased the humans. In our case, and as a punishment, God “deactivated”, and “suspended” His special protection, and the snakes were free to follow their nature, bite and cause the death of their Jewish victims.
WHO DEACTIVATED THE FENCE?
Why is this idea so important? Because it helps us to understand that HaShem “constantly protects Israel”, and not only in the past and not just the desert.… Israel –the Prophets and the Sages said–is like a little lamb among the nations, surrounded by enemies who want to destroy us. Israel is protected by Bore Olam through an invisible hedge, a Divine firewall, a 10,000 volt fence that “keeps our enemies away”, thwarting their plans, deflecting their missiles, confuseing their ideas, etc. However, when our behavior is not correct, the Divine firewall is somehow deactivated. And when HaShem “suspends” His special protection, the enemies of Israel do their thing.… This idea is mentioned in a very explicit way in Debarim 31:18, ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פני ביום ההוא: when the Jewish people abandon their covenant with God, the most severe punishment Israel might get is HaShem “hiding His presence”, that is, “suspending His special protection” from us.
24/7 PROTECTION
I think that the most important –and the most beautiful — aspect of this idea of VAYISHAL-LACH, is the understanding that the Creator protects us constantly as a people and also as individuals, without us even realizing it. Think, for example, that around us (or inside our body), there are billions of bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites, and small microbes, many of which could affect us or even kill us. The Creator permanently protects us (hashgacha peratit) from the natural elements surrounding us, from going wrong and so many accidents that can so easily occur. The Almighty watches over us by restraining these harmful natural forces. The “Divine Protection” is permanently active, non-stop, without us even noticing it like a firewall or an antivirus program that protects our computers 24/7. Every day, 3 times a day, we allude to this kind of Divine protection when we recite the berakha MAGEN ABRAHAM. “Protector of Abraham”, and we thank HaShem for taking care of us and guarding us with His invisible shield.
Shabbat Shalom
