Parshat Balak

And balaam went with balak

And they came to the village of huzoth (streets).

(Bemidbar 22:39)

 

Kiriat Huzoth - A city full of markets, men women and children in its street, so as to say "See, and have pity that these not be uprooted".

 (Rashi ibid., ibid.)

 

And Balaam went etc. - meaning to indicate that he did not treat him with respect, but rather that Balak went ahead and he followed, therefore it does not say ‘and Balak and Balaam went', and it is possible that because Balak heard Balaam's statement that he can do nothing, he turned his back to him and went off, but Balaam attached himself to him from behind and went with him, and this is the meaning of "And Balaam went with Balak".

(Ohr HaHayyim, ibid., ibid)

 

Kiriat Huzoth - It may be that that Kiriat Huzoth was a town in the form of a hub with streets extending from it in all directions. But "Huzoth" more commonly refers to a street serving the transportation needs of the town, in the sense of a city with many streets and in Medrash Rabba the explanation is "that he created marketplaces of trade and he made himself a bazaar to show him the populace so as to say, See who they are coming to kill - people and babes who never sinned" This is to say: He brought him to a town with many streets and markets, with trade activity and large populations; because he wanted to show him Moab in all its flourishing of national success, so that he see with own eyes the population whose existence was in danger.

(RaSHaR Hirsch, ibid., ibid.)

 

 

Israel and the family of nations

Efraim Chamiel

God decides to join the Balak-Balaam game, to give it leverage and to exploit the opportunity to achieve theological and political ends by transforming the curse into a blessing. The theological goal - to enhance His name among the nations of the world as Supreme Power, God of righteousness and justice, omnipotent and exclusive Lord of truth, impervious to magical influence. The political goal - to implant fear and trepidation of Israel in the hearts of the region's nations, to further the rights of the Israelite nation as a member of family of nations, one with leadership functions, as a moral nation which cannot be defeated because of the covenant between God and His people, and to reinforce its indisputable territorial rights to the Land of Canaan as realization of the covenant. If these messages emanate from the mouth of one considered by the nations to possess the greatest ability to influence supernatural forces, they will receive authoritative approval and none will protest.¹ Balak, from his perspective, thought that he had the political and economic prowess to enlist all the forces necessary for the struggle, and Balaam believed that he held the necessary power. The region's nations also thought - or at least hoped - so. This, then, presented a golden opportunity to reveal to all the nations the identity of the Lord, to win recognition of God and Israel, and to reinforce the knowledge that as long as Israel keeps the covenant, no power on earth can overcome it or prevent it from settling in its land.

Among the blessings with which Balaam blessed the Israelites at God's command is the blessing "Look, a people that dwells apart, amongst nations it does not need to come-to-reckoning" (23:9). Some interpret this blessing as buttressing the approach which espouses boastful isolation, disrespect for the values and opinions of other nations, and giving them no consideration. It does not seem, however, that this is the intent of the blessing. If, as I have demonstrated, there is importance to the nations' recognition of the Israelite people and its reception into the family of nations, then there is, it would seem, a different intent behind the blessing. It seems to me that according to the plain understanding of the text, Balaam's intent was to proclaim that the Israelite people, contrary to all other nations which are ruled over by various earthbound forces, is not subject to magic; it cannot be defeated with curses, because its Lord is God, who leads on the paths of morality, righteousness and truth. It is also intended to note that as long as Israel maintains its part of the covenant, it will dwell in security in its uniqueness and will not be subject to negative influences of other nations. From this we can deduce that the influence is two-directional. Israel is unique as the Lord's firstborn, sent by Him to humanity to instruct it in monotheistic morality according to which all powers are subservient to God. Therefore Israel is obligated to preserve this exceptionality throughout history, exceptionality expressed through the observance of the commandments (not through singular inherent superiority), which differentiates between us and other nations, and which prevents us from straying from the good and straight path. The blessing is that this uniqueness be preserved, and that when the nations will be numbered according to their cultures and languages, the Israelite nation will be not counted along with them but separately, as befits their eldest brother who preceded them with its spirituality and its morality and its responsibility for elevating them to its level as quickly as possible. The word "yitchashav" is not to be understood in its usual usage as "taken into consideration", but in the sense of "reckoning". Indeed, until this day the nations see us, the Jews, as a special nation; they demand of us - who pride ourselves as being guides for humanity - ethical and spiritual demands they dare not make of any other nation, and that which they forbid us they permit themselves and others. If only we can live up to these expectations.

[1]. See Abarbanel, end of his commentary to 22:7; Meshech Chochma, beginning of parasha; Daat Mikra 22:6. See also C.Y. Chamiel, Studies in the Parasha of the Week, Balak A (B), pps, 264-269, who adds that the significance of the nations' recognition of Israel is also the reason for publicizing Yitro's visit to Moshe

Dr. Effie Chamiel researches contemporary Jewish thought and teaches in the Hebrew University.

 

 

The lord opened the mouth of the she-donkey, and she said to balaam, "what have i done to you that you have struck me these three times?" balaam said to the she-donkey, "for you have humiliated me; if i had a sword in my hand, i would kill you right now."

(bamidbar 22:28-9)

 

The Lord opened the mouth of the she-donkey - to speak, since Scripture often alludes to speech and the pronouncing of letters with the term mouth, as in who gave man a mouth, and Moses said, for I am heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue. Here too, God granted the she-donkey's mouth the power to pronounce the letters, but it should not be said that the she-donkey gained a human-like spirit of intelligence. God forbid one think that way; that is why she did not make any mention of the angel of the Lord who stood before her, for she lacked the intelligence to make an argument defending her stubbornness as having resulted from her having seen the angel. Rather, she spoke like any animal prone to anger that was upset at having been hit. This miracle occurred in order to cast down Balaam's pride and humiliate him before the Moabite ministers who accompanied him. Instead of glorying before them in his wisdom and prophesying, he is now reproved by an animal that has made an unanswerable argument against him. He had to admit she was right, and there is no greater humiliation for such an arrogant man. The miracle also paralleled his sin and crime, for he wanted to find fault with the holy seed and the chosen elect, and this impure beast found fault with him as if she were his better. He came to sin with his tongue against the intentions of the Creator Who granted man the power of speech to use for good and not for evil, and the she-donkey, who could not speak by nature, spoke more correctly than him in order to shame him so that he might learn a lesson.

If I had a sword - his mind was confused by anger, and he spoke words that were a great embarrassment for him in the eyes of the ministers, since he was going forth to kill an entire nation with his speech, but he needed a weapon in order to kill the she-donkey.

(R. Yitzhak Shemuel Reggio ad loc)

 

On People, asses, sorcerersand the will of God

"Then the lord opened the ass's mouth" - to inform us that the mouth and tongue are under his control; should he wish to curse, his mouth in under his control.

 (B'midbar Rabba Parasha 20)

 

Ten things were created on the eve of Sabbath at twilight, namely: the mouth of the earth, the mouth of the well, the mouth of the ass, the rainbow, the manna, the shamir, the shape of the written characters, the engraving instrument, and the talents of stone. Some include also the demons, the grave of Moshe, and the ram of our father Avraham; others include also the original tongs, for tongs can be made only by means of tongs.

(Mishna, Avoth 5:6)

 

The eve of the first Shabbat of the six days of creation; not that they were actually created then, for should you really suppose that if Father Avraham's ram and Bil'am's ass lived thousands of year, our holy Torah would have concealed from us this great miracle? But the intention is to tell that He implanted in His creation the potential to produce the miracle at its appointed hour.

(Commentary "Tiferret Yisrael" on Avoth ibid., ibid.; see also Bavli, Pesahim 54a)

 

...Now we can certainly comprehend the opinion of those of our commentators who understand the dialogue between the ass and man the scorn with the Torah holds these beliefs, contempt for human "wisdom's" conceit which believes that the sorcerer-magician-augurer has the power to curse, i.e., to force divine powers to obey him.

(Nehama Leibowitz: Studies in B'midbar, p. 298)

 

"Why Have You Beaten Your Ass?" - The Torah Desires Development of Moral Sensitivity Towards All Creatures

"And the angel of the Lord said to him, Why have you beaten your ass?" - The angel came to protest the insult to the ass, and he said: If I have been commanded to demand redress for this insult to the ass - who has neither [patriarchal] merit, nor a covenant with the Patriarchs - how much more so for an entire nation which you seek to eradicate?!

(Tanhuma, Balak, 10)

 

It is set down with a view to perfecting us so that we should not acquire habits of cruelty and should not inflict pain gratuitously without any utility, but that we should intend to be kind and merciful even with a chance animal individual, except in case of need - "Because your soul desires to eat flesh" - for we must not kill out of cruelty or for sport.

(Rambam, Guide of the Perplexed III, 17)

 

For there is no divining ["nachash"] in Jacob: In the connotation of "I have received the signs ["nichashti"] and He has blessed me", and "in which he always divines ["yenachesh"]." You said ‘Let him go with me to a different place': No divining and no experimentation can avail against Jacob, and no sorcery can success in cursing Israel.

(Hizkuni, Bemidbar 23:27)

 

Who is Balaam in the tradition of generations?

Said Rabbi Elazar Hakapar: Balaam looked out and saw that there will be a man, born of woman, who will some day arise and attempt to set himself up as a divinity, and to lead the entire world astray. Therefore was power given to the voice of Balaam so that he would be heard by all the nations of the world, and so he said: "Be careful not to go astray after that man (Jesus), as is written, "No man is God, that he should lie," and if he claims to be a God, he is lying and he is destined to mislead and say that he is disappearing but will come in time (i.e., that he is the messiah of the end of days) "Should he say and not do so?"

(From an uncensored version of a midrash - quoted by Y. Leibowitz in Seven Years of Discussions of the Weekly Parasha)

 

Israel's great can also err in identification of the maschiach

"A star rises from Yaakov" - Because the Messiah will gather the dispersed of Israel from the ends of the earth, he compared him to a star rising in the firmament from the ends of the earth.

 (Ramban, B'midbar 24:17)

 

[Bar Cochba] has risen from Yaakov". When Rabbi Akiva would see bar Kozba, he would say: This is Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai taught: Rabbi Akiva would expound "A star has risen from Yaakov" - Kozba the anointed King - the Messiah. Said to him Rabbi Yochanan ben Tortah: Akiva, grass will sprout from your cheeks and still the Messiah will not arrive.

(Yerushalmi, Taanit 4:5)

 

Don't imagine that the Anointed King [Mashiach] must perform signs and miracles and create new things in the world or resurrect the dead, etc. Such is not the case, for we see that Rabbi Akiva was a great sage among the sages of the Mishna, and he was the ‘arms bearer' of King Ben Kozibah, and he said of him that he is the Messiah, and he and all the sages of generation thought that he was the Messiah. When he was killed because of his sins they realized he was not. The sages did not ask him to show a sign or a miracle. The main principle is as follows: This Torah, its precepts and rulings are eternal, not to be added to nor detracted from.

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings 11:3)

 

My masters, it may be that all those who spoke about the beginning of the blossoming of our salvation erred. It could be that the disciples of the Gra erred, it is possible that the followers of the Besht erred, that the disciples of Rabbi Akiva Eiger erred when they spoke about the beginning of the blossoming of our salvation, as is written in the books. It is possible that Rav Kook erred, that Rav Harlop erred. Rabbi Akiva, the greatest tanna, also erred.

(From Rav Amital's essay "To Hear the Sound of an Infant Crying", p. 85, quoted by Moshe Maya: Olam Banuy V'charev Vbanuy' p. 40)

 

The connectiom between the Jewish nation and world peace

Rashi wrote: "These three times" - you wish to uproot a nation which celebrates three times." From this it derives that those three signs mentioned refer to the three pilgrim festivals, beginning with Sukkot, which occurs in the month of Tishrei, the beginning of the year, about we it is said "When you gather in the results of your work from the field (Shemot 23:16). In connection with this is it written "The ass swerved from the road and went into the field" - you wish to uproot a nation which celebrates the Harvest Festival which is dependent upon the field, and during which Israel offers 70 bulls on behalf of the 70 nations? If so, their destruction will lead to the destruction of all the nations.

 (Kli Yakar, B'midbar 22:23)

 

There is a People that Dwells Apart - Promise or Challenge?

A people that dwells apart [levadad] - as he said: The Lord alone [badad] did guide it - so how can I destroy them?

(Seforno Bamidbar 23:9)

 

The Lord alone did guide it - He guided them in the wilderness alone (unassisted) and yet in security.

No alien god at His side - for not one of the gods of the other peoples possessed the power to display its might and to war with them. Our rabbis, however, explained it as a promise referring to the future, and so, too, does Onkelos render it.

But I say that they are words of reproof which he said with the view of calling heaven and earth as witnesses against them, and also in order that this song should be witness, because He knew that they would in future prove faithless and would bear in mind neither the past deeds that He performed for them nor those that would come to pass, which at a future time He would do for them. For this reason it is necessary to make the text fit in with this and with that (the past and the future). Indeed, the whole section is to be connected with, Remember the days of old, consider the years of generation after generation (32:7): Thus has He done for them and thus will He in the future do for them - all this they ought to bear in mind.

(Rashi on Devarim 32:12, Silberman translation)

 

There is a people that dwells alone - It will live in an insulated land without much intercourse with other nations, living its "internal" national mission as an am [people] as a national social body, and will not seek its greatness as goy [nation] among goyim [nations], not as a powerful imposing national body among the other individual nations.

(Rabbi S. R. Hirsch on Bamidbar 23:9, Levy translation)

 

Dwells alone" - is not taken into consideration as being among the nations, because he has no territory. What can be positive about this statement, that Yaakov has no land? Therefore I say that "Dwells alone" means differentiated from the nations, thereby he does not stray from the right and just path, and therefore His Lord God helps him succeed. And similarly I interpret "and he does not take the nations into consideration", meaning he does consider himself to be part of the community of nations [...] and the RaLBaG explains similarly [...].

(ShaDaL, ibid., ibid.)

 

'This is a nation which dwells apart, amongst the nations it is not reckoned'- The Israelite nation are apart. They have 613 mitzvoth plus warnings and safeguards, that should a Jew, Heaven forefend, transgress one, it will be reckoned to him as a sin - and there are a number of things which are not considered sins by the nations of the world. For example: If one transgress through sight or speech, etc, - it is considered [by Israel] to be a sin. But the nations do not considered it a sin. And this is what Scripture says: "It is a nation which dwells apart" they are a nation ‘for itself', but "amongst the nations it is not reckoned" to be a sin.

(R. Yehudah Zvi of Stretov)

 

 

 

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