By Dr. Rabbi Moshe Dror
Phillip Ratner uses the Biblical narrative of the Bronze Serpent (Copper Serpent- Nehustan) as told in the Bible in Numbers 21: 4-9.The Israelites in the wilderness were bitten by snakes and many died. Moses is told by God to make a snake of Bronze (copper) and set it up on a pole. When the Israelites looked at it, namely raised their eyes upwards toward heaven, they were cured from the snake venom.Later, during the time of King Hezekiah it seemed to be worshipped itself and was considered to be idolatrous and was destroyed by Hezekiah (2Kings: 18:4).In the Rabbinic traditions it was suggested that the bronze Serpent was not in itself an agent of healing but that when the Israelites looked towards God , up in the heavens, they prayed to God and were healed. Serpents and snakes, either singly, or in pairs, were often seen as agents of healing energy. In the ancient Mediterranean cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Canaan the serpent was associated with the healing of the sick. It entered Western Symbolism through the association with the Greek god Asclepius and has become one of the most often used symbols in the West as the symbol of healing and medical arts. We know it as the Caduceus. Rather creates two images of these traditions. In The Brass Serpent we see the healer not in some ancient site but in a modern hospital setting and the healer as a physician type. The Healing energy is sent through the staff with the serpent attached to a sort of medical device. Interestingly, the physician has a helmet on his head and does not see. The Golden light from the lamp above and in the band of light in front of the eyes, suggest that the healing is coming from some other source of healing-namely the Divine. In the Laser Serpent, the theme of divine healing is even more evident. The patient is floating on some sort of hospital bed; the physician is placing the healing rod, here with two intertwining serpents (like the double helix of DNA) over the umbilicus (belly button) of the sick person. This is the site of his connection to the life giving force of his mother in the womb and here the life giving force is also of the divine. The two rays of light from the head of the doctor (perhaps the Third Eye, or where the Jew wears the tefillin when praying) is clearly associated with the light of healing.The term LASER is an acronym for:Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. This is focused and coherent light, quite different than ordinary light that we all used to.One of the modern miracles we all use today in so many different ways is the many applications of the various uses of laser light. The common pattern-that-connects of both of these is that healing , while the physician certainly is part of the system, is primarily a function of the divine energies that surround and sustain us all.
