Shalom everyone and thank you for joining me in the study of Parashat Balak, the blessing of communication. Let's try to see, let's try to ask some questions. Let's uh try to study one of the most mysterious parashat paragraphs in the Torah, in Parashat Balak. The Torah states, so Balak, who was the king at that time of Mu'av, he saw everything that Am Israel, that the nation of Israel, did to the Emorites. So the Moabites were terrified from the Jewish people. And they they didn't know what to do. So they hired Bilam, the magician. One of the, probably one of the most known magicians, and always a very mysterious figure. And choosing him as someone that can, God forbid, curse the Jewish people. And this entire story is very strange. First, how can we understand that someone who is not from Amislael is not from the nation of Israel can become a prophet? And not only that, even if he's a prophet and he received his prophecy from God, so what? God will give him a prophecy to curse the Jewish people? How exactly it's going to work? What exactly was the point of this story? Especially, by the way, if you look at this entire pursha, Am Israel is not involved in this Parsha at all, only at the end, and not in the most flattering way. According to the Navi, Amisrael didn't even know that Bilam was hired, only later on. So, what's the point of this story? Why do I need to know what they did if at the end of the day it didn't work? So let's try to get some answers for some of our questions. And in order to do so, let's begin with the Midrash. Our sages in Midrash Tanchuma says the following. So that's how the Torah began. Is to take a verse from our parsha, from any other parsha, and to attach to it another verse from a different place. So here at this at this specific example, the midrash takes our pasuk, vayar balak, and balak saw, and attach it to what? To a pasuk, a verse in Deuteronomy 32, where it says, God is like a rock, that it's all perfect, ki holdrachavish. Everything he does, everything God does, it's based on justice. Okay, what's the connection? So the Midrash elaborates and says, Meaning, because of the Pasuk, the verse that we quoted, that God is like a rock of justice, that everything he does is based on justice, and there is no injustice, God forbid, with God. So therefore, God felt, so to speak, that he cannot allow the other nations to come to him with a complaint. And what could be their complaint will be that you know, you God, you rejected us. You never gave us a leader, a prophet, to help us to recognize you and your kingdom. And therefore, it's not our fault in a way, it's your fault. And that's injustice. So therefore, Maasa Kadosh Bahu, Kach e Emid Leakum. So in order to prevent that claim, that basically claims that God is God forbid is an unjust God, so God created some kind of an equation. Whatever he gave the Jewish people, he gave to the other nations. He gave the Jewish people kings, scholars, sages, prophets, he gave kings, scholars, sages, prophets to the other nations. So no one can come and complain. So everything is done by justice. Now, when God gave the other nations, kings, scholars, sages, prophets, he tested them vis-a-vis the kings, the sages, the scholars, the prophets within Am Israel. So basically, he brought both of them. He says, Here, I gave you the same thing I gave them. Now let's see how each one of them act. So the midrash says, Now this is a fascinating statement. Hashem gave Am Israel Moshe and he spoke with him on a constant basis. Every time he wanted. And the same thing with Bilam. So no one can even say that in a way Moshe's prophecy was better than Bilam. They were equal. Which, by the way, obviously creates other issues. We know that there was no prophet like Moshe. But let's leave that aside. The midrash has a point here. So he basically wants to claim that there was no difference between Moshe's level of prophecy and Bilam's. Okay. So that obviously begs the question. If they were the same level of prophecy, how come that Moshe used his abilities for good and Bilam exactly the opposite? And that's what the midrash is going to address. He says, look at the Jewish prophets. They don't prophesize only for Am Israel, for the Jewish people. They are also being asked to prophesize and to warn the other nations to do what's right in the eyes of God. Which means their territory of influence is not only the Jewish people, it might be the main territory, but they do care about other nations. And why? Because we have this vision that of true universalism. Yes, there is something particular about the Jewish people, about Amishael, but we need to be the engine in a way that leads the other nations to recognize God. And therefore, the Jewish prophet does not feel that he needs to be only with the Jews. He can prophesize, he can warn, he can try to encourage the other nations to do the right thing. He says, but look at this prophet, Bilam. What did he do? Besides bringing destruction. If we read Parashat Balak, our Pasha, towards the end, Balam is the one to give this terrible advice to Balak to send the Moabite women and the Ammonite women to the Midianite women, sorry, to seduce the children of Israel and to cause them to worship idols and all sorts of things. And 24,000 people from Am Israel were killed. That's what Bilam did. Didn't do anything good. Nothing good to the Jewish people and nothing good to even to his own nation. Based on Chazal, based on our sages, until Bilam gave that advice, no king will send the women of his tribe or the women of his nation to go and seduce the enemy. That was Bilam's idea. So here you have a prophet who can talk to God and look what kind of an advice he gives. Isaiah says that my innards, my guts are basically mourning for Moab, for the Moabites. And also Ezekiel says, Ezekiel was told to eulogize for Tsuor, which was in Lebanon. So you see two prophets, Isaiah and Ezekiel, are mourning, they are sad when something bad happened to their other nations. But look at Bilam. They were cruel. Leave alone he had no mercy. He had cruelty. It's mysterious. It's so hard to explain. And also, nothing happened at the end in terms of all these curses. So why do we need it? And how can we explain that God chose a prophet, someone to talk to and to prophesize? The midrash is now addressing the question. Because this is the core proof for why God decided no more profits from the other nations, only from Amislail. Because look at him, I gave Bilam all the tools, everything, I equipped him exactly like Moshe. Can you imagine if Bilam would use it for something positive? To have at the same generation a Moshe and a Bilam? In a way, perhaps the divine plan was that both of them will lead the entire humanity towards God. Moshe will lead the Jewish people with the Torah, Bilam would lead the other nations with the seven laws of Noah, and together they it will be basically they will intertwine the goals, they will integrate them, and the entire humanity will be able to go back to where? To Ganeddin, to the Garden of Eden before the sin of Adam Arishon of Adam and Eve. And Bilaam took this tremendous divine gift and showed no mercy, no sensitivity, no care. And after he proved himself to be so evil, God said, You know what, this plan is not going to work. I can't rely on them. I need you, the Jewish people, to lead the way. But no profit from the other nations anymore. This midrash, in a way, is addressing our question of why do we need this pasha? Oh, we definitely need this pasha, but not only us. The other nations need this pasha as well. This pasha teaches us basically what happened when someone can receive a divine gift and destroy it. Or I should say, use it and abuse it in a way that was definitely not the purpose, and taking it to such an extreme to extend that God says, I really regret that, and that's the last time I'm doing it. But it does not take away the responsibility and the mission that the other nations also have, which is to recognize God and to do what they need to do in the seven laws of Noah, to be close to God. So, in a way, the Midrash is reading this Pasuk, he says, this entire parasha is to prove what we saw in the Deuteronomy. That God is like a rock of justice, and everything he does, he does it in a just way. So that's what the Midrash says. Now take a look at Bilam's manipulation of this divine gift, prophecy, in Moses' level. When the first delegation comes along to try to ask him to go back to Balak. So it says like that. So Bilam says to them, Sleep here. I'll talk to God, I'll let you know what he said. And God revealed himself to Bilam. Now, wait, what do you mean, who are those people with you? God, you don't know? God knows. So obviously, there is something behind this question. Let's pause here, we will get to that question later. So Bilam says to God, Oh, let me tell you, God, you probably don't know. Balak ben Sipur Melh Muab Shalakalai. Balak, the king of Moab, he sent them to me. You can hear already how pompous he is. He's the king of Moab sent them to me. Look at the it's uh it's ironic. Bilam says to God, and I guess Bilam knew that God chose Am Israel and says to God, who chose Am Israel, you know, Balak wanted me to curse them and to annihilate them, so uh because I can't fight him, so I'm going to curse them. So God says to Bilam, Lotalhimaim, you shouldn't go with them, you can go with them. Lotta'am, you can't curse that nation, kiva ruchu, because he's blessed. Now take a look. So basically, you would expect Bilam to wake up in the morning and to tell that delegation that was sent to him by Balak to tell them, guys, dear fellows, I'm very sorry, God told me I can't do it because this nation is blessed. So, my suggestion to you is that maybe try to make a treaty with them, maybe try to attach yourself to them, but don't fight them, they are blessed, right? Take a look at the answer. So Bilam woke up in the morning, Sarei Valak. So he says to the ministers of Balak, you can go back to your land. Because Hashem refused to allow me to go with you. What? That's not what Hashem said. Hashem said you can't curse them. You can curse them because they are blessed. Hashem didn't tell him you can't go with them just because they are them. You can go with them because their mission is wrong. The mission to curse the Jewish people is wrong because the Am Israel is blessed and you can't do it. The way Bilaam phrases it is what? Is that I can't, God told me you can't go with them, which means you are not that important for me to go with you. It's nothing to do with Am Israel, it's nothing to do because they are blessed, it's because of you. And take a look, Balak. So the ministers of Balak realized that he's not coming, and Bil Am Bilam refused to go with us. Meaning their understanding was we are not just good enough, but definitely he can do the job. And this is so wrong from Bilam. Just imagine. If Bilam would say, God told me, nice try, it's not going to work. Amisrael is blessed, we cannot curse him. And therefore, you know what? If you can't beat them, join them, right? Or something like that. But Bilam can't say that. He is lying to the ministers of Moav, of Balak, knowingly, sending them a totally different message. Rashi, for example, says, Le at otoba. You remember the question that we asked that when God says to Bilam, who are these people? We ask, What God doesn't know. Says Rashi, le at otobah, God wanted to create some kind of a deception. He wanted to cause Bilam some kind of a mistake. Maybe from time to time, God like losing it a bit. He does not really know everything. Look at it. He says, sometimes God doesn't know. So when God is asleep, when God will not pay attention, I will curse the Jewish people and get the mission done. God is playing with him. But Bilam is so full of hate, so full of animosity towards the Jewish people. And he's so full of himself and he's so greedy that he does not even understand that God is mocking him. God is making a fool out of him. And therefore, he goes ahead and says, you know what? I'm not going to convey the real divine message that we can't curse them because they are blessed. I will just say, God told me I can't go with you. You are just not good enough for me. But if and that's exactly what happened, by the way. Balak sent an additional delegation to try to convince Bilam to come. And then Bilam went. The Ibn Ezra suggested perhaps another idea of why this parshah is here. And it says Lihvod Israel. Really, this entire parsha is in annoy of Am Israel. Why? Because Hashem knew that the Jewish people would sin and will worship idol, the Baal Pe'or, and they will commit a sin with those women from the other nations. And Netsaw suggested that really Hashem in a way had to let Bilam curse the Jewish people, God forbid. And they would think that it came because Bilam did it. So in a way, God allowed Bilam Tuat to curse them, but it was all came from God. So everyone understood that God is the one to control Bilam's curses that transformed into brachot, into blessings. So no one will attribute too much khoach, too much power and influence to Bilam. So that's the Ibn Ezra suggestion. Rapshim Shura Far Hirsh has a brilliant take on those verses that we mentioned before. Let's just see the verse. If you look at the second verse, and God came to Bilam. Says Rapshim Shan Rafael, if you go back to Sephiroth to the book of Genesis, when Avimelech basically wanted to uh to bather Itzhak and Rifka, it says, And God came to Avimelech. Sorry, that was with Avraham when he took uh Sarah, so God revealed himself to Avimelech and it says, And Lavan also, when he wanted to harm Yaakov and the family, it says, So what's the common denominator? The common denominator is what? The common denominator is that God came to them suddenly, without too much preparation, and he prevented them from fulfilling their conspiracy and their evil thoughts. He didn't know if God is going to reveal himself to him or not. He says, when Bilam says, like what God is going to tell me, it was just a joke. Bilam didn't want to ask God what to do. He was offered the job, he was offered money, he didn't like the Jewish people, he was pretty happy to do it. He was not interested in what God has to say. What do you think? So then the Pasuk that says, the Pasuk that says that God asked Bilam, who are these people? It's superfluous because if Bilam was the one to ask, he would mention that this delegation came. So it seems to be that Bilam was not interested in what God has to say. He already made the decision in his mind, he is going. But God appeared to him suddenly and says to him, What do you think? You can go without me? It says, Bilam always played, pretended. He was a fake. He was never true to his identity, never true to his mission, never true to his abilities and capabilities, never true to the mission that was bestowed upon him. He used this divine gift just for greed, just for himself, not for anyone else. This is the difference between Moshe and Bilam. If you remember last week when we discussed Parashat Khukat, one of the best dreams that Moshe had was to empower the people, to influence them, to be better people. In Parashat Ba'alutha, Moshe says, Me, Tel Vikol Amashem Yunavim, I wish that everyone can be a prophet. Bilam? Not at all. All the power in my hand, and I will use it for my own sake. For my own benefit. For my own fortune. And here, what Hashem does is that suddenly he says to Bilam, you can go. You can go. But really Bilam can't handle it. He can't handle no. He always got his way. And says Rapsim Jon Nefal here. Hashem says to Bilam, what do you think to curse these Jewish people? They are blessed. And that blessing was promised to them since Avraham went on that journey. And the people, the other nations recognize it. Everyone who will bless you will be blessed. And now Rapshem Shura Falish gets to the point. If Bilam was a true prophet, if he will tell the delegation, Balak's delegation, what Hashem really told him. They will not be afraid to be conquered by Amisrael. They will not be terrified that Amisrael will be towards them in a negative way. But rather to extend his blessing. They themselves will be blessed. They need to see, they need to recognize the blessing that we carry. What Bilam does according to Absim Shan the Falish, and that's his accusation against Bilam. When Bilam covers, when Bilam basically is hiding the true message of God, that the true message of God is that Am Israel is blessed. And you, the other nations, need to recognize it and join Am Israel in fixing this world. Instead, Bilam creates this facade that really God doesn't think they are blessed. You can curse Am Israel. It's just not the right time now. It's just not the right people, it's just not the right moment. But there is going to be a time that we will be able to curse them and get rid of them. That is the message that Bilam is conveying to the nations. And then from that time on, that most of the nations think let's just wait for that moment. That we can curse them, that we can harm them. But the true message of God is Am Israel is blessed. Am Israel is blessed because our forefathers began the journey back to Ghan Edin, taking all the risks, making all the sacrifices to create a better world not only for them but for all humanity. And from time to time there were moments that people recognize it. After Avram won the war against the four kings, Melech Shalem came out and said to Avraham, Baruch Hashem le kell elion koneshamay. Avram is blessed. When Avram was about to bury Sarah, the people Ephraim and his city says, You are the president of God within our midst. But later on, people forgot and continue to forget that Am Israel carries tremendous blessing, not only for himself. We care about all humanity, we care about everyone, because there is no contradiction between particularism and universalism. Yes, there is something special, particular, unique, which is only ours because the Torah we received, but the Torah did not exclude us from other nations in terms of helping, encouraging, showing the way, going back to God. Jonah, Jonah was sent to Ninveh, to that city to help them to repent, to do chuva, to return back to God. Isaiah, Ezekiel mourn the destruction of other nations. Jeremiah prophesies and try to encourage the other nations to do chuvah to repent. Other nations just need to recognize that we are not a threat, but rather a blessing. And faster that recognition will come, this world will look much better. So this Pasha, which seems to be so mysterious, has a tremendous lesson for us and for the other nations. We as the Jewish people need to recognize that we are blessed. And our blessing is not only for us, but it's to share with others, to take the lead and to lead everyone back to God. And the other nations need to recognize this blessing within us. And with that, the promise to Abraham will be fulfilled. Those who bless you will be blessed. Thank you.