פרשה: בלק · עלייה: רביעי (נצח)

וילך בלעם, Bileam went, etc. The fact that the Torah does not describe Bileam and Balak as walking together in the plural, i.e. וילכו, shows that Balak did not even show his guest the honour of letting him precede him. Balak marched ahead and Bileam caught up with him, or something similar. It is even possible that in this instance the word עמו means that he was forced to walk behind.

ויזבח בלק, Balak slaughtered, etc. The Torah reveals another aspect of the low esteem Balak held Bileam in that he did not even serve him a meal before proceeding with the task for which he had been commissioned. It is possible that the Torah writes ולשרים אשר אתו, to indicate that Balak did not even send enough meat for Bileam's lads, only for the ministers of his entourage. All of this shows how little respect Balak displayed vis-a-vis Bileam. The reason for this apparent display of being a miser may have been either that Balak was afraid that Bileam would take everything for himself without sharing with the ministers as Bileam enjoyed a reputation of being avaricious. This is why Balak gave specific instructions that what he sent over was not to be Bileam's alone but was also intended for the ministers who accompanied him. This may be the reason why our sages in Bamidbar Rabbah 20,16 claim that when Bileam saw how little meat Balak had allocated to him he threatened to send a curse against Balak's possessions on the morrow. As a reaction to this display of being cheap on the part of Balak, Bileam demanded on the morrow that Balak build an altar on which he would have to slaughter seven bulls and seven rams (23,1).

ויהי בבקר ויקח בלק…וירא משם קצה העם. On the following morning Balak took Bileam…and he saw a small part of the people. The word ויהי, as usual, also connotes something sad. The word may refer to the disagreement between Bileam and Balak over the measly portion of meat the latter had sent over on the previous day. The words ויקח בלק accordingly would refer to Balak trying to assuage Bileam's hurt feelings on the subject.

Another meaning of these words may be a reference to Bileam's partial lameness. As a rule people suffering from such lameness have difficulty in walking in the morning and especially if they have to climb hills. The word ויהי may hint at the discomfort Bileam experienced on that morning when he had to undertake physical exertions which were most difficult for him. Balak assisted him, and this may be the meaning of the words ויקח בלק את בלעם Balak helped Bileam climb the במות, the hills.

The word בבקר, "in the morning," may also indicate that Balak did not sleep well during the preceding night. We have a rule that kings do not normally rise till 3 hours after daybreak (Berachot 9). In this instance, Balak broke the rule and rose much earlier than usual.

Still another reason why the Torah mentioned the detail בבקר, may be connected with what we learned in A vodah Zarah 4. The Talmud questions what precise time is called רתח, a moment when G'd's anger is hot and Abbaye says it is three hours after daybreak. [In order to understand the significance of this let me quote from the text of the Talmud prior to this statement. The Talmud discusses Bileam's ability to divine what G'd thinks about and asks how this is possible in view of Bileam's demonstrated inability to know even what his ass was thinking about. After explaining that there was a special reason why on that day Bileam did not know what went on in his ass's mind, the Talmud even reconstructs the dialogue carried on between Bileam and his ass in addition to that reported in the Torah. At any rate, it is presumed that he was an expert at divining the precise moment when G'd is angry, something important because G'd's anger is so brief. Ed.] When the Torah speaks about בבקר, it hints that Balak and Bileam picked that moment in time when G'd might be angry at His world and a curse might be effective. Bamidbar Rabbah 20,18 also claims that the במות בעל mentioned in our verse refer to the cult of the בעל פעור and that Bileam foresaw that the Israelites would die there [as they did in due course as a result of Bileam's advice to Balak to have the Israelites seduced. Ed.] It is well known that this cult consisted of the worshiper excreting before that idol. Sanhedrin 64 describes what happened in these words: "how did one serve this particular deity? One ate beets and drank beer and then excreted and urinated in front of the idol." In other words, the very worship consisted in the worshiper behaving in the most primitive and revolting fashion. In view of this, Balak wanted to take Bileam up to the hills on which this cult was practiced and at the time it would be performed. This is the meaning of the words ויעלהו במות בעל, he took him up to the hills dedicated to the "Baal Pe-or." Perhaps this was not one of the cults which Bileam worshiped and Balak tried to talk him into performing such worship.

Still another reason for the Torah writing בבקר, "in the morning," may be related to what the Zohar wrote at the beginning of this portion when it described Balak's particular brand of magic and sorcery involving a bird, צפור. Balak took Bileam up to the hill at the time when this bird was known to be chirping. At such times Bileam could perform his tricks successfully.

Let us now turn to the reason that Bileam was only able to see a small part of the Jewish people from where Balak had taken him. We have already explained that Taanit 9 tells us that during all the preceding 39 years protective clouds had hovered over the encampment of the Jewish people so that outsiders could not even peek at the Israelites. When Aaron died these clouds disappeared and the camp of the Israelites became visible to outsiders for the first time. This is why the Canaanite (read Amalekite dressed as Canaanites) had been able to locate them and they made war against the Israelites. Subsequently, the protective clouds returned thanks to the merit of Moses. As a result, the camp of the Israelites was once more concealed from outsiders. In view of this how is it possible that Balak showed Bileam even part of the people? Should not G'd have made doubly certain that Bileam could not see them as his evil eye was potentially dangerous to them? We must conclude therefore that the קצה העם, the small part of the people whom Bileam did see, he saw only as a result of invoking Balak's magic by means of the bird we have mentioned earlier. Sanhedrin 67 asks why the witches are called מכשפות in the Torah? The answer is that witches by definition reveal matters which normally are hidden. [not in my text of the Talmud. Ed.] In this instance the witchcraft consisted of revealing what the cloud had hidden. The Torah therefore tells us that even with the help of his witchcraft Bileam managed to glimpse only a small part of the nation.

בנה לי בזה שבעה מזבחות, "build me on this site seven altars, etc." Bileam was not prepared to reveal to Balak what he had in mind and why as the mutual trust had been breached. Balak carried out Bileam's request, i.e. he displayed confidence in Bileam at this time. When the Torah adds the words כאשר דבר בלעם, (verse 2) it means that he did so without delay.

ויעל בלק ובלעם פר ואיל, Balak and Bileam sacrificed a bull and a ram (on each altar). It appears that the Torah refers to Bileam doing the offering and not Balak. Bileam had told Balak only to prepare the animals for him. Why did Bileam do something such as this without first obtaining permission from G'd? Had he not been instructed not to do anything other than what G'd would instruct him to do? Some commentators say that Bileam did what G'd had commanded him to do and they base themselves on Bileam saying to G'd in 23,4: "the seven altars which I have established and sacrificed, etc." These words appear to imply that Bileam had carried out G'd's instructions when building the altars and offering the sacrifices. I do not believe that such an interpretation makes any sense at all. It is inconceivable that G'd would desire the offerings of wicked people, especially so when the intent of the person offering the sacrifice was to harm G'd's chosen people. I have found the very opposite in the Yalkut Shimoni item 956 on Proverbs. According to that Midrash Bileam built seven altars and offered seven offerings to match the combined number of altars which the patriarchs are recorded as having built starting with Adam, Abel, Noach, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. We also find in Sotah 47 that Rav Yehudah said that a person should study Torah even for impure motives as in the course of time he would do so for pure motives. The Rabbi claims that the 42 sacrifices Balak offered were the reason (the reward) that Ruth the Moabite who became the great-grandmother of King David was descended from him.

In my estimation the correct interpretation of verses 2-4 is that Bileam considered G'd's prohibition as applying only to actions which were in themselves sinful and designed to strengthen the forces of impurity. He did not think that it would be objectionable if he emulated deeds which the patriarchs had performed and of which G'd had obviously approved at the time when the various patriarchs had performed them. This is why he offered these sacrifices in honour of G'd. The Torah uses the definitive article when mentioning את שבעת המזבחות, to show that all Bileam had done he did in G'd's honour; Bileam did this as he wanted to see if G'd objected even to this. He demonstrated his desire to offer more sacrifices to G'd than had the patriarchs, most of whom had built only a single altar. He, Bileam, on the other hand, had built seven altars. This is the difference between the Torah speaking of שבעה מזבחות, or את שבעת המזבחות. Our sages in Bamidbar Rabbah 20,18 have already said that Bileam tried to outshine the patriarchs with the seven altars he built for G'd. Bileam's whole point was to neutralise any advantage the Jewish people might have over him by their reliance on the merits of their ancestors.

וישם ה׳ דבו בפי בלעם, G'd put words in Bileam's mouth, etc. Although most commentators have already treated this verse exhaustively, they have also left some room for our comments. G'd wanted to use this opportunity to reveal part of the future and to mention the wonderful things that would happen to Israel at that time. He was particularly interested that this future be revealed to the Gentile nations by their own prophet. This is why He chose Bileam as His instrument to predict both Israel's eventual greatness and the other nations eventual downfall at the hands of Israel. When the Gentile nations would be able to note that one of their own had predicted all this it would impress them all the more. Due to the negative spiritual influences Bileam had surrounded himself with, the Holy Spirit which would enable him to foretell the future could not come to rest on him; not only this, but the words of G'd themselves are inherently sacred and not entrusted to a member of an impure nation. This is why G'd had to resort to a special stratagem so that words of holiness would not be spoken in impure surroundings. G'd constructed a barrier between the power of the speaker and the words he spoke, and the "mouth of the pig." This is what the Torah means when it writes: "G'd put a thing, דבר, inside Bileam's mouth." The דבר was the artificial barrier between G'd's holy words and Bileam's mouth. In this way Bileam's mouth was converted into a domain all by itself, divorced from Bileam the person. When the Torah continued וכה תדבר, the meaning is that with the help of this barrier in his mouth Bileam would be able to speak the words of G'd. The Zohar volume three page 210 writes that the word כה is an allusion to something sacred. Students of the Kabbalah will understand what I mean.

In the event that you do not understand the nature of this separation within Bileam's mouth, consider Chagigah 15 where the Talmud explains how G'd had divided between different great bodies of water although they are adjoining one another without any visible barrier. The separations between these bodies of water are as thin as a hair. We are also taught in Shabbat 35 concerning the well which accompanied the Israelites thanks to the merit of Miriam that if someone wishes to see it he should climb Mount Carmel and look down into the sea where he would observe something that looks like a sieve. This is the well that used to accompany the Israelites in the desert.

שוב אל בלק, "go back to Balak, etc." G'd forced Bileam to say the unpalatable things he was going to say in Balak's presence.

וישא משלו ויאמר, And he began his parable and said: When Bileam noticed that G'd had neither told him what to say nor had He told him not to speak, he thought he had been given permission to speak. This is why be made ready to say what he had in his mind. At that moment G'd twisted his mouth and tongue and forced him to say something quite different. What Bileam said is introduced by the word ויאמר. We may also understand the verse to mean that Bileam abandoned his prepared parable and instead said what the Torah has recorded here. According to Bamidbar Rabbah 20,19 the words מן ארם ינחני בלק must be understood as "Balak dragged me down from a spiritually high level so that I now face destruction." According to this the word וישא may be understood to mean "he raised his voice lamenting that he had become למשל ולשנינה, an example of someone who used to be of lofty stature and now had become an example of how the mighty had fallen."

We may also understand the verse in terms of the different levels of prophecy we discussed in Beha-alotcha on Numbers 12,6. We had stated there (page 1436) that there are some prophets whose powers of perception are not strong enough to be able to cope with a direct effusion of G'd's message. Such prophets receive the message in the form of a parable. Even Jewish prophets had to receive their prophecies in this fashion. It is not surprising therefore that Bileam, a Gentile, received his prophetic inspiration in the form of parables. When the Torah describes Bileam as וישא משלו, the idea is that he considered prophecy as a burden, משא. The reason for this is the extraordinary emotional stress experienced by the prophet.

לכה ארה לי יעקב, "come and curse Jacob on my behalf." Inasmuch as there were two categories of Israelites, the righteous and the average ones, Balak had expressed his hope that he could smite at least the average Israelites, the ones described as Jacob as opposed to the righteous who are described as Israel. As to the righteous ones, Balak had expressed the hope to at least drive them out of his proximity. Bileam took his cue from what Balak had requested from him. The word ארה represents a curse of greater intensity than the word זעם, which Bileam reserved for the righteous Israelites. Even Balak had realised that it would be difficult to effectively curse the righteous Israelites.

מה אקב לא קבה קל, "how can I curse when G'd has not cursed ( first)?" The problem with this verse is that if G'd had indeed cursed Israel why would there be any need for Bileam to do the same? Balak had obviously invited Bileam to curse people whom G'd had not cursed! Besides what did Bileam mean when he added in verse 9 as justification for his curse or otherwise that he had observed the Isaelites "from the the top of rocks?" What did this detail have to do with cursing or failing to curse the people?

In order to understand the matter properly we must first discuss the condition of the person or people who have been subjected to a curse. If the accursed had been guilty he will obviously suffer harm for his guilt even if he had not been cursed at all. If, on the other hand, the person who was subjected to a curse was innocent, and had not done anything which would make him subject to punishment at the hands of G'd, the curse would boomerang on the one who uttered it. The difference between blessings and curses is that if someone receives a blessing though he did not do anything to deserve it, seeing that the power of good exceeds that of the power of evil, the recipient of the blessing will enjoy it though he may not have done anything to deserve it. However, G'd would certainly not cause harm to a person who did not deserve to come to harm.

The principal effect of a curse then has to do with G'd's attribute of extending His patience to the sinners and delaying their punishment. G'd's patience extends both to the righteous and to the wicked who are bent on sinning. It is one of the thirteen attributes G'd revealed to Moses and operates at all times when G'd is not angry. G'd's anger, however, is shortlived as we know from Psalms 30,6 "for He is angry but for a moment." At such a time the attribute of Justice is in the ascendancy and the attribute of ארך אפים is temporarily suspended. Similarly, when a person curses his fellow man the effect of the curse is that G'd will no longer extend His attibute of ארך אפים to the guilty person who has now also been cursed. As a result, the attribute of patience may be suspended as far as that person is concerned. If the person cursed did not have to depend on the attribute of ארך אפים, G'd's patience, in the first place, then the curse is quite ineffective against him.

Let me explain something else. Every person who commits a sin thereby causes some blemish in the particular מדה, virtue, in the Celestial regions which fulfilment of the commandment he did not fulfil was intended to strengthen. He does not thereby destroy the entire מדה, attribute or virtue, but he causes damage to the root of his soul. The damage expresses itself in that certain spiritually negative forces which ought not to possess any hold on his soul (the sinner's) have been enabled to lay some claim to his soul. These forces now enjoy what should have been the exclusive source of life for the individual who has now sinned. If this process continues, the spiritually negative forces eventually gain a hold on the personality of the sinner. This results in his imbibing their spiritual values instead of the holy and pure spiritual values of his soul's counterpart in Heaven. This process, of course, assumes that the sinner has not done תשובה in the meantime, or has not been punished for his sin. This is the mystical dimension of what the Torah has called נושא עון, of which our sages have said that it means that G'd nourishes the accuser which was created by means of the sin committed by man. This is the force which will punish the sinner (Zohar volume 3 page 83). This concept is based on Jeremiah 2,19: "the evil which you yourself have created will be what will discipline you." We have a verse in Isaiah 64,6: "and our iniquities have made us melt," which expresses a similar thought. The person who utters the curse sets in motion retribution long delayed because of certain attributes of G'd at a time when G'd's anger had not yet been aroused.

Another factor we have to keep in mind is that the curse itself- something we normally perceive as abstact becomes concretised- and the destructive force it represents assumes the very "name" of the curse itself. We know this from Deut. 28,20 where G'd threatens to send the מארה, or the מגערת, "the curse or the rebuke." These are names for categories of destructive forces. The word קללה describes the category of curse resulting from the commission of a serious sin, whereas the word זעם describes the destructive force created by relatively minor sins. To sum up, when Bileam wished to curse a nation he chose the time when they were all guilty at least of relatively minor sins. Inasmuch as most people are guilty of some sins almost all of the time Bileam could expect his words to be effective. He employed his sorcery to determine if at that time most of the Israelites still suffered from sins which they had not repented or for which they had not as yet been punished. Having examined the status of the Jewish people on that basis, he came to the regretful conclusion of מה אקב, "how can I be expected to make a curse effective" seeing that the spiritually negative forces had not been able to establish their hold on any part of the collective Jewish soul, their holy roots? The Israelites were so innocent at the time that Bileam was not able to activate sins they had committed to act as a curse against them.

Bileam had examined the Israelites on two separate levels of their relationship with G'd, i.e. their relationship to the attribute א־ל as well as their relationship to the attribute י־ה־ו־ה. The former attribute reflects the fact that G'd had changed Jacob's name to ישר־א־ל, meaning upright, honest, not crooked. The change of name had been a recognition that none of the spiritually negative forces had been able gain a foothold on the holy soul of Israel. The ineffable 4-lettered name is mentioned as an integral part of the Jewish people in Deut. 32,9 כי חלק י־ה־ו־ה עמו, "for the ineffable name has become a part of His people." Bileam therefore found out that Israel had not forfeited either of these two distinctions at that time. They had not even committed the kinds of minor sins which might deprive them of the close association with G'd's four-lettered name. Under these circumstances what possible good could Bileam's curses do? If you were to say that Bileam could have gone back to earlier times and have searched out sins the Jews had committed which would have tainted some part of their holy roots, the Torah says כי מראש צורים אראנו, that Bileam referred to his investigation of Israel's past -the צורים being a reference to the patriarchs,- whereas the ראש refers to Abraham's father Terach. Bileam found to his regret that even in Israel's distant past there were no residual sins which would now make his curse take hold.

We may understand the meter of our verse as being that Bileam says in effect: "the reason I say that G'd is not mildly or severely angry at this people and has not cursed them in any way is not only that I have made a superficial examination of them. I have examined every aspect of this people, i.e. מראש צורים, and have come up with a blank. Not only that but ומגבעות אשורנו, (verse 9) I have even examined their maternal ancestry, their matriarchs, and I have not been able to find any kind of defect in the root of their holy soul that would allow my curse to take hold." We may be surprised at that as we know that Terach was an idol worshiper and so were Bethuel and Laban. We would have assumed that such an association would have left a mark on the holy soul of this people! Bileam answers this by saying הן עם לבדד ישכון ובגוים לא יתחשב. "They are a nation that lives in solitude and does not consider itself as part of the nations surrounding it." They do not share a common root with Terach and his ancestors, their soul is not part of that branch. Their collective soul has been hewn out of a separate "quarry," the one all Israelite souls emanate from. The words "and does not consider itself as part of the surrounding nations" includes even those nations who consider themselves closely related to the Jewish people through common ancestors. Bileam referred to Ishmael and Esau both of whom are called גוים in the Torah. The Torah mentions that Ishmael is a גוי in Genesis 17,20: "I will make him into a great nation." In Genesis 25,23 when G'd tells Rebeccah that she will give birth to twins, the Torah states that both children will develop into nations, שני גויים בבטנך, "you have two nations in your womb." However, in Genesis 21,12, G'd made it plain to Abraham that He would only consider his son Isaac as his true seed. This excluded Ishmael and Esau from being considered as true descendants of Abraham, descendants whose task it was to carry on Abraham's contribution to establishing the kingdom of G'd on earth. In view of all this Bileam could not find any way to make a curse against Israel stick, not against the average Israelites, and certainly not against the elite, the righteous. While it is true that the Israelites had been guilty of the sin of the golden calf plus that of the spies who had caused the whole nation to reject the land of Israel some 38 years ago, G'd had already said clearly that He had forgiven the people for those sins. Perhaps the reason that G'd did not display His anger against them during the last 38 years was to deprive Bileam of the opportunity to make a curse against them effective.

It is also possible that by saying the words הן עם, "lo, it is a people," Bileam expressed his amazement at Balak's wanting to curse such a people. Bileam hinted that in view of the fact that this was a nation which would survive all other nations in solitary splendour, how could nations which were not even assured of a relatively lengthy existence in the course of human history presume to curse them effectively? How could Moav which itself was slated for extinction presume to uproot a nation whose future is eternal? When Bileam added: ובגוים לא יתחשב, this means that when it comes to enumerating the various virtues and accomplishments of other nations, Israel is not even in the same league; its merits are incomparably greater and not to be measured with the nations at large.

מי מנה עפר יעקב, Who can count the dust of Jacob? Considering the fact that Bileam was desperate to find some way in which to make a curse against Israel stick, he had also investigated another track. That track is one often employed by the forces of the קליפה, the spiritually negative forces. It is the track of "things numbered." We have learned in Baba Metzia 42 that "blessing does not take hold on things which have been numbered, measured, or weighed, but only on things concealed from the eye." Clearly, the author of this saying is trying to tell us that the examples given are subject to the effects of "the evil eye" and even though they may have been blessed such a blessing may not endure. Bileam, the master of the evil eye, had examined if the Jewish people could be hurt by his evil eye due to their having been numbered. He found out that they enjoyed the blessing of not being subject to being numbered. [generally, only males between the ages of 20 and 60 are ever reported as having been counted. Ed.] G'd had promised Abraham long before he had even had a son that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth, i.e. not subject to count as one cannot count the dust of the earth. and that as a result no evil eye could invalidate any blessing bestowed upon this people (Genesis 13,16). Although this blessing had been given to Abraham, it had only been fulfilled in the days of Jacob. This is why Bileam referred to "the dust of Jacob."

Bileam may also have meant that it would be a practical impossibility to count the whole people even if they wanted to count themselves. G'd had specifically forbidden them to conduct or submit to a headcount. Any attempt to arrive at the number of Israelites had to be conducted via either the counting of coins or some other object, but not the people themselves.

ומספר את רבע ישראל, "or numbered the births of Israel?" We have already explained that Bileam had mentally divided the Israelites into two categories, the elite and the average Israelites. He referred to the latter as "Jacob," whereas he referred to the elite as "Israel." When he had said: "who counted the dust of Jacob," he referred to the number of average Israelites, whereas when he referred to the numbering of Israel, he meant the elite amongst the people. He was impressed to have found out that there was an innumerable number of righteous people amongst the Israelites. Alternatively, he may have meant that although the actual number of righteous was not all that impressive, their impact on the Israelite society on the whole made them appear as innumerable. The reverse is true of the wicked. Although they may be large in number, their influence may be negligible. We know this from what G'd said to King Chiskiyah who had complained about the large numbers of Assyrians facing him (compare Sanhedrin 27). G'd assured Chiskiyah that the wicked are not important in proportion to their number. The reason that Bileam referred to רבע is an allusion to the righteous who are "lying" within their tents as we know from Jacob's blessing to Issachar in Genesis 49,14: "couching down between the sheep-folds." [The author uses the word רבע and רבץ interchangeably .Ed.] Another reason may be that the שכינה רבעת עליהם, that G'd's presence is constantly "resting" uopn them. There is also a mystical dimension here, i.e. that the righteous are the cause that G'd's Unity is able to fuse with the terrestrial world.

Bileam also alluded to the miracles G'd had performed for the Jewish people in Egypt at the time Pharaoh had decreed that all Jewish boy babies be drowned in the river Nile. At that time the Egyptians tried to keep track of eventual births by the Israelite women through counting the number of nights after the women had undergone ritual immersion. This proved to be of no avail as G'd performed numerous miracles in order to frustrate the calculations of the Egyptians. You will find details about this in Shemot Rabbah 23 and in Sotah 11.

תמת נפשי מות ישרים, "May I die the death of the upright." These were Bileam's own words, they had not been inspired by G'd. We have already been told in Yalkut Shimoni (item 768) on this verse that whenever Bileam wanted to say something that would not prove harmful to the Israelites G'd did not interfere. The reason Bileam said מות ישרים instead of saying כמותם, "just like they," which would refer to the death of the Israelites is that the wicked Bileam here asked for something exceptional. We are told in the Zohar volume one page 122 that at the time of death the righteous are divided into two groups. In the case of the first group, the soul leaves the body and proceeds directly to the Celestial Regions without crossing any barriers in between. The second group of righteous people are not that fortunate as they have to undergo a period when they will be examined concerning any sins they had committed during their lifetime and for which they had not been punished. Even a minor sin can become the cause for the soul to experience some delay before entry into the Celestial Region to which it has been assigned. Bileam was careful to request that his soul should experience immediate transfer to the Celestial Region for which he hoped to qualify.

On the other hand, it is possible that even these words were spoken while Bileam was under the influence of the Holy Spirit. In that event he wanted to experience death "at the hands of ישרים," i.e. the 12,000 righteous Israelites Moses would choose to conduct the punitive campaign against Midian. In the event, his wish was fulfilled.

There is a third possibility namely that Bileam planned to become a penitent close to death so that he would have benefited by his wickedness in his terrestrial life while also "cashing in" on his repentance just before forfeiting his extra-terrestrial life. Now that Bileam, -though acknowledging by implication that his had been an extremely despicable life- wanted to delay his repentance, he was denied this opportunity. It is not unusual to hear potential penitents say that if they were assured of immediate death as soon as they become בעלי תשובה, penitents, they would opt for it. What they cannot contemplate is a continued life on earth as צדיקים, righteous people, and the demands made by life on earth on such people. Bileam did not ask to die the death of righteous Israelites, something obviously not possible; all he wanted was to die like a Gentile penitent.

ותהי אחריתי כמהו, "and may my end (future) be like theirs" Bileam referred to the Jewish people. He was referring to the hereafter which is described as the "end (final purpose) of the world." Even the righteous are examined once more before a final decision is made if they are entitled to the ultimate happiness in that world. Bileam prayed that he would be allowed to qualify on both counts.

According to the interpretation I have mentioned that Bileam wished that his death in this world should occur at the hands of the righteous Israelite soldiers who would conduct the punitive expedition against Midian, we must understand the words: "let my end be like theirs" in a different vein. According to Kabbalists, even the קליפות, the spiritually negative forces, contain some minute element of sanctity which is trapped inside them. It is this element which enables such forces to exist at all in our world. When such קליפות, i.e. the "owners" or better "captors" of these sparks of sanctity are killed by Israelites, the spark of sanctity is set free. It may happen that this spark attaches itself to the spiritual part of the Israelite who set it free. When Bileam prayed that he wanted to die at the hands of the righteous, he meant for the spark of sanctity inside him to become attached to the sanctity, i.e. soul of the Israelite who would kill him so that eventually he, Bileam, would become like the Israelite. Rabbi Yitzchak Luria (Ari zal) wrote in the Sefer hagilgulim, the book dealing with transmigrations of souls, that the soul of Bileam reappeared on earth in the guise of the she-ass of the pious Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair. This shows that it was rehabilitated. Although Bileam himself died at the hands of a righteous Israelite soldier, even the spark of sanctity within him had become so tainted already that it had to undergo a laborious process of cleansing until eventually it resurfaced on earth as the life-force of Rabbi Pinchas' she-ass. Having done so (and living an exemplary life under its illustrious master), it eventually qualified for a life in the hereafter.

לקב אויבי לקחתיך, "I have taken (engaged) you in order to curse my enemies, etc." Balak was furious at the blessing; whereas it was true that Bileam had warned him that he was not free to say anything, he had understood this to mean that Bileam was not free to curse, and that in the event G'd would not agree to his curse he would keep his mouth shut. It had certainly not occurred to Balak that instead Bileam would bless the Israelites. Even though Bileam had added that he would have to say the words G'd would put in his mouth (22,38), Balak had understood this to mean that in the event G'd would allow Bileam to curse he would do so with abandon. It had never crossed Balak's mind that someone whom he had hired to do him some good by cursing his enemies could actually turn around and cause him damage by blessing them. The very least he would have expected Bileam to do in such a situation was to refrain from saying anything damaging to his employer. This is what Balak meant by the additional word לי, "to me."

והנה ברכת ברך. "and here you have blessed them altogether." We have to understand why the verb ברך is repeated here. We must also wonder why Balak gave Bileam a chance to complete his blessing of Israel and did not interrupt him as soon as he realised what was going on. He could have already clapped his hands at this stage, why did he wait until 24,10? The answer is that Balak was aware that Bileam wanted to trick G'd in order to ultimately curse the Israelites. He did this by lavishing extraordinary compliments on the Jewish people first in order to humiliate them later. When you examine the kind of blessing Bileam bestowed on the Israelites you will find that it actually contained elements of a curse as our sages in Yalkut Shimoni item 771 explain. This was the reason that Balak waited patiently expecting Bileam to get around to the curse. When he found out that Bileam had concluded his speech, he suddenly became aware that the blessings had not been a prelude to curses but were meant as blessings pure and simple. This is why he repeated the word ברך, i.e. the blessing was absolute, without ulterior motive.

It is also possible that what "floored" Balak was that he heard Bileam wishing for himself a future similar to that of an Israelite. As soon as he heard this he realised that Bileam's blessing did not originate from his lips but from the depth of his heart. This is why he used the verb ברך in the infinitive, i.e. with a full mouth. If one wants to be oneself like the people one addresses, one naturally blesses those people without restraint.

הלא את אשר ישים ה׳ בפי, "Did I not tell you that whatever G'd will put into my mouth, etc." Bileam explained that Balak had erred when he thought that Bileam would not be obligated to utter blessings if G'd put these into his mouth. He was not free to shut his mouth and refuse to speak. This is why he added the word אשמר. We have learned in Shevuot 36 that the words ,השמר פן and אל are formulations preceding a negative commandment, and that if one ignores a commandment preceded by these words (by remaining silent) one may become liable to the death penalty. We have not heard previously that Bileam was under such a restriction. Our sages in Tanchuma 12 explain that Bileam said to G'd he would rather die than to be guilty of cursing the Israelites when he realised that G'd watched every move he made. This was the meaning of "may my soul die, etc." However, he acted under duress having become only G'd's mouthpiece.

We may also understand Bileam's reply in terms of the Yalkut we quoted earlier that G'd put a bar in Bileam's mouth. When he wanted to curse G'd would twist the bar to make this impossible. He could only feel comfortable physically by complying with G'd's instructions. Otherwise he would become mute.

It is also possible that he told Balak that he was hoping G'd would put His words in his mouth, and this was why he spoke about אשר ישים ה׳ בפי, "what G'd is going to put into my mouth I will guard carefully." This is the reason he did not say: "what G'd has put in my mouth." He told Balak that although G'd had put restrictions on what he could say, he looked forward to uttering G'd's holy words even under the forced conditions. He considered it a privilege to become G'd's mouthpiece.