From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, July 02, 2004 2:02
AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Balak,
5764
Who
Is That Man?
By
Rabbi Joshua (mysteriously known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
In
this week's parsha we are introduced to Bilaam, a man who many believed had
special powers that enabled him to bless people or curse them, as the need
arose. Bilaam is asked by Balak, king of Moav, to curse Israelites, because they
are approaching his land and he fears that they will wage war against him and
defeat him, just as they defeated Sichon and Og. Bilaam tells Balak that he will
do what he can, but ultimately can only say that which God places in his mouth.
Although Bilaam does intend to curse the Israelites, God bestows prophecy upon
him and converts his curses into blessings. Interestingly, from the time we
first meet Bilaam until the time that he leaves Balak and returns to his home,
there is no gap in the parsha, meaning that there are no internal breaks - no
parshiyos either pesuchos (open) or setumos (closed) - in parshas Balak. This is
a very rare occurrence in the Torah. The Chofetz Chaim, noting this peculiarity,
explained that it is an indication of Bilaam's character - he did not change
from the beginning until the end, despite the fact that God appeared to him in
prophetic visions several times. Why didn't he change? Rashi in the beginning of
Vayikra writes that the interruptions in the Torah text there, indicated by
pesuchos and setumos - empty spaces - represented time given to Moshe to reflect
on the divine teaching he received, before God taught him more. The fact that
there is no gap in the narrative regarding Bilaam indicates that Bilaam never
stopped to reflect on the message God was giving him, that Israel is blessed and
God would not acquiesce to his attempts to curse them.
Rav Nisson
Alpert, in his commentary Limudei Nissan, although he does not refer to the lack
of pesuchos and setumos, also notes that Bilaam remained the same throughout the
parsha. He explains this on the basis of the mishnah in Avos (5:22), which
states that the students of Bilaam, reflecting the character of their role
model, have three outstanding traits : a bad eye, a haughty spirit and a
desirous soul, in contrast to the students of Avrohom, who have a good eye, a
humble spirit and a contented soul. Rabbi Alpert explains that if someone has
bad character traits, then he will not be impressed by an experience of
spirituality, even if it consists of a prophetic vision. In order to bring God
and spirituality into one's life, he needs to work on himself, to purify himself
so that he is the kind of person who is ready to receive that inspiration and
elevate himself as a result of it. Bilaam retained his bad character traits,
and, so, he was not changed by the prophetic visions which he was granted.
I would like to suggest another explanation of the continuity of parshas
Balak, as indicated by the lack of pesuchos and setumos, based on an
understanding of who Bilaam was, in reality. The Targum Yonasan, based on a
midrash, writes that Bilaam was really Ya'akov's father-in-law, Lavan. As Rabbi
Avigdor Nebenzahl writes, it is unclear if this is to be taken literally, or in
a figurative sense. What we do know about Lavan is that he tried to prevent
Ya'akov from returning to Eretz Yisroel with his family, and that his ultimate
goal was to influence Ya'akov and his family to worship idols, just as he did.
This is the meaning, according to Rabbi Menachem Mendel Kasher, behind the
statement in the Passover Haggadah, that Lavan wished to uproot everything.
Rabbi Ya'akov Moshe Charlop, in his opening essay to parshas Balak, in his work
Mei Marom, writes that it was the intention of Balak and Bilaam to prevent the
Israelite nation from entering the Holy Land, because this would be the place
where they would be able to fulfill the Torah in a full sense, and thereby
influence all the nations of the world to serve God, which was exactly what
Balak and Bilaam feared. In this way, Bilaam who tried to use his special powers
to prevent Ya'akov from returning to Eretz Yisroel, was a spiritual heir of
Lavan. This motive of Balak and Bilaam, according to Rabi Charlop, is
implicit in Balak's message to Bilaam, " Behold a people has come out of Egypt.
Behold it has covered the eye of the land and it rests opposite me" (Bamidbar
22:5).
How was Ya'akov able to withstand the efforts of Lavan to
demoralize him and bring him down to his own level? We mentioned in
Netvort to parshas Vayeitzei, 5764 (available at Torahheights.com), that there
are no gaps of pesucha or setuma in that parsha, as well. According to Rav
Shlomo Yosef Zevin, in his LeTorah U'LaMoadim, the thought indicated thereby is
Ya'akov's uninterrupted concentration on Eretz Yisroel, throughout his stay in
Lavan's house, and beyond, until he eventually returned. We also noted that
Ya'akov prepared for his years of exile by sleeping on the dust and stones of
Eretz Yisroel the night before he left. Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi ends his classic
book of Jewish thought, Kuzari, by saying that the time for the Jews to return
to their land will come when they express their love for it, as King David wrote
in Tehillim (102:14-15) : "You will arise and show Zion mercy, for {there will
come} the time to favor her, for the appointed time will have come. For Your
servants have cherished her stones, and favored her dust." The Talmud in Kesuvos
records that when certain rabbi were about to leave Eretz Yisroel, they would
kiss the stones of Akko (Acre) to demonstrate their love for the land, as
articulated in these verses. Interestingly, during Rav Kook's eight month stay
in America in 1924, he carried stones from Eretz Yisroel around with him and
held them in his hand while talking to people, in order to keep maintain his
connection to the land while away from it. In a similar way, Ya'akov slept on
the stones and dust of Eretz Yisroel before leaving, in order to endear the land
to him and remind him of it while he was away.
The Torah tells us that
Bilaam rose up in the morning to curse the Israelites, as we read, "Bilaam arose
in the morning and saddled his she-donkey and went with the officers of Moav"
(Bamidbar 22:21). Rashi writes that we learn from here that hatred causes people
to deviate from their usual form of behavior, because here, Bilaam saddled his
she donkey himself, rather than having his servant do so. However, continues
Rashi, God responded to this action by saying that Avrohom, their forefather,
preceded him in that, as it is written, " And Avrohom arose early in the morning
and saddled his donkey" (Bereishis 22:3). The idea here, as pointed out by the
super-commentators to Rashi, is that in regard to Avrohom, the word
'vayashkeim', meaning that he rose up early, is used, in contrast to Bilaam's
merely rising in the morning, but not early in the morning. Thus, Avrohom rose
earlier in the morning to carry out God's will than Bilaam rose to counteract
God's will. Perhaps this, too, is hinted at in the words placed into Bilaam's
mouth by God when he prophesied, " Who has counted the dust of Ya'akov?"
(Bamidbar 23:10). Although Rashi, citing the midrash, explains this to refer to
the mitzvos that the Jewish nation performs with dust, such as the prohibition
of Kilayim, which forbids the planting of mixed seeds, dwelling in Eretz Yisroel
in and of itself also constitutes a mitzvoh. Moreover, according to Ramban, our
forefathers, Avrohom, Yitzchok, and Ya'akov, performed the mitzvos strictly in
Eretz Yiroel, and, even today, all of the mitzvos take on greater meaning in
Eretz Yisroel (for more on this, see Netvort to Vayeitzei, 5764). Thus, although
Bilaam, throughout the parsha, had an uninterrupted desire to thwart the
nation's efforts to enter Eretz Yisroel, live a life guided by the Torah and
influence all nations to follow in God's ways, Ya'akov preceded him by immersing
himself in the dust of Eretz Yisroel before leaving it, and keeping the land in
his thoughts uninterruptedly, as indicated by the absence of any gap in the
Torah, until he returned to the land. Therefore, just as our forefather
Avrohom's efforts in serving God counteracted Bilaam's efforts, so too did our
forefather Ya'akov's efforts ensure our entry to Eretz Yisroel, despite Bilaam's
efforts to prevent it from happening.
Please address all correspondence to the
author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.
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