Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan Parshat Balak 1

good evening we're learning parashat valak we're on page 857 of the art scroll homash the Jewish people are on the border of the land of Israel on the Eastern side across Jordan River they have already conquered two kingdoms the kingdom of sihon the king of sihon king and the King OG uh two great kings that actually were mercenaries that they were hired by the Canaanite Kings to protect them from the attack from the East they had the Mediterranean Sea protecting them from the west and King sihon and King OG protected them from the East however when the Jewish people came they conquered the king of seahol because he went to fight against them and then they conquered the org and now the neighbors are scared the Canaanite kings are scared as the Book of Joshua book of yahushua tells us they were petrified they they lost their will to to to live and moabites who were also on the Eastern side of the land of Israel Eastern Bank of Jordan River they were also scared now they really had nothing to be scared of because the Jewish people were warned not to fight moabites and ammonites people of Ammon and people of Moab because they are our relatives they are children of lot who was Sarah imano's brother Sarah and Lord were brother and sister and that means that lot was avraham's nephew because avraham married his niece Saro and uh Hashem said that these two pieces of land are off limits to the Jewish people because they are the possession of um the nation of amod and the nation of Moab nevertheless the moabites were scared now why were they scared they were scared that the Jews are going to attack and take their land why be scared if they know the Jewish people are not allowed it's written in the Jewish Bible not allowed to fight against Ammon and Moab that would be the best guarantee for us imagine in if in the constitution of the Palestinian Authority and of uh Iran it said not allowed to attack the land of Israel we would be so happy wow they're not allowed by their own religion by their own Constitution to attack us they would be our friends and we would be so happy that their God commanded them not to attack us why weren't they so happy so there are a few reasons one of the reasons is that other nations when they hear that a god commanded them something it doesn't impress them that is because they don't believe in it they don't believe in their God and they don't believe that he he can talk and that he actually said something and not only that they know that people in general are not loyal to their God they often exchange him for other idols and they jump from one religion to another whatever suits them at that moment if they need Prosperity they take out the idol of wealth and they pray to him and if he happens to have certain rules that they themselves invented they follow those rules and then another time they need Health they take out the idol of Health and they pray to him and if he happens to have different rules different laws opposing the the idol of wealth they'll say I don't need wealth now now health is more important for me so they will do things that go against the other religion and so on and so forth they can be a different person every day why because today I need this from gods and therefore I follow a different path and so they thought that the Jewish people are the same okay their God told them not to attack Amon and Moab but who knows tomorrow they'll choose a different God tomorrow they'll get a different set of man-made rules which will tell them that today it's okay to attack Amon and Moab on Monday it wasn't but Tuesday it's okay so just like the all the religions that they were familiar with they thought the Jewish religion is the same that you can you can be free to choose any Idol you want for any particular Circumstance the second um mistake they made was that they thought that just like Nations sometimes ignore the command of their own religion I want I want to do even though my religion doesn't let and they thought the Jewish people are also like that and these are the two mistakes they made because Jewish people only have one God and they don't exchange him for any anyone we have rules that are Godly as lately in the in the Parsha bilam himself the non-jewish prophet who wanted to curse the Jews he himself will Proclaim God is not a man man why man change their mind men trick others God doesn't do that he says something and it is forever so Jewish people have an eternal and um all-powerful God and therefore the rules that he gives us are eternal and they never change um so the moabites didn't have to worry that a different Idol will come and command us different laws and plus we are of course they didn't know about it but we are a loyal Nation we don't exchange our God for anything we would even give up our life as millions of Jews have throughout the ages given up there alive for their God uh and because more bites were judging the Jews according to their own standards they couldn't trust the Jews so what if the God told them not to attack us they might still or tomorrow a different God will come and tell them to attack so on page 857 balak son of support saw all that the Jewish people had done to the Amorite Amorite is the nation that sihon was the king were over Moab as a nation became very frightened of the Jewish people because the Jewish people were numerous and Moab was disgusted in the face of the children of Israel disgusted means that they lost their appetite and the light of day became not pleasant anymore from Fear Moab eyes said to the Elders of median they sent a delegation to the country called median this is where Moshe lived for some time and that's where he married his wife and that's where his two children were born so the the media Knights the country median they knew who Moshe was so the moabites sent a message to the midianites to ask them what should they do they said you know this guy who is leading the Jews he lived among you tell us something about him what is his power what is his weakness and this is the message they sent now the congregation will lick up destroy our entire surroundings as an ax licks up The Greenery of the field they complain to them we have a nation on our doorstep that's about to destroy us what can we do about it and now the name of the king of Moab is giving balak son of sippor was king of Moab at that time and the commentators say that the extra expression at that time is not only giving us historical uh note who was the king at that time but it's telling us an emphasis at that time only at that time he was the king he was appointed specifically for this occasion which means he was not of Royal Blood he didn't really know how to run the country or rather he was a magician he was a sorcerer so they in desperation appointed him to help them so balak being the the the sorcerer he asked the midianites in which way can we put a curse God forbid on the Jewish people to win against them and the midianites said you should go to a man who is even a greater sorcerer than you and that is bilam and they said that Moshe has his power in his mouth he speaks in the name of God they didn't know that but they thought that he is such a powerful orator but really they didn't know that moshe's power was not in his mouth in fact he had um a blemish it was hard for him to speak and the words were not coming out clearly it was only because God's voice was speaking from his throat that he was able to speak so well but on his own he couldn't and God chose him on purpose because of his blemish so that people will not follow him based on his Charisma and his um public speaking skills but rather because they will recognize this man can't speak and the voice that's emanating from him is Godly voice but they told him nonetheless that moshe's power is in his mouth he can speak to God and therefore find someone who also has a power in his mouth and that is Bill um because bilaam was known to to have the ability to put curses on people in the past he actually put a curse on the moabites themselves in their War um against um the Amorite King and in their war against midianites as well they hired bilam to curse moabites and because of that moabites lost the war and that is why sihon conquered part of Mobile territory and thereby allowed the Jewish people to to take it because now they were not Conquering the territory of Moab now they were Conquering the territory of sihon so moabites experienced bilam's evil mouth on their own skin so verse 5 he balak sent Messengers to bilaam son of bior to katore which is by the river by the Euphrates River of the land of the members of his people to summon him to call him uh for help saying Behold a people has come out of Egypt behold it has covered the surface of the Earth and it sits opposite me it's not threatening me it just sits peacefully waiting the command to enter the land of Israel so now please come and curse these people for me for it is too powerful for me perhaps we will be able to strike it and drive it away from the land for I know that whomever you belong bless is blessed and whoever whomever you curse is accursed that is the invitation they sent and we see that people believed and they they knew that curses have power and they knew that blessings have power they experienced it and it is true that a curse weakens a person or even a nation and the blessing strength strengthens him and you don't have to be a magician or sorcerer to put a curse on a person or to bless a person every Jew by thinking positively sends good energy to people every Jew by talking positively about people sends good energy to them and of course if you give a blessing saying May such and such person be blessed may he be healthy may he be wealthy may he be close to God you are making it easier for them to achieve that blessing and therefore we should use our mouth to give blessings to ourselves to give blessings to everyone we need and and they actually were fighting a war through curses they knew they cannot win with soldiers and they were willing to spend a lot of money and instead of mobilizing their soldiers they just sat at home and asked bilam can you please curse the Jews for us that's how much they trusted the power of a curse and that's how much we should believe in the power of a blessing whomever you bless is blessed and whomever you curse is accursed so the first delegation came to bilam the Elders of Moab and the Elders of Midian went together with charms special instruments to do sorcery in their hands they came to bilam and spoke to him the words of palak and he said to them spend the night here and I will give you a response as Hashem shall speak to me so he said I am a representative of God Bila was an actual true prophet of God he was the only non-jewish prophet in history which says a lot about him he had a great potential he could have become a saint in our terms he could have become a great man who would have led the non-jewish Nations to perfection he could have become A Spiritual Authority and a king of all the nations of the world and they would recognize him but instead he used it for his own base desires as we will see later he was very um greedy and he was involved in um forbidden sexual relations all the way down lowly with animals so he used his great power instead of bringing people closer to God to draw them away from God and he actually tried to go against the people of God using the talent that He had and the gift he was granted to be a prophet he tried to go against God himself and his Nation now at this time he admits that I cannot curse the nation of God unless he gives me permission as Hashem shall speak to me so the officers of Moab stayed with Bilal now on page 559 God came to bilam and said who are these men with you now why is Hashem asking such a question doesn't Hashem know everything that's going on so the the answer is that God does not shock a person he first introduces a conversation with a question like he did with Adam he said where are you because he saw that Adam was hiding can't hide from God but Hashem didn't want to shock Adam so instead instead of saying here I am you can't hide from me and embarrass him he said Adam where are you as if he doesn't see like a parent playing with his little uh child and the child is hiding he thinks the parent doesn't see but of course parent sees because he just closed his eyes and the child thinks that if he cannot see the parent the parent can't see him and the same thing Hashem is doing here with bilam who are these people in order to give him opportunity to admit the evil intent and to apologize say God I know you know everything I can't hide from you I wanted to curse them but I know you you um don't like this idea and I apologize I'm not gonna do anything bad bilam is um misleading himself his desire to do evil and to curse the Jews is so strong that he convinces himself that God doesn't see and he says oh God is asking me who these people are must be he's not all-knowing and that means I can trick him I can lie to him I can hide information from God and so he said balak Son of support king of Moab sent to me behold the people coming out of Egypt has covered the surface of the Earth now go and curse it to me for me perhaps I will be able to make war against it and drive it away so he is already um lying in his one sentence he is already lying multiple times first of all he says the people coming out of Egypt which gives the um married to people themselves for taking themselves out they are coming of Egypt instead of recognizing the god the people that you took out of Egypt so therefore he diminishes the power of God and he says God this was just by chance that they came out of Egypt and then he says now go and curse it for me and the word he uses in English is the same word but in Hebrew instead of um the word are before it was Ara which is a word for curse in Hebrew here it uses the word kava which is a stronger word for Hebrew for curse now pretends because he wants to put a a more severe curse on the Jews but he doesn't want to admit that it's his own desire so he says balak asked me to put a very strong curse on the Jews and that's lie number two and number three he says perhaps I will be able to make war against it and drive it away drive it away means all the way to the other end of the Earth or to destroy them drive them away completely whereas balak did not say that balak said perhaps I will be able to strike it and drive it away from the land all I want is to push it a little further from me they shouldn't be right on top of me as opposed to bilam he says I will wage war a full out War not just a strike not just one attack and let them just move further bilab said I want to curse them with such a powerful curse that they will be destroyed annihilated and moved to the end of the world and God said to be lamb in verse 12 you shall not go with them and you shall not curse the people for it is blessed so here the Sages derive three steps in the conversation between God and bilan first Hashem said You shall not go with them don't go with them that's it so bilan said Okay God I'm not gonna go with them but can I curse the people from my home so bilam is trying to twist God's words and say oh you said I shouldn't go but maybe I can curse them from here so Hashem said not only you shouldn't go with them but don't even curse the people from your own home don't go with them and you shall not curse the people and then belam said okay you know God I'm not going to go with them and I'm not going to curse them from here but God can I at least bless them can I give them a good wish and Hashem said no for it is blessed it's already blessed they don't need your blessing because billon was hoping that if God gives him permission to talk he'll quickly put in a good word so to say against them and Hashem said no they don't need your blessing as the sages say you should avoid even a blessing of an evil person stay away from an evil person even when he smiles at you when he wants to hug you when he wants to bless you stay away nothing good comes from an evil person now dilemma Rose in the morning and said to the officers of balak go to your land for Hashem refuses to let me go with you and here again sages being such a good psychologist they note that Bila is tricking the offices of balak he's telling them Hashem refuses to let me go with you as if to say you are not important enough for me to go with you God honors me so much that he told me that they're not worthy then you should go with them let valak send you a a more dignified delegation and that's exactly what they did the offices of Moab arose and came to balak and said Billa refused to go with us so balakt kept on sending officers more and higher ranking than these so from here we see that bilam had Gava he had Pride he was boasting I'm such a great man I need a better delegation to bring me they came to bilam second time and said to him do not refrain from going for balak shall honor you greatly and everything that you say to him he will do so now go and curse these people for me and be lamb again answered and said to the Servants of balak if balak will give me his household full of silver and gold I cannot transgress the word of Hashem my God to do anything small or great again in part to praise himself he says you know who my God is Hashem the ultimate God I serve you serve little Idols I serve the great God he uses our Jewish uh name for God Hashem my God and now you too stay here for the night and I will know what more Hashem will speak with me God came to bilam at night and said to him if the man came to call you arise and go with them but only the thing that I shall speak to you that shall you speak from here we learned that Hashem tries to stop a person from doing something bad but when Hashem sees that the person is strongly Desiring to do it and he is committed to do it Hashem says okay it's your choice I try to stop you but if you want to do it the door is open go and do it and you will see the result you will see that I was right that's what he allowed Adam to do he said to Adam don't eat from the forbidden fruit Adam said okay but then Adam said I really want to and he did and Hashem said I'm not gonna tie your hands you want to eat eat and here with bilam first he said to him don't go but when