Balak
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week’s parsha that when Bilam is riding on his donkey, the donkey sees the angel of Gd standing on the road blocking his path. The donkey then veers off the path afraid of the angel who is described as having a drawn sword in his hand. Bilam, who is unaware of the presence of the angel, hits the donkey for not continuing on the road. After continually hitting him, Gd performs a miracle and allows the donkey to speak, reprimanding Bilam for striking him.
The commentators discuss the significance of this miracle of allowing the donkey to speak. The Ramban teaches that Hashem was giving a message over to Bilam. He was teaching him that speech in the hands of Gd, as the pasuk in Shmos states (Chapter 4, Pasuk 11), Mi Sam Peh L’Adam Oh Mi Yasum Ileim. This was meant as a forewarning to Bilam that Hashem would control his speech and his prophecy.
But the Ramban is concerned with a larger question. Though much is discussed about the miracle of the donkey speaking, little is discussed of the donkey seeing the angel. How could it be that an animal would be able to see the incorporeal angel of Gd?
The Ramban’s first p’shat in explaining the vision of the donkey teaches that the donkey didn’t actually see the angel. After all, an angel does not have a physical form which can be viewed by a human or animal eye. Rather, the animal had a sense that there was something blocking its path. The donkey perceived a danger on the road, though it wasn’t able to actually see it. As proof of this, the Ramban points out that when Bilam struck the donkey and Gd opened up the mouth of the donkey, it should have said, I veered off the road because of the angel in the way. This would have been the appropriate response of the donkey and certainly would have calmed Bilam. Instead the donkey responds (Chapter 22, Pasuk 30), Hahaskein Hiskanti La’asos Lecha Koh. Have I been wont to do this to you in the past, is this how I’ve learned to treat you? The donkey felt something forcing it off the road, but wasn’t sure exactly what it was and couldn’t precisely describe it.
This is also how the Ramban teaches the meaning of the pasuk which states that the donkey saw the angel with a sword (Pasuk 23), Vateireh ha’Ason es Malach Hashem Nitzav Baderech V’Charbo Shelufah Beyado. The danger sensed by the donkey was that the angel wanted to strike him and even slaughter him. So that the description of the angel with a sword was a metaphor for the danger felt by the donkey as it veered off the road.
The upshot of the p’shat of the Ramban is that though the Torah describes an act of seeing, it is to be understood as feeling and sensing. The donkey felt a sense of the presence of the angel and even a sense of danger and therefore veered off the path. This is all described in the Torah as seeing.
There is a related point made by Rav Tzadok on this week’s parsha regarding the Chapter in Mishlei we sing on Leil Shabbos, Eishes Chayil. Rav Tzadok points out that there is much reference to specific acts performed by hands of the Eishes Chayil. The words Kapeha, Yadeha, and references to Asiyah are repeated throughout. This would not seem to be an appropriate chapter to recite or sing on Shabbos. Shabbos is primarily about non-action, about refraining from Melacha. And even the positive command of Shabbos, the mitzvah of Kiddush, is performed through speaking, something which is not considered a physical act in Halacha. So why are we praising work and deed on Leil Shabbos, at the beginning of the day of inaction?
The Gemara in Kiddushin 39B states that anyone who has an opportunity to do an averiah and is saved from doing so receives reward as if he performed a mitzvah. The whole week long we are used to doing work. When Shabbos arrives, we must change our entire mindset and refrain from doing work. We must put aside our worries and activities of the entire week and consider all our work as being completed. This is a great challenge for Clal Yisrael. And the message of Eishes Chayil is that refraining from work when we have a great desire to work, is considered like an action. Every act of refraining from work and overcoming the yetzer hara is considered like an action, like the performance of a mitzvah. Overcoming the desire to act, is an act which is rewarded.
This is the same thing with the donkey. Even though the donkey didn’t see the angel, he sensed the angel and he sensed the danger represented by the angel. This is described by the Torah as seeing, as having a vision. And we’ve brought in the past the explanation of the Sfas Emes on the pasuk (Chapter 22, Pasuk 5), Hineih Kisah es Ein Ha’Aretz, Bnei Yisrael covered the eye of the ground. Bnei Yisrael do not look at the outside and external manifestations of the physical world. Rather they dig deeper and look for greater meaning; rather they look at the Penimiyus, the internal holiness contained within the physical.
The donkey in our parsha is the antagonist of Bilam. Though he couldn’t see the angel, he sensed the presence of the angel. And this is the midah of Bnei Yisrael, not focusing on the physical but rather on the spiritual. And on Shabbos as well, when we strengthen our determination and accept the will of Gd in keeping Shabbos by refraining from action, it is considered an action. The spiritual resolve of inaction is defined as an action, though to the outside observer nothing physical took place.
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