Hashem sent snakes against the people (Bamidbar 21:6)

The Gemara tells the story of a dangerous poisonous snake which lived during the times of Rabi Chanina ben Dosa. Rabi Chanina ben Dosa went to this snake’s hole and put his heel on top of it. The snake bit him, but the great Sage was not affected. He then stated that the reason the snake was causing problems was not because it was a dangerous snake. It was because of the people’s sins. If people behave properly and repent when they do wrong, nothing can harm them.

In this week’s parsha, the Jews are attacked by snakes. One might think the reason the snakes attacked was because the Jews were walking through the dangerous desert and just were unlucky. This is not the reason, though. The reason is because Hashem wanted to punish the Jews for their sin. The sin in particular was that the Jews were complaining. The Torah records this for all time to remind us not to be complainers.

So how do we avoid becoming complainers? I think the answer can be found from a Rashi at the beginning of the parsha. In Bamidbar 19:2, the Torah discusses the Para Aduma (Red Heifer) and states that it must be an unblemished perfectly red cow. Rashi comments that it states perfectly red to mean that two black hairs will disqualify it from becoming a Red Heifer. Look closely at what Rashi is saying though – two black hairs disqualify it. Why doesn’t he state one black hair will disqualify it? The answer is because if one black hair is found then it is still considered as perfectly red. This means to be considered perfect, the cow can have a blemish! It can have one hair of the wrong color.

This is a great lesson for anyone who has an urge to complain. Before you start complaining, look closely at what you are going to complain about. Is it a perfectly red cow with one black spot? The majority of complaints are about little things. Husbands and wives argue over which side of the toothpaste to squeeze. They argue over finding a dirty sock on the floor. They don’t look at the bigger picture. Just like one black hair surrounded by thousands of red ones still makes a cow kosher, so too the small things that we want to complain about are normally surrounded by thousands of great things. We need to just change our focus.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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