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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:NUMBERS 19:01-25:07:PARASHOT CHUKAT AND BALAK:"Smart Ass"
AND BALAK
NUMBERS 19:01-25:07
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
"Smart Ass"
One definition of a smart ass is one who can sit on a falafel and tell
you in what type of oil the chick peas were fried. In this week's double
portion we will read, among other things, about Balaam's talking donkey.
A close inspection of our two portions, doubled so that we can catch up
to our brothers and sisters in Israel who are a week ahead of us since
the Shavuot holiday, will show a repeated theme of juxtaposition of
opposites. There is a subtle interplay of antinomianism, where good
becomes evil, evil becomes good, and where the holy becomes defiled and
the defiled becomes holy. This shifting takes place through kavenah
(intention).
Our first of these two parashat, Chukot, begins with the law of the Red
Heifer. This d'var Torah series discussed many aspects of this strange
ritual in the special Shabbat called Parah (heifer), which preceded
Pesach.
The Torah story is now 38 years after the Exodus. Aaron and
Miriam will die in this portion, and Moses is told that he will be dead
in two years. Jews have been taught by Moses that they become impure when
they come in contact with the dead. They are now taught that if they burn
this perfect-looking red cow and sprinkle themselves with its ashes, they
can become pure again. However the person doing the sprinkling becomes
impure.
The Midrash in trying to explain this paradox sites examples of how evil
fathers begot good sons, that is, Abraham from Terach, Ezekiel from Ahaz,
and Josiah from Ammon. The Talmud reminds us that we are forbidden to
drink blood as it's the source of life but that we are allowed to drink
milk which is a baby's source of life (Tractate Niddah 9A). King Solomon
said concerning this paradox in Proverbs 7:23, "I said I would be wise
but it is far from me."
Rashi writes that when Numbers 19:14 says the cow should have no
blemish, it means that it should be perfectly red in color. If there
were two black hairs on it, the cow was disqualified. He then states that
a Jew's perfection is disqualified by even the slightest "hairsbreadth"
of dishonesty or deception.
We are told of Miriam's death. When she dies, the portable well told of
in Talmud Bavli Tractate Ta'anit 9A dries. The Jews again rebel because of the
lack of water. Yet this is the new generation. The old generation who
griped and moaned is dying off. But their children sound just like the
older generation! God tells Moses to speak to a rock and ask it for
water.
Moses, who just lost his sister and is burnt-out by this job he
never wanted, angrily strikes the rock twice. Water flows. God punishes
Moses by telling him he will die in the wilderness and will not go into
the promised land.
If you recall, back in Exodus 17:2-6, Moses also
strikes a rock for water. God commands Moses in Exodus to take his staff
and strike the rock. This time Gods tell Moses to take his staff and
speak to the rock. Maybe God was setting up Moses, giving him confusing
instructions and giving him a way out of playing nursemaid to the
Israelites. Ramban writes that this is the same rock from the Exodus
story as well as the same rock from the Hagar and Ishmael story (Gen.
21:19).
The parasha is called "Chukat." Chukat are statutes that were to be
obeyed traditionally even if we do not understand why. The word is
related to "l'chakei," which means "to engrave or impress." Moses
improvised on his own personal chuk. God punished him perhaps as a
lesson to the Israelites to obey the Torah to its very letter.
Aaron is given an almost immediate death. Aaron does not hit the rock,
yet he is punished. The Talmud teaches that Aaron's sin is not blessing
God when the water gushes out. This non-blessing seemingly causes the
Israelites to think that the water comes from Moses and not from God.
This new generation does not witness the miracle at Sinai, nor the ones
in the desert, nor the greatest miracle of the Exodus from Egypt. This is
the first miracle that this generation is to witness for themselves.
Water was to come from a rock by Moses speaking to it in the name of God.
Moses and Aaron steal the show.
The Israelites are again of little faith. They rebel over food as their
parents did. God gives them a plague of poisonous snakes. Moses prays for
a cure. Gods tell Moses to make a brass statue of a snake on a pole. If
an Israelite looks at this image of a snake he will be cured from the
bite of the real snake. One of our Ten Commandments is not to make any
graven image. Our golden calf was forbidden, but this brass snake is
allowed.
So far in our parasha we have learned of ashes that purify what was
defiled and defile what was pure. We have read of a well that dried up
when a righteous woman died and a rock that became a well when God was
disobeyed. We are told that praying to a graven image of a snake will
cure poisonous snake bites that came from praying (albeit complaining) to
God for food.
There is a Talmudic doctrine of "mitzvah ha ba'ah ba-averah"--fulfilling
a commandment by transgressing it. This a concept of redemption through
sin. Wherever great holiness exists, there is also great evil. The Talmud
teaches that a body of a dead religious Jew gives more defilement to
someone who touches it than a nonreligious person's body. The Ba'al Shem
Tov, the founder of Hasidism, wrote, "Evil is the throne of Good."
In Kabbalistic terms there is constant interplay between the sephirot of
chesed (kindness) and gevurah (justice). The rabbinic kabbalists believed
that the Messiah will also purify what is defiled and defile what is pure
in order to break the kelippah (husks) surrounding the nitzotzot (holy
sparks) to do tikun olam (repair of the world).
Traditionally, we are taught that in the Messianic age man will be so pure that the Torah laws
will not be needed and even pig meat will be kosher. Talmud Bavli Tractate Nazir 23B
states that "a sin performed for its own sake is greater than a mitzvah
performed for its own sake."
The Talmud Bavli in Tractate Moed Katan 28A states that the reason Miriam's
death is mentioned right after the Red Heifer is to teach that "just as
the ashes of the parah adumah (red heifer) atones, so does the death of
the righteous atone." The idea of a rabbi dying for his generation's sins
is a traditional Jewish idea and not a foreign one.
In Torah terms, and certainly in agreement with the Kabbalistic
viewpoint, death is a technical term to describe transition. The Talmud Bavli
in Tractate Bava Batra 15A asks how, if Moses wrote the whole Torah, he
was able to write about his own death. The rabbis compromise and decide
that Moses got all of the Torah from God, but taught these last few verses to Joshua, who wrote
them down.
But, according to the Zohar, one can die and still walk the
"face of the earth." The snake in the Garden of Evil gave us spiritual
filth (zuhama). This prevents the body from rising to the level where the
soul can bring it to a higher, eternal level (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 146A).
When we rot in the ground we shed our spiritual filth and regain our
ketonet ohr--clothing of light, that Adam wore before Eve chatted with
the snake, and they ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Evil, Rabbi Moses Chaim Luzzatto (the Ramchal) wrote, has only one
purpose, and that is to be uprooted completely. We are to work to remove
evil from its existence. During the Messianic age, he teaches, God will
remove all evil and the world will "perceive His Unity and His
perfection like a blinding light." Our Aleinu prayer near the end of our
daily service calls for this to occur.
The human embodiment of evil is seen in our second of two parashat.
Balak is the King of Moab (modern Jordan). He fears for his kingdom
because he has seen what the Jews have done to Sichon and Og, his
neighbors. So he hires Balaam, the Prophet, to curse the Jews. To Balak,
Balaam is his secret weapon.
Balaam is called a prophet because he spoke
with God. God tells Balaam not to be hired by Balak (Num. 12:12).
When Balak heard that Balaam would not come, he assumed the price he
first offered was too low, and he increased it. Balaam made a
counteroffer. God then tells Balaam he can go, but only to say what God
tells him to say (Num. 22:20).
Balaam "arose early in the morning and saddled his donkey" (Num. 22:21).
While Balaam is on his way to curse Israel, his donkey sees an
angel blocking the road three times. Each time the donkey veers to the
side, and Balaam hits her. Balaam does not see this angel. Eventually
Balaam does see the angel, and his curses become blessings.
"Whoever has three particular traits is counted among the students of
Abraham, and whoever has three other traits is among the students of
Balaam. He who has a good eye, humility and contentedness is a student of
Abraham, while he who has an evil eye, arrogance and greed is a student
of Balaam" (Mishna Pirket Avot 5:22).
The Talmud Bavli Tractate Sanhedrin 102B reminds us that Abraham, when he was commanded
by God to sacrifice Isaac,
also "arose early in the morning and saddled his donkey" (Gen. 22:03). In
Hebrew the word for saddled (yach'vosh) is related to the verb "to
conquer." The word for donkey (chamor) matches the word for physicality
(chomer).
When Abraham saddled his donkey, he conquered his physical
drives of fear and love for his son in the service of God. When he went
up to Mount Moriah he left his donkey, meaning his physical needs, behind
(Gen. 22:05). Balaam gets up early to make a great deal of money by
causing the destruction of others. Both Abraham and Balaam are tested ten
times by God. Abraham passes each test. Balaam fails each test. The
donkey hears the angel of God. The donkey is on a higher level than the
prophet Balaam. The donkey speaks the truth for only her daily bag of
feed, while Balaam is prepared to utter curses for his bag of gold and
silver.
Abraham's name means the "father of the nation." Balaam's name is from
the contraction "bi-lo Am," which means "without a nation." Abraham was
known for his moral integrity, kindness, and loyalty to God. Balaam was a
hired gun whose loyalty went to the highest bidder. The rabbis also say
that his name means "swallow" (bilaam) as no matter how many times he was
humiliated, he would not swallow his pride and admit that he was wrong.
Talmud Bavli Tractate Eiruvin 13B says that God can tolerate many things but He
despises the proud. The Zohar points out that the last two letters of
King Balak's name and the last two letters of Balaam's name spell
Amelek, the eternal enemy of the Jews. The remaining letters spell Bavel,
the Hebrew name for Babylonia, the first country to capture the Jews into
Exile. Bavel also means to "confound" (Gen. 11:09) as we are taught in
the story of the Tower of Babel.
The Midrash teaches that Balaam was one of Laban's sons. That means
Balaam was Jacob's bother-in-law. Balaam is the children of Israel's
uncle. The Midrash states that the stone wall that Laban and Jacob made
to seal their truce is the same wall against which the donkey smashes
Balaam's leg (Num. 22:25).
Jacob and Balaam studied together. But Balaam
also learned to be hateful and jealous of Jacob from Laban. Balaam was a
gifted student of the occult. It is taught that he was the advisor to
Pharaoh who suggested enslaving the Jews. Pharaoh's other advisors were
Jethro, who advised against Balaam, and Job, who remained neutral. The
Talmud teaches that Balaam was one of two men who knew "da'at Elyon,"
God's holy knowledge. The other man was Moses. The Talmud compares Balaam
with Moses.
The Talmud teaches in Tractate Berachot 7A that there is an instant each day when
God is angry, and if you curse someone at that instant it will work.
Balaam knew how to judge this specific time. This moment is "one
fifty-eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-eighth part of an hour."
This is 1/16 of a second. What curse could be pronounced in such a short
time? The rabbis answer "kelahm," which means "destroy them." When does
this time occur, they ask. During the first three hours of the day during
a moment when the comb of a rooster pales as he stands on one leg, they
answer.
Rabbi Yehoshua wanted to curse a heretic who was continually
harassing him. The Talmud reports that he therefore tied a rooster to the
foot of his bed and tried to stay up all night to watch when its comb
turned from red to pale. But just before that moment came he dozed off.
The rabbis conclude that God never wants us to ask Him to curse anyone.
The text called Eicah Rabbah Pesikta 2 states "there never arose a
philosopher the likes of Balaam son of Beor." The Midrash says that
"Balaam was granted prophecy for the benefit of Israel." Yet his she-ass
reprimands him when he threatens her by asking rhetorically, "Am I not
your she-ass that you have ridden all of your life until this day?" (Num.
22:30).
Balaam is perceived rabbinically in the Midrash as the last of
the prophets of the non-Jewish nations who received revelation from God.
The Midrash says he surpassed Moses in the wisdom of sorcery. Balaam's
donkey not only could see the angel with his fiery sword but understood
his intention and refused to go past him. Balaam, the great prophet,
could not see the angel and beat his donkey three times for bowing to the
will of God. This donkey not only could hear, understand, and speak, but
had a soul greater than Balaam's. Balaam was on his way to sin, and his
she-ass was trying to redeem him. This was one smart ass.
Again in this parasha we see a juxtaposition of good and evil. We read
about evil becoming good, about seers who are deaf and blind, and
about farm animals that are astute and wise. Balaam's speaking donkey
left him speechless. Balaam eventually blessed us instead of cursing us.
He said, in words that we hear each Shabbat morning in our service, "How
goodly are your tents, O Jacob, and your dwelling places, O Israel."
Rashi says that Balaam really wanted to curse our houses of Torah study
and our prayer houses. Rashi says if one really wants to kill the Jews,
one should destroy our synagogues and Torah study. Why does evil persist?
Why did God give permission for Balaam to proceed toward his goal? The
Talmud Bavli in Tractate Avodah Zara 3A asks why, if God does not play games
with his creations, did He not stop Balaam immediately. The Talmud Bavli
answers, "In the way in which a person wants to go, God will lead him
there" (Tractate Makkot 10B).
The Bible has few examples of the application of curses, but has numerous
blessings expounded. The Jewish prophet Elisha cursed a group of school
children who mocked him and 42 of them were eaten by two bears (2 Kings
2:23-24). And we have discussed previously the curse of the Sotah ordeal
in Numbers 5:11-29 where the words of a curse written on parchment are
scraped into bitter water and given to a woman, who is suspected of
adultery, to drink.
Life really is not a battle of God versus man or good versus evil. Life
is an eternal battle inside each of us between what we know is right and
what we know is wrong. It is man's battle against himself. We all have
the power to curse and the power to bless. The Zohar also teaches that
the best way a Jew can rid himself of the Amalek, Balaam, Balak, and
Babylon inside us all is with yira (fear and awe) and ahavah (love) for
God. The first two letters of yira, combined with the first two letters
of ahavah spell "yira." The last two letters of yira and the last two
letters of ahavah spell "ahavah."
When God tells Abraham to leave his
home and "go forth" he is promised that he "shall be a blessing"
(Gen.12:2-3). Traditionally, when one dies, we say "zichrono/zicrona
l'vracha--may he/she be remembered for a blessing." If Balaam's curses
could be turned into blessings, perhaps we could turn our own personal
adversities into opportunities for blessings as well.
At the end of parasha Balak we read that when Balaam fails to curse the
Jews the Moabites send their daughters to entice the Israelites away from
God. The men become attached to the idol worship of Baal P'or. The Talmud
in Tractate Sanhedrin 64A explains that one worshipped this idol by
defecating in front of it. One would clean one's self by using the nose
of the idol for wiping.
The rabbis teach that food grows from the
"accursed" earth. By eating food, we take the good from it. Our body
eliminates the bad. They teach that manna was from God and was pure good.
Therefore, the Jews during their 40 years in the desert did not have to
eliminate bodily waste. So service to Ba'al P'or was 100 percent
evil. If one could worship in this way one could free himself to do any
act. Hence in next week's parasha we will read about the orgy with the
Moab women.
A sad day on the Jewish
calendar falls around the time of this Torah portion. It is called the Fast of Tamuz 17.
It is the beginning of the three weeks of
mourning ending with Tisha B'Av. Tisha B'Av is the 9th of Av.
Tisha B'Av is when both Temples were destroyed.
Tamuz 17 is when the walls of Jerusalem were forced open by the Romans.
During this period traditional Jews do not shave or get their hair cut.
No marriages are performed. No court cases are held. There is no
rejoicing with music or dance. The wearing of new clothes or eating a new
fruit, which would require a "shehechiyanu" blessing, can not be done.
This fast is not a 24-hour fast like Yom Kippur. It starts at sunrise and
ends at sundown.
We are taught traditionally that many tragedies befell the Jewish people
on the 17th of Tamuz. Moses returned from Mt. Sinai and witnessed the
Golden Calf and smashed the Tablets. During the fall of the first Temple
there was starvation. The animal sacrifices stopped as there were no
animals left. The Romans breached the walls of Jerusalem (the Babylonians
breached the walls on the 9th of Tamuz). The Talmud in Tractate Ta'anit
recounts that just before the story of Hanukkah a Syrian governor,
Apustomus, publicly burned a Torah as well as placed a idol in the Second
Temple. Historians think it was really a Roman officer, but the rabbis
censored themselves to avoid the wrath of the Romans and called him a
"Syrian." King Menashe placed an idol in the First Temple on this day. Menashe, the Talmud teaches, was one of three of Israel's worst kings. He murdered the Prophet Isaiah. It
is interesting to note from a modern historical perspective that Saddam
Hussein's nuclear reactor, from which he planned to create a bomb to drop
on Israel, was called "Tamuz 17."
Our two parashat teach us that good and evil can be found paradoxically
in what we have assumed to be evil and good. Evil exists in man, as God
gave us the freedom to choose our actions. We can work to eradicate evil
by choosing intentionally, with the force of kavenah, to make evil into
good. We can with kavenah make the disallowed into the allowable. We do
not have the power to keep bad things from happening to us. But we do
have the power to decide how we will react to it. We cannot change the
cards that are dealt to us or the way others behave. We can not change
the inevitable. However, we can control our attitude and the way we think
about situations. If we "awfulize" them and make everything into a
catastrophe, we will emote anxiously, angrily, fearfully, or jealously.
The Mishna teaches that "in a place where there are no leaders, strive to
be a leader" (Pirkei Avot 2:06). We know wrong from right. Let our lives
be for a blessing, even when we are cursed for doing so.
The Mishna teaches that Balaam's she-donkey was created right before the first
Shabbat by God, along with Miriam's well. The Midrash teaches that God
killed that multi-millennia year old talking donkey to spare mean Balaam
the embarrassment of having people point to it and say "there goes dumb
Balaam's smart ass." God went to this great length to preserve the human
dignity of a wicked character.
In this week's Haftarah, the prophet Micah (6:08) says that all God asks
of us is to be just, do acts of loving kindness (ahavath chesed), and be
humble. Let us try to live with Father Abraham's attributes of a good
eye, humility, and contentedness and not Uncle Balaam's traits of an evil
eye, pride, and jealousy. It is not always easy to do, but in both the
short run and the long haul it is a healthier and a more spiritual way of
living.
Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
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