Eyes and Mouths – Balak
Chazal say that Moshe wrote the Torah and parshat Balak, as told to him by HKB”H. The episode of Balak was not something that was visible, it was something behind the scenes, that very few people knew about and if HKB”H would not have told Moshe about it, nobody would have known that it happened at all.
Eyes and mouths, sight and speech, feature prominently in our parsha.
The first word in parshat Balak sets the tone - וירא בלק בן ציפור. Balak saw what Am Yisrael did to the Emori. How did Balak physically see that? he did not, he heard about it, so why does it not say וישמע בלק? The Midrash says that he was named בלק בן ציפור for a reason. Balak was a greater sorcerer than Bilam. He had a “magic bird”, what we would call today a “drone”, that he could send wherever he wanted and whatever the bird saw so too did Balak, like close circuit TV.
When Balak sent for Bilam, he sent a message –
הנה עם יצא ממצרים הנה כסה את עין הארץ וכו' (במדבר כב, ה)
Balak was afraid of Am Yisrael because they were covering the “eye” of the land. Bilam, as we know, was blind in one eye. Bilam’s donkey saw the angel, from the outset, while Bilam didn’t, until HKB”H finally revealed him. When Bilam’s first curse went awry, Balak suggested he move to a different spot, where he could see only part of Am Yisrael, not the whole camp. He took Bilam to שדה צופים – the “watcher’s field”, to a high spot where he could see. And there are numerous other references in the same vein, here are a few examples –
וירא בלעם כי טוב בעיני ה' לברך את ישראל וכו' (במדבר כד, א)
וישא בלעם את עיניו וירא את ישראל שכן לשבטיו וכו' (כד, ב)
ונאם הגבר שתם העין (כד, טז)
אראנו ולא עתה אשורנו ולא קרוב וכו' (כד, יז)
וירא את עמלק ...... וירא את הקיני וכו' (כד, כ-כא)
ויקרב אל אחיו את המדינית לעיני משה ולעיני כל עדת בני ישראל (כה, ו)
Similarly the mouth, speech is a central theme in the parsha. Instead of physically attacking Am Yisrael militarily, Balak chose to verbally curse them by employing Bilam. Bilam clearly stated from the outset that –
אם יתן לי בלק מלא ביתו כסף וזהב לא אוכל לעבר את פי ה' וכו' (כב, יח)
We read about the “talking donkey”, פי האתון, that HKB”H created on the 6th day of Creation ערב שבת בין השמשות.
The parsha is filled with “speech”, intended curses that HKB”H turned instead into blessings.
So what is this all about? sight, speech, eyes and mouths?
There is a Mishna in Masechet Avot (5, 19) –
כל מי שיש בידו שלשה דברים הללו, מתלמידיו של אברהם אבינו. ושלשה דברים אחרים, מתלמידיו של בלעם הרשע. עין טובה, ורוח נמוכה, ונפש שפלה, מתלמידיו של אברהם אבינו. עין רעה, ורוח גבוהה, ונפש רחבה, מתלמידיו של בלעם הרשע. מה בין תלמידיו של אברהם אבינו לתלמידיו של בלעם הרשע. תלמידיו של אברהם אבינו, אוכלין בעולם הזה ונוחלין בעולם הבא וכו', אבל תלמידיו של בלעם הרשע יורשין גיהנם ויורדין לבאר שחת וכו'.
The primary character trait that separates Avraham Avinu from Bilam is that Avraham has עין טובה and Bilam has עין רעה. It is all to do with what kind of “eye” you have. The mefarshim (Rambam, Bartenura, Tiferet Yisrael and others) say that a “good eye” means someone who is שמח בחלקו and not envious. Conversely a “bad eye” means someone who belittles what he has and is always looking to expand on it.
What was Balak’s problem? He was not under any military threat from Am Yisrael. HKB”H had explicitly told Moshe אל תצר את מואב ואל תתגר בם מלחמה, to not attack Moav. It says that Moav was afraid of Am Yisrael, not that Balak was ויגר מואב מפני העם מאד כי רב הוא ויקץ מואב מפני בני ישראל. The reason that Balak wanted to harm Am Yisrael had nothing to do with territory or fear of invasion.
When Balak sent for Bilam, what reason did he give for wanting to curse Am Yisrael? הנה כסה את עין הארץ. Which ארץ was he talking about ? It says –
ועמך כלם צדיקים לעולם יירשו ארץ (ישעיהו ס, כא)
Balak was not concerned about Am Yisrael invading his land, he was concerned about something more far reaching. Until Matan Torah, everyone, meaning everyone, Am Yisrael and the goyim, were obligated to observe the שבע מצוות בני נח (the fact that the Avot and the 12 Tribes observed the entire Torah was out of choice, not obligation). Matan Torah was a game changer. Overnight, the entrance requirements into Olam Habah changed. If you were Jewish, you automatically gained entry. If you were not, in order to get into Olam Habah, you had to be a חסיד אומות העולם or convert. Balak said to himself, “My granddaughter will be רות המואביה, the great-grandmother of David Hamelech. So in fact I (Balak) am the great-great-great-grandfather of David Hamelech. I observe all of the שבע מצוות בני נח but I am not allowed entry into Olam Habah. On the other hand, any “Chaim Shmerel” from the Tribe of Dan, who sinned with with the egel hazahav can get in. Where is the justice in that?” When Balak sent for Bilam his טענה was that Am Yisrael had כסה את עין הארץ – they had shut the door to Olam Habah to Balak and those like him
Balak’s claim was false. Firstly, he did fully not observe שבע מצוות בני נח. As we later learn, Balak and Moav were immersed in idol worship to “ba’al pe’or”. This was a bizarre kind of idol worship. Chazal explain what it entailed. To serve ba’al pe’or, one ate or drank something that loosened the bowels and then they would defecate over the idol. Who in their right mind would do such a disgusting thing? ממילא to worship the sun (which gives light) or the moon (lunar cycle/crops etc.) – there is some logic in that but what possible logic was there in the ba’al pe’or ritual? Chazal say that the purpose was to show that man is like an animal. There is nothing different between a man and an animal! Therefore a person can do whatever they like, whenever they like. That was ba’al pe’or worship.
If Balak wanted to get into Olam Habah, all he had to do was be a חסיד אומות העולם – set up a “David Hamelech fund” for his descendent to later build the Beit Hamikdash, or even better, convert – like Yitro.
But no, Balak was a רשע – he did not want to elevate himself to the level of Am Yisrael, he wanted to belittle Am Yisrael down to his level, or even lower. That is what עין רעה is. It is someone who is not שמח בחלקו – he was the great-great-great-grandfather of David Hamelech! but instead of being content with that, he looked with a “bad eye”, an envious eye on Am Yisrael and could not stomach them, because they intrinsically had what he did not.
If he was such a רשע then why was David Hamelech descended from him and why does he have a parsha in the Torah named after him – the only גוי after Matan Torah (that did not convert)?
Chazal say because of two things. Firstly he offered 42 Korbanot to HKB”H (perhaps not offered himself, but he funded them). And secondly when Bilam gave his curses (turned in to blessings) he told Balak to stand while he uttered the word of Hashem. Balak stood in honor of HKB”H. Balak’s son, Eglon, learned this from his father and later when Ehud ben Geira the prophet said the name of Hashem, he also stood. For this they merited having Rut as a descendent.
Bilam also had an עין רעה, he was not שמח בחלקו. When he said he could not go with Balak’s messengers, he added – “Even if Balak gave me his entire fortune – I could not go with him unless HKB”H consented”. Chazal say in the Midrash that he let slip what he was secretly coveting – more and more money. Bilam was not poor. He was one of Pharaoh’s advisors and he made a very good living in the “cursing business” (Chazal say he knew how to identify the moment when HKB”H was angry with the victim and he would use it to curse them and arouse מידת הדין against them). Despite this, he always coveted more than he had.
According to many of the mefarshim, curses do have a negative effect on the recipient, but in order to do so, the person cursing must have a personal טענה against the person he is cursing and he must visibly see the person, or the curse has no effect. From this we can understand the emphasis placed on location repeatedly throughout the parsha – that there be a direct line of sight. Bilam tried to find fault with one aspect of Am Yisrael after another, but was unsuccessful. He tried to get the קטגור to drum up the issue of the egel hazahav, but was unsuccessful. After that he tried to go for the weakest part of Am Yisrael, the Tribe of Dan, and again failed.
From this we see the awesome power of speech. Speech may be used to create worlds, בעשרה מאמרות נברא העולם and conversely, in the wrong hands, it may be used to destroy worlds. Am Yisrael had done tshuva for the egel hazahav and Bilam could not find an entry point to harm them. HKB”H turned his curses into blessings.
Seeing his skill was ineffective, Bilam consulted with Balak and suggested to him that the only way to harm Am Yisrael was to get them to sin, which catastrophically resulted in ba’al pe’or.
Much of parshat Balak is hidden, there are many things going on under the surface, such as the issue of mashiach and the subject of the Lechem Hapanim. Yes, believe it or not, Lechem Hapanim is a central theme of this week’s parsha.
Balak sent messengers to Bilam, in the passuk it says פתורה. Some of the mefarshim say this was the name of a place. The Ari z”l says that it wasn’t a place at all, but rather that Balak had had a dream, of a shulchan! If you look at Onkelos’ translation into Aramaic of the the Shulchan Lechem Hapanim in parshat Truma, he translates shulchan as פתורא. According to the Ari z”l, Balak dreamt of a shulchan – which shulchan? The Shulchan Lechem Hapanim which represents מלכות, the kingdom of Beit David. The Mishna (Avot 4, 13) says that there are three crowns – Torah, Kehunah and Malchut. “Balak, come quick – I saw a table! I saw that David Hamelech is to be descended from me!”
The Lechem Hapanim and the Shulchan are all about איזהו השמח בחלקו . The bread is shaped like a mouth and the two bowls of levonah represent eyes (Meir Panim, chaper 14). They are representative of עין טובה, the attribute of Avraham Avinu, whose attribute was also chessed. Of the three keilim in the heichal in the Beit Hamikdash (which correspond to the 3 Avot), the Shulchan and the Lechem Hapanim corresponds to Avraham, the diametric opposite of Balak and Bilam. The Lechem Hapanim represents “pnimiyut”, an inner dimension, which is beyond the exterior animalistic nature of man. The 12 loaves of Lechem Hapanim, representing the Twelve Tribes, camped around the Mishkan in perfect unity are symbolic of מה טבו אהליך יעקב.
The central message of the Lechem Hapanim and the Shulchan were all that Balak and Bilam were not. Not surprising that Balak was alarmed by dreaming of it.
