• Balak, 1st Aliya

  • Jul 14 2024
  • Duración: 6 m
  • Podcast

Balak, 1st Aliya Por arte de portada

Balak, 1st Aliya

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  • Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”LTo sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email itistaught@gmail.comIntroducing BilamBalak, son of Tzippor said to Moav, the two kings we had confidence in, Sichon and Og were both conquered by the Israelites. How will we, who are weaker, going to be able to defend ourselves from them?Moav realized that the Israelites were winning miraculously. They knew that their leaders grew up in Midian (see Shmos 2:15) so they decided to reach out to Midian to see what was unique about the Midianites.Moav and Midian were enemies, however out of fear of the Israelites, they unified and reconciled.As a side note, Balak was actually a Midianite prince however since Sichon died, the Moavites appointed him due to it being a state of emergency. Thus Balak was from the same place as Bilam.Midian informed Moav that the unique power of the Israelites was in their mouth/speech so they said ok let's also attack them with the mouth, hence they reached out to the prophet Bilam.Bilam is likened to a money changer whom everyone rushes to with letters from all of the kings.Rashi explains why it is that Bilam was able to have the shechina rest on him despite him being evil. He says that this is so that the non jewish nations should not claim that if only they had their own prophets they would have repented. Initially these nations had actually been modest in regards to sexual immorality until Bilam told them to be relaxed about it.Balak sends messengers to Bilam, together with money (so that this journey would be beneficial to Bilam) to convince him to come to Balak. The message states that there is a people who have come out of Egypt who "covered the eye of the land", i.e they conquered Sichon and Og who were the eyes of the land. This nation rests opposite Balak and he wants Bilam to curse them as they are more powerful than Balak. He is hoping that if Bilam curses them he will be able to successfully attack them, because "whomever (Bilam) blesses is blessed and whomever (he) curses is cursed).The elders of Moav and Midian take different kinds of charms with them just in case Bilam might need them so he could not claim that he does not have the accessories he needs for the task.Another understanding of these charms is that the messengers were prepared to read into Bilam's reply as a sign. They said if he agrees to come with them it will be a sign that he is substantial and if he refuses it means there's nothing to gain from him.Bilam tells them to stay the night and that in order to give them a proper response, he has to see what G-d will say to him. Although indeed Bilam needed G-d's permission in order to curse anyone, he didn't want them to think this, rather he made it sound as if he needed to know if these messengers were prestigious enough for Bilam to go with or if he should wait for more prestigious ones to arrive.When Bilam told them to stay the night, the officers of Moav stayed however the ones from Midian left, seeing this as a sign that he was giving them false hope.That night, G-d did speak to Bilam. The Holy Spirit only comes to non Jewish prophets at night (it was similarly so with Lavan).G-d said to Bilam, "Who are these men?" This question gave Bilam room to err in thinking that some things are concealed from G-d at some times so that even if G-d does not give him permission to curse the Israelites, he could find a time to curse them.Bilam replied that they were the people which Balak had sent regarding cursing a nation who had come out of Egypt whom Balak wanted to drive out*.*Side note: Balak only specified that he wanted to drive them out of his land (Bamidbar 22:6) however in leaving out the word "land" we see that Bilam wanted to drive them out of the world, and thus his hatred for the Israelites was greater than that of Balak.G-d said that he is not to go up with those men nor curse the Israelites as it is blessed.Bilam then says ok so I won't go up with them I'll curse them where I am. G-d replies that no he is not to curse them at all. Bilam says ok so I'll bless them. G-d says no they don't need your blessing they are already blessed. Rashi cites the Midrash Tanchuma (chapter 6) saying that this is like a wasp of whom we say we don't need your honey nor your sting. Get full access to Sarede’s Substack at sarede.substack.com/subscribe
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