בס׳ד

"Where does it say that you have a contract with G-d to have an easy life?"

the Lubavitcher Rebbe



"Failure is not the enemy of success; it is its prerequisite."

Rabbi Nosson Scherman



2 Jul 2009

The caduceus


The previous post was about how snakes are making the headlines in the papers, just as this week's parsha relates an incident about snakes. I wrote about two headlines from the New York Post and The Daily News regarding snakes. I guess the New York Times wanted to be part of my musings about snakes. I just came across an article in the New York Times (July 1, 2009) by Nicholas Kristof entitled "When Our Brains Short-Circuit."
The second paragraph begins with the following words:
"Evidence is accumulating that the human brain systematically misjudges certain kinds of risks. In effect, evolution has programmed us to be alert for snakes and enemies with clubs, but we aren’t well prepared to respond to dangers that require forethought.
If you come across a garter snake, nearly all of your brain will light up with activity as you process the “threat.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/opinion/02kristof.html?_r=1

I found an interesting dvar Torah about the snake and the universal symbol of the medical profession, adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Torah Tapes and transcribed by David Twersky. The article was found on Torah.Search.com, an online Torah search engine.
To read the full dvar torah, click here.
"Hashem told Moshe to make a model of a fiery serpent out of metal, place it on a pole and advise the people suffering from snakebites to stare at it. This in fact became the source of cure for those so smitten. They would stare at the copper serpent and live.
This narration is one of the most peculiar stories in the Torah. Certainly this was miraculous. The "natural" way to cure snakebites would be through some kind of serum that would be an antidote to the poison of the snake. But this was Klal Yisrael in the Wilderness. These were miraculous times and "natural healing" would not suffice.
However, even the miracle should be "logical". A "logical miracle" would consist of Moshe fashioning a vial of anti snake venom serum out of copper, having the people stare at it and become cured. However, what was the point of curing the people specifically by having them look at a copper model of the very creature that attacked them?
The Mishneh [Rosh HaShanna 29a] comments on this: "Does the (copper) snake kill or the (copper) snake cure? Rather, when Israel lifted their eyes (toward the snake on the banner) they looked heavenward toward their Father in Heaven and this cured them; otherwise they withered away."
Hashem was sending a message that we need for time immemorial. We still need this lesson, even more so today than back then. G-d is saying "Of course it makes no sense to look at the source of your problem and be healed. That is patently ridiculous. I am asking you to look beyond the snake. Look at who really takes away life and who really restores life. Look at who really smites and who really cures."
If there would have merely been a metal bottle of snake serum there, the people could have erroneously believed that serum cures, medicine cures, science cures. Instead, the Almighty provided a cure that no one in his wildest dreams could think is really the cure: "This isn't the cure - this is the problem!"
This is the very point. The cure DOES NOT come from the snake. The cure comes from our Father in Heaven.
Rav Shlomo Freifeld, z"l, once commented: It is significant that the universal symbol of the medical profession today is the caduceus, the winged staff with two inter-twined snakes. It comes from this week's parsha: "They shall gaze at the copper snake and live."
Why did the medical profession pick this very symbol? Perhaps because at one time, the medical profession realized that the proper way to view doctors are as agents of the Almighty. One cannot get well without a good doctor and one needs a good doctor, one who has the merit to administer the proper care and treatment. But the doctor is merely an agent.
Just as everyone realizes that it is not the scalpel that removes the malignancy, but rather it is the surgeon who handles the scalpel, so too we must realize it is not the doctor who brings life, but it is the Master of the World who is using the doctor as his holy agent.
That is why this is THE appropriate symbol of the medical profession. We need this awareness today even more than they needed it then. Today, medicine is so advanced and doctors can do so much that we must always bear in mind that we are looking at the copper serpent. Healing will only occur if we subjugate ourselves to our Father in Heaven."

1 comment:

  1. Another snake story in the news this week: There was an item on WINS Radio in NY this morning about a pet python that escaped from his cage and got into the 2-yr-old's crib during the night. When the mom awoke, she found the python wrapped around the baby. She stabbed the python (which survived), but it was too late for the baby.

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