Serpentine Path to Prominence

The copper snake served as a reminder of the miracle that Hashem performed. It recalled the time that the multitudes of people bit by the venomous snakes were miraculously healed. They reasoned that the benefit of reminding people of the miracle outweighed the concern of any possible future use of the snake as an idol. The Chassam Sofer opined that this was an erroneous conclusion. Hashem decreed that the righteous kings should make this mistake in order to allow their descendant Chizkiyahu a time to shine.

The Gemara states: “His ancestors left Hezekiah room through which to achieve prominence [lehitgader].” Destroying the snake back then would have been the proper course of action, but Hashem wanted Chizkiyahu to achieve prominence and therefore caused his ancestors to err and thereby leave it for him.

The Chovos HaLevavos warns in Sha’ar Yichud HaMa’aseh against innovations in Judaism. He writes, “Therefore, be careful that your steps not stray from the path of the forefathers and the path of the early ones towards a new path you have devised, and be careful to not rely on your intellect nor to take counsel only with yourself. Do not reason on your own. Do not distrust your forefathers in the tradition they bequeathed to you as to what is good for you. Do not reject their advice in what they taught you because none of the plans you can think of were not previously known and their good and evil consequences were already weighed.”

Yet, from the Gemara in Chullin we see that Chizkiyahu did stray from the path of his fathers. Two righteous ancestors of his decided that the copper snake should not be destroyed and yet he did destroy it. Chizkiyahu respected his ancestors and their decisions but concluded that he was right nevertheless. Indeed, the Gemara records that his ancestors only erred because Hashem decreed it.

Throughout our long Jewish history there are always people who want to introduce innovations — the Mussar movement and the Chassidic movement, for example. The Chovos HaLevavos warns them to tread carefully. Why introduce a new movement that wasn’t previously introduced? However, if a talmid chacham concludes that the new ideas are needed now, he may proceed, as we see from the Gemara in Chullin.