Torah · Weekly Parasha VideoParashat BalakRabbi Uri Nahum · June 19, 2017 · Balak · בלק · 15 Min Parasha RoundupSave⌄ShareParasha class with Rabbi Uri Nahum, from BSD Productions’ 15 Min Parasha Roundup.Transcript0:05Parashat Balak, this week's parashah has 104 pesukim.0:10Whenever Shavuot falls out on Shabbat,0:12so then we would read Parashat Chukat and Balak together.0:17However, being that this year it was not on Shabbat, so therefore we only read Parashat Balak.0:21In this week's parashah, it's unique in the fact that we see what goes on0:25on the other side of the fence, meaning0:27the Torah, for the whole part pretty much, except for the last paragraph at the end,0:32does not speak about what's happening amongst the Jewish people,0:35but rather of what the goyim are scheming and planning to do against the0:41Jews and how Hashem protected us.0:43We divided the story of Parashat Balak0:46because really the story is just Balam attempting to curse the Jewish people0:50and Hashem saving them.0:51But we divided it into five parts in order that we should see,0:54or make it easier and see the story even clearer.0:58The first part is Balak's invitation to Bilam to come to help him in defeating the Jewish people.1:05The second part is Bilam's travel to meet Balak.1:09The third part is Bilam's attempts in trying to curse the Jewish people.1:15The fourth part of the story of the parashah is Bilam's final words to1:21Balak and his final prophecy that we find in the1:23Torah. And finally, the Torah ends a little bit on a sad note1:27of the story, the incident in the Shittim, as Be'ezrat Hashem we'll explain.1:32No mitzvot in this week's parashah, so we'll get straight to the story.1:35The first part of this week's parashah, like we mentioned,1:37is Balak's invitation to Bilam to help him out.1:40And the Torah begins that Vayar Balak1:44ben Tzipor. Balak ben Tzipor saw. What did he see?1:45And the Torah tells us that he saw how Sichon and Og were defeated by this Jewish nation.1:50Like we mentioned in Parashat Chukat, Sichon and Og were hired by all the nations1:55that were living in Eretz Yisrael to protect them from any enemies not to enter2:03Eretz Yisrael, and specifically the Jewish people who were known to come to2:07Eretz Yisrael. And here, the two giant brothers were defeated in a matter of a few months2:11by this Jewish nation. So therefore, Balak gets very nervous.2:16Balak at the time was the king of Moab,2:18and he wanted to know, what's the secret of this Jewish nation?2:22What's their power? It can't be physical. It can't be that they have a great army.2:26These are people who just left Egypt as slaves forty years ago. They didn't have any training,2:31and they were said it must be their leader, their leader Moshe.2:34So they said, What is this power of Moshe?2:36So they sent after Midian.2:38Now you should keep in mind, Chachamim tell us that Midian and Moab, these two nations hated each other.2:44It's kind of like Russia and America.2:46They don't like each other. However, being that they shared a common enemy,2:51so they made a peace treaty,2:54and the people of Midian signed the peace treaty with the people of Moab,2:58and they came to try to figure out what's the power of the Jewish people,3:01and they were told that was Moshe Rabbeinu.3:03His power was his power of tefillah, of words.3:06So Balak said, Ah, I know the right person to combat that.3:08And who's that? That is none other than3:12Bilam. Bilam was the prophet of the3:15goyim, and the Midrash says, Chachamim explain that Bilam was a very, very smart person.3:18He was a genius,3:20and he was a prophet who was considered a holy man by the3:24goyim. Meanwhile, Chachamim tell us he was a disgusting person, as the Gemara explains.3:29So he sends emissaries to Bilam to invite him to come to help him conquer the Jewish people.3:37When the people come to Bilam, Bilam says to them, Let me speak to God,3:41you know, the man of God, let me see what God tells me.3:42Now, this was all a show. God was not going to appear to him.3:46He didn't even imagine God would appear to him.3:48And guess what? That evening, when Bilam goes to sleep, God appears to3:52him. Hey, what's going on? All these people.3:55So Hashem says, Oh, what do you need? Don't you know3:56the king Balak invited me personally to come and help him?4:02Hashem says, I don't want you helping him.4:04I don't want you to curse the Jewish people.4:07So Bilam says, Okay, okay, I'm going to go and give them a4:09blessing. Hashem says, No, no, don't bless them either.4:12They're already a blessed nation. Don't go with them.4:15Bilam wakes up in the morning and he tells the people that came to get him,4:19he says, Listen, you know, God didn't allow me to go with you.4:22You know why? Because you're not up to my caliber.4:25I need, you know, if you want me to come, it's very disrespectful to send me people like this.4:30You got to send me people a little bit more important.4:33And therefore Balak understands, and he sends a higher group, a more important group, to get Bilam to come,4:41and he offers him more money, more silver.4:43This time God appears to him and he tells him, Listen, if you feel that you're going to profit from this, you're going to benefit,4:49so you can go with them, but be careful to only say what I tell you to say.4:52And we get to the second part of this week's parashah,4:54Bilam's travel to greet4:57Balak. On the way, the Torah tells us there's a whole story that5:00happened. First of all, the traveling, Bilam himself set up his donkey.5:06Bilam, who was considered an important person, was besides himself.5:10He was excited to go, that he had a chance to be able to knock out the Jewish people.5:14So he himself prepared the donkey that he needed to travel with his two assistants.5:19But on the way, Hashem realized his true intention.5:22Hashem knew the whole time.5:24I mean to say, Hashem wanted him to realize his true intention,5:26and he sent— A malach, an angel, to try to protect Bilam himself, not the Jews, but Bilam himself from making this mistake.5:38So what happened? The angel appears, but Bilam couldn't see him.5:41Now you got to keep in mind, Bilam is traveling here on the donkey with all the emissaries with him, this whole entourage,5:47and the donkey is the only one from all these people that's able to see this5:50malach. So the donkey goes off the5:52path, and when the donkey goes off the path, it infuriates Bilam, and he starts hitting the donkey.5:57And after he hits the donkey, the donkey goes back on the road.6:00And again now, this time the malach appears for the second time,6:03but he appears by a path in the vineyard where it was surrounded by two stone fences.6:12And this time, the stone, in order to—I mean, excuse me—the donkey, in order not to come into the angel, trying to avoid the angel,6:22rams Bilam's leg into the stone fence.6:26Bilam really gets upset, and he hits the donkey again.6:29And again the malach goes away, but he comes back for a third time.6:32And this time, he stops in a way where nobody could pass.6:36The donkey cannot go here or there,6:38so the donkey decides to just put it in park and land right on the spot.6:41So what happens? Bilam starts talking to the donkey.6:44Hashem allows the donkey to speak.6:46Bilam has a conversation with the donkey,6:48and he complains to the donkey, How are you stopping? Who told you to stop?6:51Now keep in mind, everybody's watching this,6:53and they're thinking, you know, we hired this man because of his mouth.6:56He can't even convince his donkey to go.6:58He doesn't even have control of a donkey.7:00How is he even going to have control over the spiritual?7:02And they go back and forth,7:04and the donkey tells him, What can't you see, the7:08malach? And it's only then that Hashem opens up the eyes of7:11Bilam, and he allows him to see this angel standing with a sword sticking out.7:15And now Bilam gets scared.7:17Besides the point, by the way, parentheses,7:19everybody is realizing that Bilam was unable to see something that even the donkey was able to see.7:25Okay, so now the malach tells him, Can't you see me the whole time?7:30And Bilam had to admit that he couldn't.7:31So Bilam now tries to come up and he says, Listen, listen, I understand how this works.7:35You know, God commands and you, the angels, back up,7:38just like by Abraham. God commanded you to put up Yitzchak as a korban,7:41and then the angel told him to come back.7:43I know how it works. If you want, I'll go back right now.7:46So the angel tells him, Listen, you want to go, you could go,7:49because there's a rule:7:52B'derech she'adam rotzeh leilech, bah molichin oto. In the way that a person wants to go, Hashem allows him to go.7:56But again, he warns him, Be careful to only say what we allow you to say.8:00And at the same time, look at Hashem's compassion.8:03The angel says, I'm going to kill this donkey now because you might be embarrassed that later on people will say,8:08this is the donkey that was able to see what even the great prophet Bilam couldn't see.8:13So the angel kills the donkey, and Bilam continues with these emissaries to greet Balak by the land of Moab.8:20And when Balak gets news that Bilam is coming, he goes to the border of Moab to greet him,8:25and he brings him into his city, and he shows him all of the people and the nation of Moab,8:31and he shows him, he tells him, please have mercy on these children, on these women8:35that these Jews are coming to kill. Please save us from these Jewish people.8:41And we go on now to the third part of this week's parashah, which is the main part,8:47Bilam's attempt to curse the Jewish people.8:50Now, keep in mind, when I say the main part, it doesn't mean that nothing else is important.8:54When I mean the main part, it means it's the biggest part of the8:58parashah and the one that most people are familiar with.9:01As a background, we have to know that there is three attempts by Bilam to curse the Jewish people,9:07and each time he tried to curse, it came out to be as a9:13berachah. And in each time before he tried to curse, he brought korbanot.9:18These korbanot were consisted of the following:9:20he set up seven altars, seven mizbechot, and on each one of the9:25mizbechot, he brought one cow and one ram.9:28Okay? Now, after he set it up, Bilam had to wait for a special time.9:32What's that special time?9:34The Gemara in Berachot, in Sanhedrin,9:38and Masechet Zarah explains that there's a moment that God gets angry.9:40Pasuk says,9:41Ki rega beapo. Hashem gets angry for one moment.9:46When is that moment?9:47The Gemara says it's a very quick moment,9:50and nobody in the world figured out when that moment is9:52except for Bilam. Bilam knew exactly that moment.9:54You want to know how short that moment is?9:57The Gemara says if you take up an hour9:59and divide the hour into 53,848 parts.10:05Take one of those parts, and that is a moment.10:07Some Rishonim explain that's one-sixteenth of a second,10:11one out of sixteen of a second. That's the rega, the moment Hashem gets angry,10:15and Bilam knew exactly that moment.10:17So attempt number one:10:19Balak takes him to a place called10:21Bamot Baal, and he tells him, Ready? We're going to10:23set up. I'll set up the korbanot, I'll bring the sacrifices.10:25You go ahead, you try to curse them.10:27So Bilam says, Okay, let me go speak to10:29the God. Again, it's a show.10:31And he didn't think that God is going to appear to him,10:33but guess what? God appears to him in the middle of the day,10:36and He tells him, You know, I'm here. You know, what should I do?10:39Hashem tells him, Go back, I'll tell you what you should do.10:41I'll put the words, don't worry about it.10:42You just open your mouth, I'll take care of it.10:43Bilam comes back to Balak,10:46and he starts to attempt to curse the Jewish people,10:49and guess what? Blessings come out.10:51The main blessing the first time of10:53Bilam was that this Jewish nation is truly one nation under10:57God, that they don't mix with the10:59goyim. And amongst that, Bilam prays himself that he should die11:03in the way that their ancestors, Abraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, died.11:08At the same time, Chachamim tell us that Bilam lost an eye in that prophecy,11:12because he saw that God waits for the Jewish people to have children,11:17and he said, How can God get involved in such things?11:19So therefore, because of the way he looked,11:21Hashem made him lose one eye.11:23Balak says, You know what happened?11:24I thought you'd come here to curse the Jewish people.11:26So Bilam again says, You know, whatever Hashem told me, I do.11:29So now Balak takes him to another place, second place,11:32called Sedeh Tzofim.11:34And in this place, Bilam now attempts a second time,11:36and again he says, I got to go speak to11:38God. You're not going to put on the show.11:39He goes, and Hashem tells him, You're going to say what I'm going to tell you to say.11:43And Bilam says, No. You know what? I'm not interested.11:46I don't want to curse. I don't want to bless. I'm not going to do anything.11:49So Hashem forces him to come back.11:51And now he comes back and he stands up,11:54and he's about to begin, and Balak says to Bilam in a mocking way,11:58So what did God say? What did Hashem12:00say? And so Bilam gets upset, and in suddenly tells him,12:04Stand up, Balak, even though he was a king. Stand up.12:06I have the word of12:08God. And again, he tries to curse, but a blessing comes out.12:12And three main blessings come out over here.12:14Number one is that Hashem remains with the Jewish people.12:17He keeps His presence with the Jewish people even though they might sin.12:20And the reason for that is because of the quality of the Jewish people.12:23Number two is that there's no sorcery, there's no witchcraft amongst the Jewish people.12:28Why? Hashem gives them prophets and the Urim v'Tumim that will tell them what will be in the future,12:33so there's no need for them to do any magic.12:35And number three, He praises the Jewish people, how they're like lions in keeping12:40the mitzvot. Just like a lion is very tough and nobody's going to come in the lion's way when he's about to do something,12:46so too when the Jewish people want to keep the mitzvot, they are like lions.12:50Now Balak gets more upset and he takes him to a third spot,12:53and this place is called Rosh12:55Peor. Now all these places that Balak took him to, he himself was a magician, and he knew, he sensed13:01something wrong is going to happen to the Jewish people, he just didn't know what it was.13:03And the Chachamim explain each spot what happened over there.13:06This time, for the third time, after bringing the korbanot,13:10Bilam doesn't even bother to ask God because he knows that God is not interested in cursing the Jewish people,13:14so he figured from just beginning cursing.13:17And he looks at the Jewish nation and he's about to curse, but he gets so impressed.13:22Hashem gives him an unbelievable level of prophecy.13:23He sees the beauty of the Jewish people.13:26What was that beauty? That they all lived private, modest lives.13:30Nobody cared about what other person is thinking about or doing.13:34And therefore he13:39praises, Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenotecha Yisrael, How beautiful are your dwellings, Yaakov. And the Chachamim explain that there's a deeper understanding here,13:43and that's talking about the shuls and the study halls of the Jewish people,13:47where they come, they study Torah, and they serve13:50God. He prophesies about Shaul defeating Amalek, and David HaMelech and13:55Shlomo HaMelech, and how the Jewish people will settle in Eretz Yisrael and like a lion sitting. In his home,14:00nobody's going to take him out.14:01That's how the Jewish people will be in the land of Israel.14:04And he concludes,14:08Mevarechecha baruch, ve'orerecha arur. Those who bless you should be blessed, and those who curse you should be cursed.14:12Now Bilam gave up. He claps his hands. He tells him,14:14You know, I tried, but this is not going to work. Thank you very much.14:18I thought I would honor you for you helping me, but it's not going to happen. Go home.14:22So Bilam, we get to the fourth part of this week's parasha.14:25Bilam tells him, Okay, let me give you my final advice.14:28I'm not going to be able to curse them, but you know what you should do?14:30What you have to do is you have to set them up in order to do the aveirah of zenut,14:35that they should go with non-Jewish women.14:37And he gives them a whole plan, like the Ramban Sanhedrin explains.14:42And finally, Bilam says his prophecy.14:44What's his prophecy? He gives his final prophecy.14:47The chachamim say he prophesies about five things.14:49Number one, he prophesies about David HaMelech, how he's going to defeat Moab.14:54Number two is he prophesies all the way in our days that Mashiach will destroy Edom.14:59And he prophesies about how Amalek will be destroyed.15:04And number four, how Yitro's children, descendants, will be rewarded15:08because Yitro chose to become a15:10Jew. And finally he says,15:12Oy mi yichyeh משמו אל, woe to the person who is going to be able to survive those days.15:17What's those days? Some explanations,15:20one of them is that in the days of Yishmael, right before Mashiach's time,15:24it's going to be a difficult time.15:26And finally we get to the last part of this week's parasha,15:29the incident by15:31Shittim. The chachamim tell us that Bilam's plan worked to15:36perfection. They got so many Jews to sin that Hashem started a plague amongst the Jewish people.15:41And in order to stop the plague, Hashem commanded Moshe to get the Jewish judges to execute those who sinned.15:46And how many people got executed?15:49The Chachamim tell us 88,000 judges, each one killed two.15:54So it brings the total of people being executed to15:58176,000. Now on top of that,16:00Zimri, the leader of Shevet Shimon, tries to stop the plague in his own way,16:04and he commits a horrible aveirah, which was a big chilul Hashem,16:08which caused the death of another 24,000 Jews from Shevet Shimon specifically,16:13until Pinchas executes Zimri and Kozbi, and that brings the plague to an end.16:20Unfortunately, 200,000 Jews died from this whole incident.16:25And this brings us to our lesson. The lesson is very simple.16:28When Bilam tried to curse us, it didn't work. Three times, with all the kavanot, it didn't work.16:35You know when the Jews got hurt? It's when they themselves brought themselves to an16:43aveirah. When they committed sins, they lost Hashem's protection, and they died.16:47This is a great lesson. When we do what we have to do,16:50Hashem protects us even against the greatest enemies,16:53no matter how smart they are. When we're doing what we're doing, Hashem will protect us.16:56It's only when the Jews are not doing what they're doing17:00is when they're susceptible to sin and to, lo aleinu, not good things.17:06We should learn, we should be zocheh that we should always do good things,17:09and Hashem will always protect us. Shabbat shalom.