In Bereishit we learn about the snake that tricked Eve into eating from the Tree of Knowledge. The Torah tells us that there will be hatred between humans and the snake and that snakes will try to bite humans (3:15).
The Talmud tells us a story that shows us the best way to defeat the poison of the snakes (Shabbat, 156b).
On the day that Rabbi Akiva’s daughter was born a Chaldean astrologer came to Rabbi Akiva and said your daughter will die from a snake bite on the day of her wedding. Rabbi Akiva’s daughter was very worried about this.
We can imagine that she must have been very afraid to get married! After all the prediction was for the dangerous attack to happen on the day of her wedding!
Finally it came to the night of her wedding. We can imagine that she must have a very big security team to protect her, but even the best security team has holes in it.
On the night of her wedding Rabbi Akiva’s daughter returned to her bridal room and removed her special wedding broach from her hair. It was very dark in the room. In those days they didn’t have drawers and dressers to store their “stuff” so she stuck her sharp broach into the wall. The next morning when she awoke she saw that without realizing it she had stuck the sharp pin right through the eye of a very dangerous snake.
She ran to her father, Rabbi Akiva, to tell him the story. He said tell me what you did yesterday so I can see why you merited such a miracle. She told him that when everyone was busy preparing for the wedding a very poor man knocked on the door to their home. No one else heard the knock as they were all too busy with the wedding plans. But she heard it and quickly ran to help him. She gave him plenty of food that was meant for the wedding and sent him on his way.
Rabbi Akiva said to her that she was saved from the snake biting her as a result of her meritorious act of helping the poor man.
Today a poisonous snake is still very dangerous but in the time of mashiach we are told that children will play safely at the entrance to a cobra’s den (Isaiah 11:8).
The Torah tells us that Hashem made two really big lights in the sky. But then the Torah tells us that one light was big and it ruled during the day, while the other light was small and it ruled at night (1:16).
These lights refer to the sun and the moon.
The Talmud tells us a story that explains why these two lights started off as the same size and ended up unequal.
When Hashem first created the moon and the sun The Holy One created them equally. They were both the exact same size and gave off the exact same light.
The moon was unhappy and went to visit Hashem.
“Dear Hashem,” said the moon, “is it possible for two rulers to have a single crown? We both can’t be the same size. One of us must be in charge!”
Hashem said to the moon, “You are absolutely correct. For this reason I will make you smaller and the sun bigger.” Hashem commanded the moon to become smaller.
The moon was very sad and so it said to Hashem, “Is it fair that because I said something that was true that I should then become smaller?”
Hashem said to the moon, “For this reason, you will now be visible during both the day and night, while the sun will only be seen during the day.”
The moon was still sad. She said, “What is the point in me shining during the day? Since the sun is already there my light will not add anything. It is like lighting a candle during the day. It will do nothing at all!”
Hashem said, “I will make it so that that the Jewish people will use you to count their days and years.” Hashem expected the moon to be happy since the Jewish people would need it for this very important task.
But the moon was still unhappy. The moon said that the Jewish people will still use the sun to count their seasons!
Hashem said, “I will make it so that people will be named after you. Just like you are small (katan), others will also be called katan.” Indeed there were famous great Jews called Katan, like Shmuel the Katan, Yakov the Katan, and David the Katan.
Hashem saw that the moon was still sad.
So Hashem asked the Jewish people to please bring an offering as an atonement for Hashem because Hashem had made the moon small! We bring this offering once a month on Rosh Chodesh. (Based on Chullin, 60b).
In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: The police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. We'll hear one of their stories.
Yoni Friedman
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