#bilaam

[menachembluming]

Menachem Bluming Muses: Got Rage?

When the prophet Bilaam is forced to bless the Jewish people he says (Bamidbar 23:8) that G-d does not see anything negative in the Jewish people. Rashi explains that when Jacob criticized the rage displayed by Shimon and Levi in destroying the city of Shechem he criticized their anger rather than criticizing them. He saw them as good people just having acted in an inappropriate manner.

When you critique another do you criticize them and invalidate them or do you question their deed?

It often makes all the difference in whether they feel annihilated and defensive or (hopefully) appreciative for the helpful guidance.

Rabbi Mendel (Menachem) Bluming Potomac Maryland

[rebbestorah]

Beauty is in Detail

מַה טֹּבוּ אֹהָלֶיךָ יַעֲקֹב (במדבר כד, ג) HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE YOUR TENTS, YAAKOV! (BAMIDBAR 24:3) 

What was the beauty that Bilaam saw in Bnei Yisrael’s tents?

According to the Talmud (Bava Basra 60a), Bilaam observed that the Jewish people arranged their tents so that the entrances did not line up, and they did not peer into each other’s homes. This demonstrated their dedication to maintaining privacy and modesty.

Recognizing their modest conduct and the purity it engendered, Bilaam exclaimed, “These people are worthy of having Divine Presence rest upon them!” This, says Rashi (Bamidbar 24:2), is what caused Bilaam to reconsider his plans to curse them, and he blessed them instead.

The Torah’s ethic of tznius—not exposing those aspects of life intended to be private—clearly involves much more than not peering into another person’s tent. Yet Bilaam reconsidered his curses upon noticing this seemingly minor detail of the Jewish people’s conduct. From here we see that adherence to the details of tznius (and not sufficing with the general laws alone) has the power to transform even the worst curses into blessings.

Moreover, Bilaam’s reference to Bnei Yisrael’s tents highlights that they maintained this high standard of modesty even when they were in a temporary setting. This teaches us that adherence to the Torah’s standards of tznius not only in our regular environments, but also in temporary and short-term settings, is truly our most beautiful feature and our greatest source of blessing.

—Likutei Sichos, vol. 13, pp. 83-84

[jewishandmore]

Thinking Torah for This Week

July 22-23, 2016 / 

17 Tammuz 5776

Parashat Balak

The Book of Numbers Chapter 22, Verse 2 – Chapter 25, Verse 9

 What can we possibly learn from a story about a talking donkey?

I suppose this is really a silly question, considering the huge number of popular books, movies, and television shows that feature speaking animals, many of which are also classic and powerful vehicles for profound instructions (see Aesop’s Fables, Daniel the Tiger, or Zootopia).

In this week’s Torah reading the talking donkey is the only one who sees that an angel with a burning sword is threatening her rider Bilaam.

Sometimes we need the wisdom of simple creatures to remind us to open up our eyes and see what is really going on around us. This story reminds us that insight can be found everywhere, and that listening deeply may allow us to learn from everyone and everything.

Let us all try to breathe, watch, listen, and open our minds to what we can learn.

 Wishing everyone a truly wonderful week filled with blessings of open minds and well-being,

[rebbestorah]

Live Prey

הֶן עָם כְּלָבִיא יָקוּם וְכַאֲרִי יִתְנַשָּׂא (במדבר כג, כד)

Behold, a people that rises like a lioness, and raises itself like a lion (Bamidbar 23:24)

Bilaam compared the Jewish people to lions. As interpreted by the Midrash Tanchuma, this comparison hints to the vigor with which the Jewish people recite the Shema, like a lion pouncing on its prey. “They arise from their sleep like lions, seize the recitation of Shema and proclaim the Almighty’s kingship” (Tanchuma, Balak 14)

Why is the recitation of Shema compared to a lion’s attack on its prey, and not to any other animal’s?

The Shema begins with a declaration of G-d’s Oneness: “Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One.” Chassidus explains that, in essence, this means that everything in the world is an extension of the Divine energy that brings all of creation into being and continuously maintains its existence. It follows that even the yetzer hara, man’s selfish and negative inclination, is created by G-d for a G-dly purpose. The Shema therefore continues with the command to love Hashem, “with all your heart.” Our Sages (Mishna, Berachot 9:5) explain that this means that all of your hearts passions and desires, even those that stem from the yetzer hara, should be directed and harnessed toward your devoted service of G-d. In the words of Rav Yochanan (Talmud, Bava Metzia 84a), “Invest in Torah the very same energies that you used until now for wrongdoing!”

This explains why Bilaam compared the recitation of Shema to a lion seizing its prey. According to the Talmud (Bava Kama 16b), the lion eats its victim while it is still alive, unlike other animals that first kill their prey and then eat it. This is likewise the message of Shema: the ultimate service of G-d is not to drain the yetzer hara of its energy but to “eat it alive,” to absorb and channel its passion into your service of G-d.

—Igros Kodesh, vol. 1, pp. 156-157

[netiv]

Balak: Part Two

http://media.blubrry.com/netiv/p/www.netiv.net/wp-content/parshah/Balak_Part_Two.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Balak: Part Two was originally published on Netiv.net

[rebbestorah]

Raised Awareness

וַיָּקָם בִּלְעָם בַּבֹּקֶר וַיַּחֲבשׁ אֶת אֲתֹנוֹ  -  במדבר כב, כא 

In the morning, Bilaam arose and saddled his donkey.. (Bamidbar 22:21)

From here we see how hatred causes a person to break from convention. Bilaam had many servants at his disposal; yet in his eagerness to go curse Yisrael, he saddled his donkey himself. —Midrash

Bilaam’s hatred of the Jewish people was unfounded. It was Balak, not him, who felt threatened by the approaching Bnei Yisrael. Yet, in his eagerness to curse Bnei Yisrael, Bilaam went against all norms of rational and befitting behavior for a person of his status. He even saddled his own donkey, though he had a retinue of servants for the job. “But Hashem, your G-d, did not want to listen to Bilaam. So Hashem, your G-d, transformed the curse into a blessing for you, because Hashem, your G-d, loves you (Devarim 23:6).” Bilaam’s irrational hate for Bnei Yisrael was utterly transformed into blessings and praises that pronounce and extoll G-d’s fatherly, unconditional and irrational love for the Jewish people.

This explains why the Torah’s foretelling of the ultimate arrival of Moshiach is specifically in the prophecy of Bilaam.

The Talmud (Sanhedrin 97a) states, “Three things catch us unaware: the arrival of the Moshiach, stumbling upon a lost item, and (the bite of) a scorpion.” The precise moment of Moshiach’s arrival can never be known, so we will always be caught off guard, or in the Talmud’s words, in a state ofHesech Hadaas, absence of cognizance. But according to teachings of Chassidus (Tanya, Igeres Hakodesh 4), this statement is also a depiction of the era of Moshiach: it will be characterized by absence of daas – knowledge and cognizance. This will not be due to the lack of daas, but to thesurpassing of daas. For with the coming of Moshiach, the innermost, essential, and super-rational connection to G-d will be consciously revealed within every Jew; G-dliness that transcends understanding will become our observed reality. It is therefore most fitting that the irrational Bilaam foretell the coming of Moshiach and the future redemption…

—Likutei Sichos vol. 38, pp. 88-89

[rebbestorah]

Tzniut: Fixation on Detail

מַה טֹּבוּ אֹהָלֶיךָ יַעֲקֹב - במדבר כד, ה 

How beautiful are your tents, Yaakov! (Bamidbar 24:3)

He saw that the entrances were not facing each other. —Rashi

In each of their encampments, Bnei Yisrael arranged their tents such that the entrances did not face one another. This was done to maintain a spirit of privacy and modesty, so as not to expose one’s family life to the neighbor’s eyes and likewise not to pry in to theirs. Upon noticing this conduct of reservedness, and the pure and guarded culture it engendered, Bilaam had a change of heart. “It entered his mind not to curse them (Rashi to 24:2),” but to bless them instead.

Understandably, this degree of caution to protect what is meant to remain private and under-exposed is not one of the cardinal rules of tzniut, modest behavior. There were other more obviously significant aspects of the Jewish ethic of tzniut which Bilaam could have identified. The fact that this is what brought about Bilaam’s change of heart teaches us that attentive adherence to the minor details of tzniut has the power to transform the curses of the wicked Bilaam to blessings!

There is yet another point to be observed in Bilaam’s blessing: How beautiful are your tents. The importance and beauty of tzniut conduct lies not only in its observance when in an established and regular setting. It is our care and attention to the details of tzniut even when in tents, in a temporary and transitive environment, that is the Jewish people’s greatest sources of blessing. 

—Likutei Sichot vol. 13, pp. 83-84

[rebbestorah]

Moshiach and You

אֶרְאֶנּוּ וְלֹא עַתָּה אֲשׁוּרֶנּוּ וְלֹא קָרוֹב דָּרַךְ כּוֹכָב מִיַּעֲקֹב - במדבר כד, יז 

I see him but not now, I behold him but not near; a star shoots forth from Yaakov... (Bamidbar 24:17)

The Baal Shem Tov taught that the soul of Moshiach is the collective soul of the Jewish people, within which every Jew is represented. When each individual Jew “prepares and repairs” the aspect of Moshiach’s soul which depends upon and relates specifically to him or her, this brings about the complete revelation of the soul of Moshiach. This also explains why it is said of Moshiach: “he bears our illness, he suffers our pain (Yeshayahu 53:4).” The completion of Moshiach’s soul is subject to each Jew’s individual input, and therefore his completeness “suffers” when our work is deficient.

(This teaching mirrors and explains the Rambam’s famous instruction (Teshuva 3:4) that each person must consider that essentially the coming of Moshiach depends upon him. “A person must see himself and the world as equally balanced on two ends of the scale; ...by doing one good deed, he tips the scale and brings for himself and the entire world redemption and salvation.”)

With this in mind, we can understand the two extremes we find in the interpretation of Bilaam’s prophecy that “a star shoots forth from Yaakov”. According to many early sources, the “star” of this verse is the future redeemer of the Jewish people, Moshiach (see Ramban ad loc., Yerushalmi Taanis 4:5). Yet others interpret the star that shoots forth from Yaakov as a reference to every single Jew (Yerushalmi Maaser Sheni 4:6). How can the same verse that is seen as a reference to the most common and simple Jew, be understood by others as a hint to Moshiach, the select and “anointed” perfect human being for whom all of history waits?

According to the above teaching of the Baal Shem Tov, however, these extreme interpretations in fact complement and complete each other...

—Toras Menachem vol. 31, pp. 122-125