Parshat Balak 5782
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week’s parsha when Bilam attempts to curse Bnei Yisrael, Hashem put words of blessing into his mouth instead. Rav Tzadok infers this from the pasuk (Chapter 22, Pasuk 20) ואך את הדבר אשר אדבר אליך אתו תעשה; surely the pasuk should read, whatever I tell you, you should say, not you should do. Rather the pasuk is teaching that all Bilam did was move his lips, but he didn’t speak. It was his actions, אתו תעשה, but it was Hashem speaking through the mouth and throat of Bilam.
Rashi teaches in the name of Chazal (Chapter 24, Pasuk 6), that we can induce from his blessings how he wanted to curse them. We read that before he attempted to curse them for the third time, he faced the desert, as the pasuk reads (Chapter 24, Pasuk 1), וישת אל המדבר פניו. Onkelos teaches that Bilam was trying to invoke the sin of the golden calf Bnei Yisrael had committed in the desert. The Sfas Emes understands that Bilam was trying to curse their “place”. Bnei Yisrael were in the desert, which is a very dangerous place. As the pasuk in sefer Devarim (Chapter 8, Pasuk 15) describes, the desert is a place of נחש ושרף; a place of dangerous snakes. The natural habitat of Bnei Yisrael is Eretz Yisrael, and he figured he could curse them outside their place in the dangerous desert.
Yet, Bilam blessed Bnei Yisrael with the words (Chapter 24, Pasuk 5), מה טבו אוהליך יעקב משכנותיך ישראל. The words משכנותיך ישראל represent the permanent structures of Clal Yisrael, the Beis Hamikdash in Yerushalayim. The eternality of the Jewish people is expressed through the name Yisrael, as the eternal nation is called Bnei Yisrael. But Bilam learned that the holiness of Clal Yisrael also extends to אוהליך יעקוב. Even in the tents, in the temporary dwellings of Clal Yisrael, there is Kedushah. Even when they are in the desert prior to entering Eretz Yisrael, or in the future, having been exiled from Eretz Yisrael, they still contain Kedushah.
And this is the midah of Yaakov, hence אוהליך יעקוב. This is because Yaakov was the one of the Avos who went down to Chutz L’Aretz and survived and came back. Yaakov endured the darkness of galus and therefore was the one who established Tefillas Arvis, the evening prayer. And how was Yaakov able to go to Chutz L’Aretz and return and enable his descendants to establish tents of modesty, אוהליך יעקוב?
Yaakov is first introduced to us as (Bereishis, Chapter 25, Pasuk 27), איש תם יושב אהלים . And as Rashi teaches on the pasuk there, אהלו של שם ואהלו של עבר. Yaakov learned in the yeshivas established by Shem and Ever. As long as Bnei Yisrael have with them the Kedushah of the Torah, their Kedushah is not limited to any particular boundary or area. Hence, the pasuk says מה טובו אוהליך יעקוב, and Chazal teach in Avos (6,3) אין טוב אלא תורה. The real blessing of the tents of Yaakov, their essential goodness, is when the tents and the homes of Clal Yisrael are built on the foundations of Torah. This is why though Bilam looked at the dangerous desert and thought he could curse them in this forsaken place, the blessing came out instead; teaching us that the foundation of the Kedushah of Clal Yisrael is Torah, which can be found anywhere, even in the desert.
This is also the meaning of the next pasuk which says כנחלים נטיו. The streams and the נחל referred to in the pasuk are the waters of Torah which sustain Bnei Yisrael wherever they are. This is also how other commentators learn these pasukim and the emphasis on the water in the following pasukim. יזל מים מדליו; the eternal waters of the באר מים חיים is what sustains Bnei Yisrael regardless of their place, and enables Bnei Yisrael to create homes and communities of Kedushah wherever they may be.
Good Shabbos
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