Giving the Material Snake Power

In a teaching from the R. Moshe Cordovera (Ramak), I found the following passage from the Zohar (Part II, Shemot, 17b)

R. Yossi went out to the road, and R. Acha ben Ya'acov went with him. As they were walking, R. Yossi lapsed into silence and his thoughts turned to matters of the world, but R. Acha continued to think about matters regarding the Torah (as they walked). R. Yossi turned and saw a snake coming after him. R. Yossi said to R. Acha, Do you see the snake running after me? R. Acha said that he did not see the snake. R. Yossi started to run and the snake ran after him. R. Yossi fell down and blood flowed from his nose. He heard it being said "Only you I knew from all the families of the earth, thus I call you to account for all of your sins." (Amos 3:2) R. Yossi said, If this is how it is for a moment, then how much more so would you despair from one hour thus.

Cordovero uses these verses as a proof text for his argument. He states that when a person does a mitzvah, they draw down "shefa" into the world. So we learn from the above passage that it's important for all Jews to constantly do mitzvot so as to continue to draw down shefa from God. If we were to stop doing so, there would be problems in the world from the lack of shefa.

He also uses it for a later argument that tzaddikim draw down a greater share of shefa as they are at a higher level. If they stop doing their work, then there is a greater deficiency in the world, so it is more signifigant.

My reading of the source text is slightly different. My reading of the text is that R. Yossi began to think of concerns in this world until they began to consume him and have power over him. For someone at his spiritual level, it makes sense that the fears would externalize and take the form of a snake only visible to him, which chased him until he fell and hurt himself. When he fell, he received a teaching from the angels. We never learn what happened to the snake, though presumably it disappeared when he fell.

In this reading, the sin of R. Yossi was getting too caught up in worldly matters such that they held power over him. Jews live in the world. There is no tradition of monastic ascetisism within Judaism. It is considered a commandment to get married and have children, which, as all parents know, firmly grounds one in the world and gives one lots of worldly things to think about. R. Yossi's mistake was to let the worldly matters control and drive him.

Living in the modern world, there are many times when I see clients who are being driven by the need for money and their busy schedules. Their "snakes" are their date books and emails. The fears drive them forward faster and faster until they eventually develope health problems which lead them into my office. Those problems often stop them in their tracks and force them to reflect and consider, which can open them to the spiritual world.

In the Zohar passage, the message R. Yossi heard was that Jews are punished more for their sins because they are the chosen people. He understood it to mean that if he was caught up in the physical world for just a few moments and had such a strong reaction, then what could he expect if he spent an hour controlled by his material fears? Or days? Or months?

There is clearly a place in the Jewish world to think about our worldly needs, but one needs to be careful that they don't control us or have power over us. Otherwise they will drive us to self-destruction. But when we do fall down, we need to take that opportunity to grow.