Parshat Balak 5778- Insight into the phenomenon of Bilam

ו  וְעַתָּה לְכָה-נָּא אָרָה-לִּי אֶת-הָעָם הַזֶּה, כִּי-עָצוּם הוּא מִמֶּנִּי--אוּלַי אוּכַל נַכֶּה-בּוֹ, וַאֲגָרְשֶׁנּוּ מִן-הָאָרֶץ:  כִּי יָדַעְתִּי, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-תְּבָרֵךְ מְבֹרָךְ, וַאֲשֶׁר תָּאֹר, יוּאָר.

6 Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me; peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.'

Many of  the mefarshim are mystified as to the words of Balak in this pasuk. Why does he mention the efficacy of Bilam’s blessings if his intention is to get Bilam to curse the Jews? Furthermore , if Bilam’s blessing was so effective , why did he not ask Bilam to bless Moav in any battle against the Bnei Yisrael and no further discussion would have been necessary?

The Seforno raises the question of Balak’s words and comments as follows:

אשר תברך מבורך הנה כחו לא היה לברך אבל היה לקלל בהזכיר עון או בכוון שעה כדברי רבותינו ז'ל ולכן לא שאל ממנו שיברכהו לנצח או שיוכל להתיצב מנגד אבל אמר ידעתי את אשר תברך מבורך לכבודו של בלעם להורות שלא חשב אותו למזיק בלבד:

אשר תברך מבורך, actually Bilam’s power did not consist in blessing but in cursing people by mentioning their failings at a critical moment in G’d’s timetable, as elaborated on by our sages in B’rachot 7. This is why Balak did not demand a blessing from Bilam to make him victorious in war, or at least to be blessed so that he could fight the Israelites to a standstill. But when he nonetheless added the words ידעתי את אשר תברך מבורך, he did so only as a way of flattering Bilam.

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The Seforno understands that, in fact, the blessings of Bilam are not relevant to his plan, as he may have believed that the blessings were worthless anyway. The purpose of mentioning the blessings was simply to flatter Bilam  in order to get  him to come and curse the Jews as required. It is amazing that with all the fiduciary incentive that he was receiving, Bilam still needed the ‘ego massage’ which Balak provided, which emphasizes what a particularly low individual he really was. Balak was saying that he does not view Bilam just as a destructive force but in the case of the current task, a curse of destruction is required

A completely different approach is found in the sefer Kotnot Ohr (which is a collection of Torah comments by the author of the Panim Meirot, a descendant of the Shach and an ancestor of the famous Rosh Yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael, Rabbi issar Zalman Meltzer). He quotes the Zohar, which asks the same question of why does he mention the blessings here? The Kotnot Ohr gives his own answer to the question, based on a fascinating Midrash, found in the Targum Yonatan in our parsha.

 וְשָׁדַר עִזְגְדִין לְוַת לָבָן אֲרַמִי הוּא בִּלְעָם דִבְעָא לְמִבְלוֹעַ יַת עַמָא בֵּית יִשְרָאֵל “And he sent unto Laban the Aramite, who was Bilam, (so called because he it was) who sought (Biluva) to swallow up (Amma) the people of the house of Israel:”

According to Targum Yonatan, Bilam was actually Lavan (very ancient by this time).This is the meaning of the pasuk we say in the Hagada:

אֲרַמִּי֙ אֹבֵ֣ד אָבִ֔י וַיֵּ֣רֶד מִצְרַ֔יְמָה which refers to Bilam going down to Egypt (the Arami is Bilam) and this is something we know very well from the fact that Bilam was consulted by Paro as to how to deal with the Jews in Egypt. We also know that Lavan blessed Rivka:

וַיְבָרֲכ֤וּ אֶת־רִבְקָה֙ וַיֹּ֣אמְרוּ לָ֔הּ אֲחֹתֵ֕נוּ אַ֥תְּ הֲיִ֖י לְאַלְפֵ֣י רְבָבָ֑ה וְיִירַ֣שׁ זַרְעֵ֔ךְ אֵ֖ת שַׁ֥עַר שֹׂנְאָֽיו׃

And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “O sister! May you grow Into thousands of myriads; May your offspring seize The gates of their foes.”

Lavan/Bilam had already blessed the Jews, the descendants of Rivka, that whenever they are confronted by an enemy they would always be victorious, and the same Lavan/Bilam was now being asked to curse the Jews. Balak realized that Bilam may argue that it is too late as the blessing was given already many years before to Rivka,to counteract this argument. Balak says that he knows the blessings of Bilam were made but just as this blessing was effective, he must now curse the Jews and the hope is that the curse will be just as effective. This argument would persuade Bilam to go ahead with the evil plan and not hesitate, evenallowing for the previous blessing that he had given to Rivka.

Again, although this is very Midrashic in content, it gives us a further insight into the evil ways of the anti semite and how he can be twisted in his thinking when it comes to the Jewish people.

The Chafetz Chaim points out that in this parsha there are no gaps in the sefer Torah during the interactions between Bilam and Balak. He explains that when Moshe left these gaps in the rest of Torah, they represented moments of reflection when Moshe internalized what he was learning from God. Bilam is quite the opposite and lacks any form of reflection. His agenda overwhelms him and no self-reflection is carried out.

This again is very significant for us to be aware of. The plans made by the enemies of Israel have been thwarted in history, and very often we have been unaware of the way these plans were overcome. This is another element of the Divine nature of our existence in the world, and we must always thank God for the daily miracles that He does for us to keep us in this world. This is certainly a matter of great reflection and is very suitable for consideration as we enter the 3 week period, when we remember again the trials and tribulations of our existence in this world and the fact that we are still around to continue this amazing narrative of Jewish existence.

Rabbi Ian Shaffer        SCW/Cherry Hill          June 2018