Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan Parshat Balak 2

second year delegation came and bilam again inquired of God God can I please go Hashem said okay fine go but it's not going to be good for you you're going to be embarrassed and against your will you will have to bless the Jewish people verse 21 bilam arose in the morning and settled his she donkey a female donkey and went with the officers of mob and here the Torah reveals to us that bilam was not riding a horse even though he was such a great man he was writing a donkey and not even a male donkey who would be more resilient he chose a female donkey and later the officers of balak asked him where's your horse we thought you're such a an amazing honorable person should be riding a chariot with horses and Dylan was embarrassed to admit that he doesn't have a horse he only has a female donkey and he said oh my horses I I I didn't know you're gonna come so I sent them to the pasture they're far away but this is a very urgent matter I have to help your king so I'm not gonna wait you see how nice I am I'm rushing to help you so much that I don't even worry about my own honor but of course he was lying and he was trying to protect himself that they shouldn't reveal the secret why does he have a female donkey um and then later we will find out that really this donkey was uh billum's wife he used it as his wife why for two reasons number one bilam had a desire that could be unfulfilled if someone who has free will will refuse just like a man and a wife have freedom of choice and they can say I'm not available but he couldn't handle a no and therefore he got himself a female donkey and the second reason a more serious reason is that in order to practice Witchcraft and sorcery a person must be defiled he must be impure and a way to make yourself defiled is to do something that is so forbidden so lowly that the spirit of impurity will descend upon such a person immediately and that is bestiality that is having forbidden relations with animals and in order to be able to have um access to negative energy he had a pet female donkey a similar energy can be accessed from other forms of impurity for example impurity of the dead body that is why a lot of sorcery and occult practices are based on dead bodies um and another form of impurity is menstrual blood and that's why witchcraft is very uh common or used to be common among women because during the time when they were menstruating they had an easier time to access um black magic and negative energy and that is why bilam couldn't have a regular woman as his wife because only at the time when she's menstruating he would have access to negative energy when she's not he would have hard times so he got himself a female donkey contact with which improper contact with which would give him access to Black Magic anytime he wished so we're on page 861. God's Wrath flared because he was going was going against God's will and now Hashem tries to stop bilam three times an angel of Hashem stood on the road to impede him and she donkey saw the angel of Hashem standing on the road with his sword drawn in his hand so the she donkey turned away the Donkey felt or saw an angel standing with his sword and the donkey understood the danger stopped and bilam struck the she donkey to turn it back onto the road and they continued on their own way and an angel of Hashem stood in the path of The Vineyards a fence on this side and a fence on that side and the she donkey saw the angel again and pressed against the wall and it pressed bilam's leg against the wall it was a stone fence and the donkey became so scared that it pressed against the wall and squeezed the leg of bilam and he was injured and he continued to strike it he was beating it for the second time verse 26 the angel of Hashem went further and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn right or left and she donkey saw the angel of Hashem and crouched beneath Bila and no way to go can't go right can't go left it was a narrow place so she just sat down and bilam's anger flared up and he struck the she dunk with the staff continue beating it verse 28 a miracle happens Hashem opened the mouth of the she donkey and it said to belong what have I done to you that you struck me these three times all of a sudden bilam hears voice from his donkey and what does he do bilam said to the she donkey because you mocked me because I'm trying to go and you are stopping on the way three times look at bilam he is hearing his donkey speak and he's so preoccupied with his anger and his self um absorbed image and being so upset at the donkey why didn't you do what I asked you to do that he forgets reality donkey speaking why is the donkey speaking doesn't bother him he's angry and he has to express his anger and he falls so low as to make a donkey his opponent you mocked me you made fun of me and now he's upset at the Donkey and he threatens the donkey if only there were a sword in my hand I would now have killed you that's how crazy a man becomes when he gets angry he loses his mind now the she donkey speaks again and says to bilam am I not your she donkey that you have ridden all your life until this day which is a euphemism for marital relations have I been accustomed to do such a thing to you and the word accustomed also in the Torah is sometimes used is also used for marital relations and bilam said one word no donkey challenged bilam and said didn't you realize that something is unusual did I ever do anything against you did I ever refuse to do your will and bilam said no you didn't he admitted his guilt page 863 then ashaman covered bilam's eyes and he saw the angel of Hashem standing on the road with his sword drawn in his hand so bilan bowed his head and prostrated himself on his face the angel of Hashem said to him why did you strike your donkey these three times behold I went out to stop you the donkey saw me and you didn't the donkey tried to protect you had it not turned away from me I would now even have killed you and let it live if the donkey didn't stop and you continued on your way I would kill you so bilam said to the angel of Hashem I have sinned for I did not know that you were standing up as in me on the road and now if it is evil in your eyes I shall return although Hashem already told him that he shouldn't go bilim is pretending as if he didn't know Angel if you don't want me to go just say so I'm not gonna go but the angel of Hashem said to bilam go with the man but only the word that I shall speak to you that shall you speak went with the offices of balak verse 36 balak heard that bilam had come so he went out to warn him to the city of Moab the capital city balak said to belong why did you not come to me am I not capable of honoring you and in his words he hinted that yes there will come a time when that I will not be able to honor you because when bilan blessed the bless the Jewish people against his will balak sent him away with anger and refused to pay him bilam said to balak am I empowered to say anything whatever God puts him to my mouth that I shall speak so bilam went with balak to preview the job site they came to create he showed him from afar the Jewish Nation balak slaughtered cattle and sheep one cow and one lamb and sent to biliman to officers who were with him to eat and it was in the morning balak took bilam and brought him up to the heights of Al and from there he saw the edge of the people and the control commentators they also visited a moabite idol to serve it now on page 865 billon said to balak built for me here seven altars and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven Rams before trying to curse the Jews villam tries to imitate the Jews and he says the Jewish people serve God on the altar with animals let me do the same perhaps I will be able to appease God and allow me to curse them verse 4 God happened upon belam and belam said to Hashem I have prepared the seven altars and brought up seven a bull and RAM on each altar as if to say I've done my part I gave you a bribe now do my will Hashem put on utterance in bilam's mouth and said go back to balak and thus shall you say so he came back and he declaimed his Parable and said from Aram balak king of Moab led me from the mountains of the East come curse Jaco for me come bring anger upon Israel here he invokes both names of the Jewish people because he's not sure which name the curse will fall upon so he tries both yaakov he's filling it out but then the message of God overpowers him then he says how can I curse God has not cursed how can I anger Hashem is not angry for from its origin from the origin of the Jewish people I see it Rock like and from hills do I see it behold it is a nation that will dwell in solitude and will not be reckoned among the Nations these two expressions it is a nation that dwells in solitude and it will not be reckoned it will not be counted among the Nations sound like the same they're alone and they're not counted with the Nations but in fact they refer to two stages of the Jewish history the first is our part of History where we go through life with challenges the nations of the world um oppress us they accuse us they separate themselves from us they consider us to be lowly poisonous accursed and though they don't want to have anything to do with us that's what it says it will dwell in solitude in this world everyone chases us and the second part is talking about in the future and it will not be counted among the Nations when the final time of Reckoning comes when the final time of judgment comes all the nations will be judged and punished but the Jewish people will not be among them they will be separated like always this time for good now we turn to page 867. he continues his prophecy who has counted the dust of yaakov or numbered even a quarter of the Israel may my soul die the death of the upright and may my end be like his here he sees how the Jewish people will be successful in during their history and especially at the end of times and he says wow I wish I could die like that and the question is why not live like that if you live honestly you will die an honest person you can't live as a crook and die as an honest person but bilam thinks it's possible I want to live the way I want but I want to die the death of upright balak said to belam in horror what have you done to me to curse my enemy have I brought you but behold you have even blessed now balak tries another place balak said to him go now with me to a different place and you will curse it for me from there and again he built seven altars and brought up a bull and RAM on each altar verse 16 Hashem happened upon bilam and put on utterance in his mouth and said go back to balak and so shall you say he declaimed his Parable and said verse 19. God is not a man that he should be deceitful nor a son of man that he should change his mind would he say and not do or speak and not confirm behold to bless have I received God has blessed and I shall not contradict it and now the blessing starts God perceived no sin in yaakov and saw no perversity in Israel Hashem his God is with him and the friendship of the ultimate King of Kings is with the Jewish people God treats us as if he's our friend it is God who brought them out of Egypt according to the power of His holiness loftiness now on page 869 the blessing continues for there is no divination no sorcery in yaakov and no sorcery in Israel even now it is said to Yakov and Israel what God has done when the Jewish people need to know what the right thing is they don't need to ask sorceress or diviners they asked God himself through prophets or through urine or through our Sages behold the people will arise like a lion cub and raise itself like an alliance it will not lie down until it consumes prey all their enemies and drinks the blood of the slain so here he predicts military successes of the Jewish people throughout history balak gets angry palak said to belam neither shall you curse them at all nor shall you bless them at all now for a third time he tries balak said to bilam go now and I shall take you to a different place perhaps I it will be proper in God's eyes that you will curse them for me from there bilam said to balak okay bill for me here seven autism prepare for me here seven bulls and seven Rams again and they did so chapter 24. billum's third attempt and the third blessing billum saw that it was good in the in hashem's eyes to bless the Jewish people so he did not go as every other time toward divinations he didn't even try but he set his face toward the Wilderness and I would say just say that he looked at the place where Jewish people sinned in the past he tried to remind Hashem Hashem remember how they sinned over there raised his eyes and saw Israel dwelling according to its tribes and the spirit of God was upon him he declaimed his Parable and said and here come beautiful words of blessing that we use till today every day in prayer and the blessing that we give to a newly married couple how goodly are your tents or yaakov your Dwelling Places or Israel and we bless the new couple that they should build a house that should be good and beautiful stretching out like Brooks like Gardens by a river like beautiful plants aloe plants planted by Hashem like Cedars powerful trees by water shall flow from his Wells and his children shall be by Abundant Waters his King shall be exalted over a Gog that's a prediction that the Jewish King will conquer the nation of amalek and kill their King agag and his kingdom the Jewish Kingdom shall be appraised as it was in the times of David and shalomo and as it will be in the times of the king mashiach it is God who brought him out of Egypt according to the power of his loftiness he will consume the Nations that oppress him and Crush their bones and his arrows shall pierce them again prediction of military victory of the Jewish people with the help of God he crouched and lay down like a lion and like a lion cub who can stand him up those who blessed you the Jewish people are blessed and those who curse the Jewish people are accursed palak is very angry now balak's anger flared up against bilam and he clapped his hands balak said to belong to curse my enemies did I summon you and behold you have continually blessed them these three times now flee to your place I said I would honor you but behold Hashem has withheld you from Anna now to return to page 873 bilam admitted his defeat and in verse 14 he said now I will go to my people come I shall advise you what these people will do to your people in the end of days and now he gives prayer prophecy prediction of what will happen to various Nations first what will happen to moabites I shall see him but not now I shall look at him but it is not near he's saying the Jewish people in the future will will have a fight against um moabites a star has issued from yaakov and a scepter Bearer a king has risen from Israel and he shall pierce the Nobles of Moab and undermine all the children of now predictionally about Edom Edom shall be a conquest and Israel will attain success Edom are the children of ASAP and now um prediction about the power of the Jewish people in the end of days one from yaakov shall Rule and destroy the remnant of the city and our prediction about amalek he saw Malik and declaim his Parable and said amalek is the first among nations to attack the Jewish people but its end will be Eternal destruction and now a positive prophecy about the people of Kenny he saw the canine and the claimed parabon said strong is your dwelling and set in a rock is your nest because the people of Canaan who were descendants of yitra were friendly to the Jewish people bilam sees that their end will be good page 875. he continued his prophecy and said oh who will survive when God imposes these at the end of days when there will be final war who will survive big ships from the coast of kitim will afflict Assyria and there are various interpretations what this means what are these big ships and Assyria we know is uh in the Middle East what is kitim and afflict the other Bank of the river of the Euphrates River but it too that mysterious nation of kitim will be forever destroyed some say this refers to Romans fighting against Babylonians and winning and then Romans themselves being destroyed some seeing this the future war between the Western world and the Muslim World Christianity against Islam and both of them will be destroyed now chapter 2 verse 25 then belam rose up and went and returned to his place and balak also went on his way parted ways chapter 25 in addition to giving his Prophecy of the end of days bilam also gave advice to balak how to deal with the Jewish people and he said the god of the Jews hates immorality wherever there is immorality there is God's anger if you can incite the Jews if you can lure them in to sin God will become angry with them and God will destroy them you don't have to fight them so the Jewish people settled the energy team and the people began to stray toward harlotry with the daughters of Moab moabites out of fear they commanded their their young ladies to dress up and go and seduce the Jews and some of them succeeded they invited the people to the feast of their gods of idols and the Jewish people unfortunately ate and prostrated themselves to their gods Israel became attached to Baltimore and I'll say just say that this was not because they believed in this Idol but rather because the moabite prostitutes invited the Jews and they said if you are interested in me you have to bow down to my idol and the Jews said okay if that's the price I'll bow down for fake I know it's not true I'll buy the bow down just so that she will be available to me and Wrath of Hashem flared up against Israel and Hashem said to Moshe take all the leaders of the people those that were involved in this public display of immorality and hang them before Hashem and the flaring Wrath of Hashem will withdraw from Israel punish those that are leading the this immoral Behavior Moshe said to the judges of Israel Let each Man kill his men who were attached to Bal peor and then behold a man of the children of Israel came and brought a midianite woman near to his Brothers this was a leader of the camp of Shimon and he brought a princess of the uh [Applause] medianites and he committed immoral act with her publicly in sight of Moshe and inside of the entire assembly of the children of Israel and they were Weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting when they saw what's going on and they couldn't do anything they started crying and at that moment of Chaos pinchas son of elazar the grandson of aronak the kohen saw what's going on and he stood up alone from amid the assembly and took his spear in his hand he followed the Israelite man into the tent and pierced both of them while they were engaged in the act the Israelite man and the woman in her stomach