Making sense of the sedra: Chukat

There is a fascinating psychological phenomenon known as the ‘halo effect’, where the positive impressions and perceptions we hold of others influence our feeling in another, sometimes altogether unrelated, area. Due to our pre-existing positive disposition towards the other, our overall judgement is coloured.

So too, the theory holds, there is a negative-halo effect, also known as the ‘horns effect’, where our negative impressions of someone or something in one area influences our view in other areas.

We find a similar phenomenon in this week’s parsha, Chukat.

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In response to the plague of snakes that attacked Bnei Yisrael, Moshe is told to make a snake and place it on a staff and anyone who is bitten should “gaze at that snake and live” (Bamidbar 21:9).

How do we understand this instruction in light of the ubiquitous Torah prohibition against idolatry? In Bereishit 15:5 Avraham is lifted above the Heavens and is told to gaze down at the stars, as his children will be as innumerable as the constellations. Rashi comments that “gazing” always denotes looking down from a higher perspective, and thus Avraham was raised above the stars to show that Jewish destiny transcends natural forces.

So too, the purpose of the snake image was to engender the response of “gazing” down at the snake – realising that Am Yisrael stood on a higher plane and that other forces have no power! When we realise and internalise the axiom that Hashem is the source of all existence, when we connect with the transcendental, we are no longer restricted by the limitations of the natural order.

However, we find another place in the Torah where the same root of “gazing” is used. When Miriam speaks negatively about her brother Moshe, Hashem tells her and Aharon that Moshe is unlike any other prophet: “With him I speak mouth to mouth … and he gazes at the image of Hashem” (Bamidbar 12:8).

If “gazing” denotes look down at something else, how could Hashem defend Moshe by telling his siblings that Moshe (God forbid!) looks down at the image of Hashem?

The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that this pasuk is referring to a situation where Bnei Yisrael sin and fall to their lowest depths. Most people looking down at the sinners would see their errant behaviour and rebuke them accordingly. Not so Moshe. Even though Moshe stood on a much higher spiritual plane than the people, when he “gazed” at them from above he still saw “the image of Hashem” in them!

When our natural disposition is to look at the other through positive lenses – with the “halo effect” – then we will see positive virtues even within the sinner. True leaders, like Moshe, see the good, and the God, in others.