A Taste of Shabbos – Parashat Balak

This portion, named after an infamous king, (who was the progenitor of the famous convert Ruth) has become recently famous because of one of verses from the transmuted curses into blessings, by the equally infamous prophet Bilam. The verse is of course, regarding the people of Israel, ‘Behold the nation will get up as a lioness, and AS A LION WILL ARISE.

Why would G-d put these stirring prophetic words in the mouth of a man whose qualities the sages tell us were, ‘an evil eye, arrogant spirit, and greedy soul.’ One answer is found in a verse from Proverbs: ‘Faithful are the wounds of a beloved and sharp are the kisses of an enemy.’ In other words, speech cannot be taken on its own, but must rather be understood from being aware of the nature of the speaker. Kisses from the mouth of an enemy are impressive, but they can nevertheless mask evil intentions; the converse can be true from sincere critiques of a trusted friend. Bilam vs. Moshe.

In Pirkei Avot however Bilam is contrasted with Avraham who had three contrasting traits: ‘a good eye, a meek spirit, and a humble soul.’ Why the contrast with Avraham, when the sages emphasize that Bilam was as great a prophet as Moshe? It is to remind us that all the knowledge in the world, even the power of prophecy, does not make a person good. Also, as the classic Mishna commentary, the Tiferret Yisrael writes, the comparison to Avraham is meant to include non-Jews who also have this exceptional potential to be like Avraham, who was father of many nations. (Perhaps this can be imparted in the Abraham Accords). In short, no ‘good looking’ activity can cover up a mean character. This principle can be why the Mishna in Pirkei Avot contrasts not Bilam vs. Avraham, but rather the students of Bilam vs. the students of Avraham. The leaders of a group may sometimes look the same on the surface, but the difference will be manifest in the disciples!

To drive home this point in the context of this parasha, we have another famous animal reference: that of Bilam’s donkey who not only perceives an angel when Bilam does not, but actually chides Bilam verbally when beaten by his reprobate master, saying, Why have you hit me these three times? Actually, Bilam uses the word ‘regalim’ for times, alluding to the three pilgrimage festivals, where the Jews were commanded to leave their homes to visit the holy Temple in Jerusalem. They were not afraid to leave their homes unguarded (unlocked) because they knew G-d would protect them. Actually the sages say that either there were lions protecting their homes! (Or some say there were shadows of themselves remaining inside to make it look like they were still there). This was another contrast with Bilam, who was so entrenched in his own world view that he didn’t listen when G-d told him not to curse.

So what is the significance of a ‘Rising Lion’ in the words of Bilam? The Talmud and even the Jewish code of laws relates this image to the directive for the Jewish people to get up diligently in the morning to be ready to do mitzvot. As I often tell people, if you wake up and don’t find a tag around your toe, it means you have more good work to do in this world. Sometimes it’s an individual act of good, sometimes it’s a communal endeavor, and sometimes it’s a national activity upon which a country’s survival depends. But the point the sages continually make is that every example of physical prowess is a metaphor of spiritual growth, determination, and resilience. In fact when the Torah alludes to the lion in particular as the beast who consumes its prey alive, the mystics explain it to mean absorbing the life force for holy purposes, not just to get rid of the negative disposition altogether.

If Bilam was so entrenched in his evil, how was he even able to receive divine prophecy? To this, the Torah refers to him as ‘Shetum Ha’ayim’ which some translations say means, ‘open eyed’ and others say, ‘closed eyed.’ How can two opposite meanings both apply?  If we say ‘open-eyed,’ it means that one eye was open to receive prophecy. But close eyed? To explain this there is a powerful Holocaust story: there was a cruel Nazi who had one glass eye that was so expertly made that no one could tell it wasn’t real. He was taking out women to be shot, when suddenly it occurred to him to test the next woman in line. He asked her to guess which was his glass eye. She guessed correctly and when he asked how she was so sure, she replied: ‘I saw that all of you was filled with evil, except one eye that was neutral.’ So the point was that only his glass eye that was ‘closed’ was able to receive prophecy; the rest of him was inimical to anything good! The Gerer Rebbe says that Bilam focused on many positive Jewish traits, but he made no reference to Shabbos. How could that be? Because, says the Rebbe, Shabbos, being a taste of the world to come, was beyond the purview of Bilam’s vision, even to try and curse. Shabbos is a substantial entity, a higher world, where even the most mundane activities are sacred. This is true even if we do not prepare for Shabbos. How much more does that entity come into our lives once a week, if we ready ourselves and our homes. Let us leave any Bilam qualities in the donkey bin, and polish our good eyes, meek spirits, and humble souls, to be best prepared to receive what the Talmud calls G-d’s most precious gift!