This week’s Taste of Torah shares a story that invites us to wrestle with some of life’s hardest questions. The Israelites, tired and discouraged, begin to complain. In response, G-d sends poisonous snakes into the camp, and many are bitten. Then, in a surprising twist, G-d tells Moses to make a copper snake and lift it high on a pole. Anyone who looks at it is healed (Numbers 21:5-9). That image—the snake on a pole—has even become a universal symbol for healing.
Why would G-d choose the very thing causing pain as the instrument of healing? This question goes deeper than the surface of the story. Jewish tradition teaches that nothing in creation is absolutely evil. Even what seems most destructive can, within G-d’s plan, carry the seeds of good. Sometimes, pain teaches us compassion. Sometimes it helps us see blessings we might have missed. Sometimes, it forces us to reach out to others and to G-d in ways we never would have otherwise.
Still, explanations rarely satisfy when we—or those we love—are suffering. Why must hardship exist at all? Why must healing come through hurt? These are questions that have echoed through generations. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, once spoke with tears about this mystery. He taught that we are not meant to accept or rationalize suffering. G-d does not want us to explain pain away. Instead, we are meant to protest against it, to pray for its end, and to do all we can to bring comfort and healing into the world. If we could truly understand suffering, perhaps we would lose our urgency to ease it.
The prophet Isaiah gives us a glimpse of future clarity: “You will say on that day, ‘Thank You, G-d, for You have been angry with me’” (Isaiah 12:1). There will come a time when we will look back and see how even the hardest moments were woven into a greater good. And Isaiah promises us, “He will swallow up death forever; and the L-rd G-d will wipe away tears from every face” (Isaiah 25:8).
For now, as long as pain remains, it’s not yet time to thank G-d for suffering. Our task is to speak up, to comfort, to heal, and to demand that G-d fulfill His promise. If things are not yet good, the story isn’t over. May we each find the strength to bring light to those around us, and may we soon see the day when every tear is wiped away, and all is truly good in the end.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Yonatan Hambourger
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