How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel!

(Bamidbar 24:5)

 

Your dwelling places [mishkenotekha]: even when they are desolate, for they are held as a pledge [mashkon] for you, and their desolate state atones for your souls, as it says, The Lord has spent His fury (Lamentations 4:11). How did He spend it? He has kindled a fire in Zion.

(Rashi Bamidbar 24:5, Judaica Press translation)

 

It is written, A psalm of Assaf. O God, the heathen are come into your inheritance (Psalms 79:1) The text should have used a phrase like, Weeping of Assaf, Lament of Assaf, Dirge of Assaf; why does it say, A psalm of Assaf? It may be likened to a king who erected a bridal-chamber for his son which he plastered, cemented, and decorated; but his son entered upon an evil course of living. The king forthwith ascended to the chamber, tore the curtains and broke the rods; the [the son's] tutor took a piece of rod which he used as a flute and played upon it. People said to him, "The king has overthrown his son's chamber and you sit playing a tune!" He replied to them, "I play a tune because the king overturned his son's chamber but did not pour out his anger upon his son." Similarly, people said to Assaf, "The Holy One, blessed be He, has caused Temple and Sanctuary to be destroyed, and you sit singing a Psalm!" He replied to them, "I sing a Psalm because the Holy One, blessed be He, poured out His wrath upon wood and stone and not upon Israel." That is what is written, and He has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured the foundations thereof.

(Eikhah Rabbah 4:14, Cohen translation)

 

Balaam and Jonah - Between Israel and the Nations

David Grossman

The unique character of Parashat Balak that distinguishes it from most of the Torah's other parshiyot is readily observable in the list of topics it treats:

a) The existence of a prophet from the nations of the world whose actions prove his hostility towards the chosen people. If bribed, he is even prepared to curse them.

b) This strange "prophet" refuses to disobey his God's command, but he also believes he can change His mind.

c) The Creator of the world emphatically demands that "His prophet" bless rather than curse the Israelites, even placing an obstacle in the "prophet's" path to guaranty compliance.

d) The "prophet's" ass sees the obstacle, while the prophet cannot.

e) The ass is not only graced with exceptional visual ability - she can also speak.

f) Her rider remains unaware of her supernatural abilities until an angel of the Lord appears standing before him.

g) "The "prophet" believes that the Creator's mind can be changed if he changes his location.

h) He employs another method to persuade the Creator - the bringing of many gifts (seven bulls and seven rams adding up to 42 animals and 21 altars to be used only once).

Many commentators have tried to explain this odd parasha, but they found it quite difficult to produce a convincing interpretation. One solution cites Joshua 13:22, which states that the the kosem [wizard] Balaam ben Beor was killed by the sword by the Israelites. Verse 22:7 from our parasha also supports this interpretation; it states that the elders of Moab and Midian came to Balaam with ksamim [magic charms] in their hands (however, there is no evidence that Balaam had need for those charms). According to this reading, it seems that the wizards used various instruments - perhaps oracular devices - to trick people. Some exegetes (such as Or HaHayyim on this verse) hold that Balaam also used astrology to fool people; in any event it is reasonable to assume that the wizards used some sorts of magical devices. The Torah, of course, prohibits consultations with wizards. In any case, this line of interpretation fails to address many of the issues listed above.

Our parasha depicts Balaam as a prophet with whom the Lord speaks. True, Scripture uses the term Elohim (which does not necessarily refer to the Lord, God of Israel) at least three times while describing Balaam's nocturnal revelation (22:9-10,12), but later verses use the Tetragrammaton, and Balaam is clearly referring to the Lord when he speaks of the Lord my God (22:18). There may be some significance to the use of El and Shaddai instead of the Tetragrammaton. In any event, Balaam's deeds prove that he views himself as an emissary of the Lord and not as an emissary of other gods. His blessings offer incontrovertible evidence that he was not thought of as just another wizard. Indeed, HaRav Kook holds that despite Balaam's wickedness he was a prophet of the Lord. In this connection HaRav Kook cites a dictum from Sifrei stating that the verse and no other prophet like Moses arose in Israel refers only to Israel and not to the nations of the world. According to the Sages, Balaam was one of the prophets who rose up for the gentiles.¹

RaMBaM understood the story of Balaam and his ass as having been a "prophetic vision" produced by wind working as an angel: "For even the elements [i.e., wind and fire] are called angels" (Guide of the Perplexed II:2, based upon Psalms 100:4). Elsewhere (Guide II:45), RaMBaM explains that Balaam belonged to the second to the lowest category of prophets, but God's revelation to him in a dream was a kind of proto-prophecy above which are found the eleven degrees of prophecy. All these eleven involve revelation in a dream or vision, except for the highest level which is reserved only for Moses, who "knew the Lord face to face" (II: 41,42). This explanation gives Balaam a place in the scheme of prophecy "when was he was good" (II:45).²

RaMBaM's stand on God's revelation to Balaam in a dream at night is not surprising. God already speaks to Adam and Eve in the second chapter of Bereishit. In that context, God's speech to the snake is reminiscent in its lack of naturalness to the story of the ass; revelation to gentiles who are not prophets is less anomalous. RaMBaM mentions, among other examples, King Pharaoh of Egypt, the King of Gerar, Laban the Aramean, and Hagar as some of the many gentiles who received divine revelation in their dreams. In most such cases God's intervention was aimed at saving our fathers and their children from serious harm. That is why RaMBaM considers divine revelation on the model of "and God came to so-and-so in a dream of the night," whether God appears personally or is represented by an angel, to be outside the compass of prophecy (Guide II:41).

The "Great Eagle's" genius is clearly at play in his answers to the difficult questions posed above; nevertheless, it is hard to accept them as delivering the plain meaning of Scripture.

Balaam's story is similar to that of Jonah. Here are the points of similarity:

a) A prophet's failed attempt to disobey God's word.

b) The unnatural behavior of animals.

c) God's intention to keep prophets from realizing their hopes to harm human beings.

Jonah, who is explicitly depicted as being a prophet who believes in the Lord, is punished more seriously than Balaam, and his fate is even more blatantly supernatural than the story of the ass; he survives in the fish's belly for three days and nights and is eventually spat out live onto the beach. In any case, the Book of Jonah presents an insight completely at odds with that of Balaam's tale; the idolaters are spared death while Jonah - who fears the Lord Who made the sea and the dry land - is cast into the sea. The story's continuation in Nineveh reflects an even more radical value; that even those who exiled Israel from its land can repent.

Balaam's character differs from that of the Prophet Jonah. He is described as avaricious and indifferent to human suffering. While his plan was negative, he enjoys great admiration, perhaps thanks to his rhetorical skills. Despite Balaam's personal tendencies, it should be said in his favor that he performed his Creator's will and was the instrument through which God's own blessings were bestowed upon Israel. For many generations the blessings formulated by Balaam served to explain Israel's being chosen to be a kingdom of priests and a holy people. Parts of the blessings even found their place in the Jewish prayer-book. They also had a great positive influence upon our national culture and literature.

To my mind the most important message of both parashat Balak and the Book of Jonah is that all people are created in the Divine image and that the Creator of humanity is concerned also with the lives and well being of those nations whose forefathers did not stand at Mount Sinai. Many rabbis, most saliently in recent generations, Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook, dealt extensively with pan-human ethics. One example of this can be found in HaRav Kook's letter to Dr. Moshe Zeidel (Igrot HaRaAYaH, I: 92-101), where, among other things, we find written: "The ways of rectitude... of Torah, which include... morality: theoretical and ethical; individual and collective; social and political" (op cit I: 94). Later in the letter he even proclaims that "all nations which hold to decent laws... are considered to be resident aliens [gerim toshavim] regarding all duties towards persons (ibid, pg. 99).

These few quotations from the writings of HaRav Kook represent the value known as "humanism," which is indeed the value common to human society as a whole (ibid I: 99). The Torah mentions this principle many times in connection with "love of the stranger." What is the meaning of this "love"? Everyday we recite the verse and you shall love the Lord your God and we agree with Hillel the Elder that and you shall love your neighbor as yourself is the central principle of the Torah. However, most of us ignore the commandment to love the stranger and some followers of Torah even claim that humanism is a sin.

Our attitude towards the nations of the world, which comprise at least 99.8% of the earth's human population, finds expression in laws referred to as mipnei darkei shalom - "because of the ways of peace." The events of the past few months demonstrate that straying from that path does not work in our favor. It is perhaps important to emphasize that the value of humanism is not merely pragmatic; rather, it is a commandment that obligates every Jew.

1. HaRav Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook, Igrot HaRA'aYaH (Mossad HaRav Kook, Jerusalem: 5745) volume 2, pg. 34. See also Bava Batra 15b.

2. I thank my friend Prof. Mordechai Akiva Friedman for helping me locate and explicate these sources.

David Grossman is a professor emeritus in the Department of Geography, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan.

 

And no other prophet like Moses arose in Israel - but amongst the nations one did arise. Who? It is Balaam ben Beor.

(Sifrei VeZot HaBerakha, 357)

 

The bestowal of the gift of prophecy on all human creatures was designed to impress upon the world that the choice of Israel was no arbitrary one, but the reward for Israel's readiness and willingness to accept the Torah. R. Yohanan's famous words (Avodah Zarah 2b) to the effect that God offered the Torah first to all the nations, one by one, but all refused, only Israel accepting, is explained in the Gemara as the rejoinder to the arguments of the nations: Did you ever offer us the Torah that we refused it? In this way, later sources motivate the gift of prophecy to the Gentiles.

(E.E. Aurbach, as quoted by Nehama Leibowitz in her Studies in Bamidbar, pg. 325, Aryeh Newman translator)

 

An important lesson can be learnt from this. Man's natural qualities do not determine his spiritual status, nor do the talents bestowed on him from Above. Even the supreme gift of prophecy cannot turn him into a saint against his will or without his own endeavors. Man's own will is the sole factor determining whether he will use his qualities, talents and even the gift of prophecy bestowed on him for good, or, God forbid, misuse them for evil. It depends solely upon his own freewill to aspire to the sainthood of a Moses or descend to the villainy of a Balaam.

(Nehama Leibowitz Studies in Bamidbar, pg. 326, Aryeh Newman translator)

 

Another place: Are Blessings and Curses Tied to Certain Places?

The meaning of another place is like another god, and other gods, and the sitra ahra - "the other (evil) side." For aher [another] is the opposite of ehad [one], the unique One of the world.

(Rabbi Zadok HaKohen MiLublin, Likkutei Ma'amarim, s.v. vehinei Mordekhai)

 

Go forth: for your benefit and for your good, and there I will make you into a great nation, but here, you will not merit to have children. Moreover, I will make your character known in the world.

(Rashi Bereishit 12:1, Judaica Press translation)

 

Here Rashi explains, "but here, you will not merit to have children." This is in accordance with what our Rabbis said: "Three things cancel the decree: change of place... "

(Hizkuni Bereishit ad loc)

 

And it will be, when the Lord, your God, will bring you to the land to which you come, to possess it, that you shall place the blessing upon Mount Gerizim, and those cursing upon Mount Ebal.

(Devarim 11:29)

 

You shall place the blessing: As the Targum [Onkelos] renders it: "those who bless."

upon Mount Gerizim: [The Levites] turned their faces toward Mount Gerizim (Sotah 37).

(Rashi Devarim 11:29)

 

This is why he [Onkelos] translated it "those who bless," because [the phrase] that you shall place... upon Mount Gerizim is not applicable to the blessing itself. The blessing itself should not be granted upon a limited place - that is why it must be understood as referring to [the location of] those who bless and not of the blessing itself, for when the Levites standing the middle turned towards Mount Gerizim and gave the blessing, the blessing was not addressed to Mount Gerizim, for the blessing has no substance and physical demarcation is irrelevant to it.

(MaHaRaL, Gur Aryeh Devarim pg. 56)

 

Five things befell our fathers on the seventeenth of Tammuz and five on the ninth of Av. On the seventeenth of Tammuz the Tablets were broken, and the daily offering was cancelled, and the city was breached, and Apistomos burned the Torah and set up an idol in the Sanctuary.

(Mishnah Taanit 4:6)

 

When Moses saw how they had sinned by making the calf, he said: How can I give them the tablets? I will be obligating them to observe serious commandments and I will be condemning them to death by divine power [when they transgress those commandments], for it is inscribed upon them, You shall have no other gods before Me. He turned to go back. Seventy elders saw him, and ran after him; he held the top of the tablet, and they held the top of the tablet. Moses was stronger than all of them, as is written (Devarim 34): And in all the strong hand and in all the great, awe-inspiring acts that Moses did before the eyes of all Israel.

(Avot DeRabbi Natan 2:3)

 

All of the types of holiness, [that of] the Land of Israel, Jerusalem and the Temple, they are but details and branches of the Torah, and they are sanctified through the Torah's holiness... Do not imagine, God forbid, that the Temple and the Tabernacle are intrinsically holy objects! God dwells among His sons in order for them to worship Him, and if they, to a man, have transgressed the Covenant (Hosea 6:7), all holiness is removed from them [the Temple, etc.], and they become like profane vessels "intruders came and desecrated it." Titus entered the Holy of Holies with a prostitute and was not harmed (Gittin 56b) because its holiness had been removed. More than that - the Tablets - the writing of God - are not holy in themselves, but only for your sake when you observe that which is written in them... no created thing is holy in itself, but only in that Israel observes the Torah... None of the holy places are founded in religion... [As for] Mount Sinai, the place of religion, as soon as the Divine Presence left it - the sheep and cattle climbed up it (Shemot 19:13)!

 (Meshekh Hokhmah Shemot 32:19;12: 21)

 

Our Rabbi Moses exemplified this when he broke the tablets as soon as he saw the people transgress the commandment make no idol or image for yourself. We must understand that the expression idol or any image applies not only to the golden calf made by Israel, but to every natural existent: Nation, land, homeland, flag, army, idea, a personality, and so forth, whenever they are treated as being holy.

(Y. Leibowitz: Sheva Shanim shel Sihot al Parashiyot HaShavu'a, pg. 401)

 

 

 

If you enjoy Shabbat Shalom, please consider contributing towards its publication and distribution.

• Hebrew edition distributed in Israel $700
• English edition distributed via email $ 100

Issues may be dedicated in honor of an event, person, simcha, etc. Requests must be made 3-4 weeks in advance to appear in the Hebrew, 10 days in advance to appear in the English email.

In Israel, checks payable to Oz VeShalom may be sent to Oz VeShalom-P.O.B. 4433, Jerusalem 91043.

US and British tax-exempt contributions to Oz VeShalom may be made through:

New Israel Fund, POB 91588, Washington, DC 20090-1588, USA

New Israel Fund of Great Britain, 26 Enford Street, London W1H 2DD, Great Britain

Please note that the NIF is no longer accepting donations under $100

PEF will also channel donations and provide a tax-exemption. Donations should be sent to P.E.F. Israel Endowment Funds, Inc., 317 Madison Ave., Suite 607, New York, New York 10017 USA

All contributions to either the NIF or PEF should be marked as donor-advised to Oz ve'Shalom, the Shabbat Shalom project. For Donations to NIF, please mention that Oz veShalom is registered as no. 5708.

 

About us

Oz Veshalom-Netivot Shalom is a movement dedicated to the advancement of a civil society in Israel. It is committed to promoting the ideals of tolerance, pluralism, and justice, concepts that have always been central to Jewish tradition and law.

Oz Veshalom-Netivot Shalom shares a deep attachment to the land of Israel and it no less views peace as a central religious value. It believes that Jews have both the religious and the national obligation to support the pursuit of peace. It maintains that Jewish law clearly requires us to create a fair and just society, and that co-existence between Jews and Arabs is not an option but an imperative.

4,500 copies of a 4-page peace oriented commentary on the weekly Torah reading are written and published by Oz VeShalom/Netivot Shalom and they are distributed to over 350 synagogues in Israel and are sent overseas via email. Our web site is www.netivot-shalom.org.il.