Bostoner Torah Insights: Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in Heberw and English: Parshas Balak – 16 Tamuz 5785
Bostoner Torah Insights - Yerushalayim
Bostoner Torah Insights
Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in English
Parshas Balak – 16 Tamuz 5785
Bostoner Rebbe shlit”a – Yerushalayim
Secretariat Email: bosto...@gmail.com
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Fearing a confrontation with the Nation of Israel, Balak sends messengers to solicit the services of Bilaam in his scheme to solve ‘the Jewish problem’. The first message in the name of Balak is, “Please come and curse this people for me…perhaps I will be able to strike it and drive it away from the land (22:6). Bilaam invites his guests to stay the night while he consults with Hashem. After Bilaam ‘informs’ Hashem of Balak’s request to curse the Jewish People in order to vanquish them in war, Hashem says, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the nation because they are blessed” (22:12). Bilaam dutifully obeys and politely notifies the contingent they he cannot accompany them “since Hashem refuses to let me go with you”.
Upon his discovery that his first attempt failed, Balak sent a second delegation to Bilaam to persuade him to reconsider. “I shall honor you greatly and everything that you tell me – I will do” (22:17). Once again, Bilaam invites his guests to remain until morning while he consults with Hashem. This time Hashem gives Bilaam permission to go, saying, “If these men came to summon you, then arise and go with them, but only that which I tell you shall you do” (22:20).
The classic question asked by many of the commentators is why did Hashem seemingly change his mind?
One approach may be gleaned from the commentary of Rashi (22:12 and 22:20), that the first time Balak sent his emissaries to Balak, the sole content of the message was a plan to curse the Jewish People and assault the Jewish People through violence. There were no grounds available for Hashem to give Bilaam permission to accept this mission. However, the second message was primarily an invitation from Balak to Bilaam in order to honor him, and only as an afterthought was there a request to curse the Jewish people. Thus, Hashem now had some grounds to permit Bilaam to go, namely for the sole purpose of being Balak’s guest of honor. However, Hashem remained firm that there was not even tacit approval to curse Klal Yisroel, “but only that which I tell you shall you do”
A second approach is the adage from Makkos 10b which states, “In the way that a person wishes to go he is taken”. As a general rule, Hashem will not stand in the way of a person who wishes to express his own free will. This is true whether a person wishes to do good, such as Mitzvos or Teshuva; or Chas V’Shalom evil, if a person wishes to journey along a wayward path. The Ibn Ezra points to the sin of the Meraglim as another example of where Hashem gave permission to send spies to reconnoiter the Land upon their request, even though He was opposed to the plan. Rashi himself mentions the Gemara in Makkos later (22:35), when Bilaam is once again ‘permitted’ to continue on his journey after the encounter with the Angel of Hashem.
Alternatively, I would suggest that the crucial part of Balak’s second message was, “everything that you tell me – I will do”. This would indicate that in the first message, Balak was hiring Bilaam as an employee. As the employer, Balak would be in the position of giving orders, whereas Bilaam as the hired worker, would have to follow those instructions. Accordingly, Hashem would not permit such an arrangement where Bilaam would be subject to take orders from Balak concurrently with His orders. This brings to mind the position of the Abudraham, that an Eved Kenani [non-Jewish slaves] are exempt from all positive time-bound Mitzvos so that there should never be a conflict between the commands of Hashem that require a specific time with the orders of their human masters.
However, in the second proposal, Balak gives Bilaam full creative control. More than a consultant, Balak is giving Bilaam Yipui Koach [power-of-attorney] to authorize all executive decisions, allowing Bilaam to even order the king himself what to do. This arrangement was acceptable to Hashem, as long as Bilaam would also accept Hashem’s condition, “only that which I tell you shall you do”. In this way, Bilaam was to take direct orders from Hashem, and Balak would take direct orders from Bilaam. By reassigning the Yipui Koach given to him by Balak, Bilaam transferred to Hashem the power to control the entire situation. This also explains why Hashem had the ‘legal’ right to repeal Bilaam’s free will and compel him to bless Klal Yisroel against his will, since he failed to comply with the ‘legal’ agreement.
This novel approach may also help explain a remarkable statement in Nazir 23b, “Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav: A person should always involve themselves in Torah and Mitzvos even not for the sake of Heaven, since ‘not for the sake of Heaven’ may lead to ‘for the sake of Heaven’, since as a reward for the 42 sacrifices offered by the evil Balak, he merited to have Rus [Ruth] descend from him”
Notwithstanding the validity of this principle Sh’Lo Lishma Ba Lishma, that actions with improper intentions will lead to actions with proper intentions – which is universally accepted and found throughout Rabbinic literature – how can this principle be derived from Balak, a non-Jewish King. How are his seemingly pagan sacrifices equated with Torah and Mitzvos. Also, wasn’t Bilaam the one who directed Balak to offer these animal sacrifices (23:1)
Based upon our approach, all of the Korbanos that Balak offered were ordered by Bilaam, and correspondingly, anything ordered from Bilaam was by definition ordered by Hashem, rooted in the mutually agreed stipulation, ‘that which I tell you shall you do’. In other words, the 42 sacrifices that Balak performed were Mitzvos, specific commandments from Hashem at that moment in history. Thus, even though Balak had evil intentions when he performed these actions, he was still fulfilling the commands of Hashem, and was rewarded accordingly.
May we merit that coming of Moshiach, the descendant of Rus, speedily in our days.