Parsha:

Balak 

Description

Goodness and evil manifest in so many ways, many overt, some subtle. Sometimes it is nearly impossible to distinguish between the two until it is too late. In our parasha, we see that either can begin in similar ways, that the same act can reveal very different outcomes. Chazal teach that deep hatred causes people t lose grasp of their most 'basic norms of conduct." Bilaam did not wait for his servants to do the task. He was rash, driven by his evil emotion. Vile hatred. Hatred so wicked that, for Bilaam, it was his donkey herself that possessed true wisdom. Malbim tells us that Bilaam's sin was not that he didn't see but that he should have seen! To understand Bilaam's hatred, we need to understand its opposite, Abraham's love.