R. David Kasher on Parashat Hukkat: Language Falling on Language

Ta Shma

There is probably no more playful instance of wordplay in all the Torah than the nehash nehoshet, the copper snake described in Parashat Hukkat. With its string of repeated consonants, it sounds like it could be another of Dr Seuss’ whimsical creations, living in the same strange zoo with “the Cat in the Hat,” “Yertle the Turtle,” and “the Fox in Socks.” Yet the nehash nehoshet appears in the midst of a story that is anything but whimsical. In chapter 21 of the Book of Numbers, the Children of Israel have once again questioned the decision to leave Egypt. God, once again outraged by their ingratitude, sends a den of deadly snakes to attack. The people ask Moshe to pray on their behalf, he does, and God responds with a strange solution.