While Standing (6 Feet Apart) on One Foot
A Torah for a Virus
The story of Moses, Miriam and God has an interesting episode in the Book of Numbers. Miriam and Aaron, Moses’ brother and sister didn’t like that Moses had married a Cushite woman – a black, probably African, woman. They confronted Moses and this is what happens, in the word of the text itself:
2They said, “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” The LORD heard it. 3Now Moses was a very humble man, more so than any other man on earth. 4Suddenly the LORD called to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the Tent of Meeting.” So the three of them went out. 5The LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, stopped at the entrance of the Tent, and called out, “Aaron and Miriam!” The two of them came forward; 6and He said, “Hear these My words: When a prophet of the LORD arises among you, I make Myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. 7Not so with My servant Moses; he is trusted throughout My household. 8With him I speak mouth to mouth, plainly and not in riddles, and he beholds the likeness of the LORD. How then did you not shrink from speaking against My servant Moses!” 9Still incensed with them, the LORD departed. 10As the cloud withdrew from the Tent, there was Miriam stricken with snow-white scales! When Aaron turned toward Miriam, he saw that she was stricken with scales.”
Do you see what happened here? Miriam and Aaron complained that Moses had married a black woman and God responds by saying, ‘Yeah? You like white only? Here’s white!’ and gives her white, scaly leprosy!
Many of us, given the same types of circumstances would relish in the shadenfreude – the delight of watching someone’s misfortune, especially if they have hurt us. Take a small perusal of your Twitter feed and see the delight when someone irresponsible gets sick by ignoring all the rules and guidelines: ‘He deserved it!’ ‘He got what was coming.’ And so forth. That is our psychological response and it is a way of affirming our own nobility, purity and innocence.
It is also immoral.
Moses teaches us in this passage the way we ought to respond. Keep in mind that Miriam just insulted Moses and his wife and Aaron just stood by. Moses has plenty of reasons to be upset and could easily have thrilled to watch his sister squirm out of discomfort. But he did not.
Immediately his response to God was very telling:
וַיִּצְעַ֣ק מֹשֶׁ֔ה אֶל־יְהוָ֖ה לֵאמֹ֑ר אֵ֕ל נָ֛א רְפָ֥א נָ֖א לָֽהּ
“So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “O God, pray heal her!” – Numbers 12:13
Five simple words – O God, heal her now. No delight in watching her suffer. No mention of how she deserved her illness. Just simple compassion.
And not only that: There is a wonderful commentary written by Rav Nahman of Breslov written around 1808.
He writes on this verse:
In addition, I heard that this is the explanation of the verse “O God, pray, heal her, pray!” (Numbers 12:13). On the face of it, the repetition of the word “pray” is quite odd. However, now it is clearly explained. Moshe Rabbeinu, may he rest in peace, asked this of God, that God Himself, as it were, should pray and petition Himself to heal her. Now, how much sweeter than honey is the resolving of this verse.
In other words, Moses is beseeching God to look inwards and to remove Godself from the attribute of justice and weigh Miriam more with the attribute of mercy. Moses is basically telling God to be more compassionate.
God ultimately agrees with Moses.
The lesson for us today as we reorient ourselves in a confusing time is to follow the lead of Moses: seek compassion, even when our inclination is to strict justice. Don’t celebrate when someone gets the virus – even if they were irresponsible. Show mercy and attend to the ill in any way you can.
Imitate Moses.
Be like Moses.
Be that guy
