Venue: Spain Spain

Parsha:

Balak 

Collections: Rabbi Schachter: Jewish Heritage Tour of Spain

Description

Lecture given during dinner. Chumash-Balak. The gemara states that Moshe wrote his book(chumash), and parshas Balaam. Shalah- but Bilam is part of the torah? Rav Velvel answers-the Rambam states that Moshe was the greatest of all the prophets, that only he wrote torah. However, Balaam was an equal, and possibly wrote the torah too, therefor the talmud states that Moshe also wrote this parsha. Were the dialogues quoted in the chumash, the exact words uttered by the people, or were their words changed when written in the torah?