Parshat Balak: Who Was Balaam? By Rabbi Yossi Goldin

we're going to be talking again today about uham um now parat B is a uh is a fascinating para and I always I always mention every year um the point that that I heard from my Father which I think is very very important to really understanding parat sorry not par B par balak excuse me thank you for those of you who didn't correct me those of you did who who didn't realize I'm sorry but those of you who did realize and didn't correct me thank you balak but we're going to be talking about more about B parad balak so what's fascinating about parad balak is that is the only para in the Torah from the creation of the Jewish nation that does not take place from the perspective of the Jewish people meaning if you think about it from the time that the Jewish the Jewish nation is created obvious saer bares is unique saer bous is all about the creation of individuals and the Jewish family but uh from the time of of parat shot and on when the Jewish nation is created all of the Torah every single Parish of the Torah takes place from the perspective of the Jewish people involves some kind of commandment or event that is done from the perspective of the Jewish people parat balak although we could argue happens to the Jewish people we could argue whether that actually is true or not it does not take place from the perspective of the Jewish people meaning for all we know at the time that parad balak was taking place this entire conversation between bam and balak and everybody for all we know the Jewish Nation had no clue what was happening they might not have even been aware that they were almost cursed or that they were ended up being blessed if the Torah hadn't told us we would have no idea this conversation took place now it's fair to assume that over the course of the time of the Torah there were many conversations that took place between the enemies of the Jewish people throughout and yet the only time the Torah chooses to tell us about those conversations is parad balak which begs the question why why is it there must be something unique or uniquely important about the story of parat balak that is important for us the Jewish people and the Torah and everybody all of us who uh you know the Jewish Nation throughout the years that there must be important messages that we get from this paraa and therefore the Torah chooses specifically to share with us a story that normally would not necessarily find its place in the Torah um and and one of the questions we have to ask is why what what is so unique so I I think today we're going to explore a couple of important lessons that we get from this paraa which we'll hopefully shed light on that on that question and as always we're going to begin with the very very beginning of the paraa just to set the tone to uh to introduce the topic the Torah Begins the paraa begins uh we're actually not starting from the from the very very beginning of the paraa but the paraa begins with balak realizing that the Jewish people are near him are are towards his his territory and he is nervous about the Jewish people and their strength R and therefore he decides to take action and what action does he take in Source number one the Torah tells usor he sent Messengers to Bam the son ofor P to the place called P Al which is on the River on the river next to his Nation to call him to and the message he sends to is there's this nation they left Egypt they cover the whole land I they've turned into a very very big nation and here they now they now sit opposite my land I would like to request you please come and curse this this nation because it is much stronger than me maybe with your help if you were to curse them I would be successful in smiting them and driving them away you are because I know says balak I know that any nation which you bless will become blessed and any nation which you curse becomes cursed okay so balak seems to assume that there is some kind of unique and special power that bam has and he has requested bam to come and activate that power towards the Jewish people because of a fear that Bak has for the Jewish people okay and then then the story continues but I would like to take a step back and try to understand who exactly was bab where did Bam get this power from what exactly does the evidence show us regarding bam we're going to see there's two main approaches one would consider him to be a navi a prophet other sources seem to indicate that he was not necessarily a prophet but he was more what's called a k what we would called today modern day of K is a magician but we're not talking about a magician we're talk about a sorcerer okay the difference between a magician and a sorcerer magician is a slight of hand magician doesn't actually do anything Supernatural but we do believe there were people who did who were able Sorcerers in the times of the Torah who were able to somehow have special powers and the question is where does bam fall on all this if he was a navi why was he a navi what what gave him the ability to become a navi I'd like to understand a little bit better who exactly is Bam and why balak assumed that he had certain powers to curse SL bless a nation so let's see some of the evidence if you look at source number two it begins with a a um a a a BRI that's quoted in the g m m means about the gar is about to introduce a question we're in the middle of of the gar we're not going to see all the details there but the gamar says very CL the non-jewish Nations had seven Prophets The and this is who they were at his father benzi okay now we're not going to deal with all the different the different names on this list I can't even say purpose to be very honest that I'm familiar with many of these names some of them I are but for our purposes it's very very clear that according to this Bri bam is called a a okay not only do some sources seem to indicate that bam was actually a a proper Prophet but there are some sources that seem to indicate he was even a greater Prophet than mosh where does that come from look at source number three in Saar towards the end of Saar towards the end the Torah tells us there was no other that arose amongst am Isel like mosu who knew Hashem face to face now the medish in Source number four tries to understand there's one extra word in this in the in in this P that seems somewhat Superfluous what's the extra word of this p is Isel why does it say there was no other nvi amongst Israel we know that we're talking about B Isel says the med something astounding is Source number four Kim is there was nobody amongst is Kim the Torah says Israel because there was no other Navi like Moshe amongst the Jewish people but outside of the Jewish people I.E amongst the Jewish Nations there was a Nai who was as great if not greater than Moshe and who was that bam was greater in what way was he greater and the M goes on to list three different ways that bam was greater than M there were three main differences between the prophecy of Moshe and the prophecy of did not always know who was speaking to him and I have to assume that this medish is referring to the first time that Moshe is spoken to by God because we know that most of the time Moshe did know who was talking to him but the first time that Moshe is introduced to God right all of a sudden he hears a voice and he doesn't necessarily know who it is he sees the burning bush he has no idea what's going on so Moshe didn't always know whereas bam according to this medish had an understanding of who he was communicating with which which indicates a higher level as the says that this is this is the speech of somebody who hears the voice of God so B identifies that he's talking to aosh continues the Bri Moshe or the medish excuse me Moshe had no idea when God was going to speak to him okay did know when God was going to speak to him because it says as part of his prophecy he says I somebody who knows the knowledge up up on high and therefore that seems to indicate that and also bam said when the when Messengers came and said do you want to come with usam said well let me go to sleep tonight and I'll tell you which means he expected that God was going to communicate with him mosu not even despite his greatness it almost was part of his greatness was that he didn't know it could happen at any point in fact if you recall only two weeks partial from two weeks ago we have the episode of Miriam where Miriam and Aon are talking about Moshe and talking about the fact that Moshe according to the mid that mosha separated from his wife the whole story with with Miram speaking lar about mosha and and and and Miram was saying to Aon why does he separate we also talk to Hashem and one of the answers that the medish gives was that Moshe might hear from God at any point in time and therefore meaning that meaning in that understanding that was part of the greatness of Moshe was that was that God could appear at him at any moment he didn't require any preparation it could just happen as opposed to Miram and Aon which on a lower level and didn't know he's happened it wouldn't necessarily happen at any time here the Mish is point is putting that in a different perspective that it wasn't just it could happen at any time but mosha never knew when it was going to happen whereas bam knew when it was going to happen the third and this is another interesting one we're going to see that this third suggestion doesn't know it doesn't fit 100% but we'll see MOS sorry one second ah Moshe God would only speak to him standing mosha had to be in a certain position he had to position himself in a certain way sh God said to mosha I want you to stand here moshe's prophecy only occurred when he was standing sometimes God would even speak to him when when he was sleeping when he was sleeping he was lying down he didn't have to stand which the medis here seems to indicate that bam was greater we're going to see later that another Med she was to show the opposite that this actually indicates that mosha was greater because bam God only talked to him when he was sleeping as opposed to when he was awake so you see the MIM are highlighting different aspects this mes seems to say that or says clearly that bam was greater the fact that bam could even access God sleeping indic or while he was lying down indicated that he's on a greater level because he had easier access to to to God set ends the measures with something very very interesting last line on Source number four what is this similar to it's like the private butcher or the private Butler of a king the private Butler of the king knows all the inner workings of the home and I and I was thinking about this mush a little bit I was thinking about it my own personal I grew up in my family and we were we were blessed enough that we had we had a house a living housekeeper and I remember one time growing up thinking about how this housekeeper who was her name was daffne Johnson a wonderful woman African-American from Toronto not Jewish she knew everything about our family like if anyone wanted to know what was going like cuz someone who lives and is your butler or is your housekeeper or is your maid they know the family from top to bottom they know every little thing you want to know want dirt on the family you want to know the the idiosyncrasies of the family right so what it's interestingly enough what is the medish comparing bam to he was like kind of like God's God always he was on the one hand the made or the housekeeper or the butler is not the most respected person in the family but they're the person who knows the most so it's almost as if Moshe was God's like special guest and therefore he only came at certain times he had to be standing he had to and there's something very unique about that and yet bam was like God's Butler in that he had a a different relationship more accessible maybe less formal which came with greater knowledge came with a certain deeper understanding so it's a very very I think the imagery that the medish is giving is very very interesting and yet it seems to be describing somebody who had a tremendous amount of power had a tremendous amount of K and yet other sources seem to say the exact opposite other sources if you look at source number five the medish this medish is a medish Raba in saer Parra says no that the that as great even though there were n there were prophets to The Other Nation including B all the prophets of the Jewish Nation were on a lower level than the Jewish prophets and it lists a number of different proofs some of which I think we've heard before we'll go through them very very quickly says the M what was the difference between the Jewish prophets and the non-jewish prophets Rari list lots of different people Amar when God would reveal himself to the non-jewish prophets it was what we callor what does mean it was like a half Vision it wasn't like we know God describes the Torah describes God talking to Moshe it wasn't as face to face it was like half of a of a vision how do we know says the medish because we know in this week's Para B the Torah tells us eloh that God the word chaned upon B what letter is missing from that word what what is what word is what word is usually used the letter Al is missing why is the letter Olive missing soal say it wasn't the same type of vision it wasn't the vision that God gives to Moshe was a difference that the word viar is not and he called and he chanced upon he happened upon implies much more temporary the from the word carry MRE it was a much more temporary happen stance type of vision and that was the vision that came to that came to on the third line in the med but whenever God would speak to the it was always complete because he spoke to Moshe continues the m another person in the M comes and says not only does the word imply happen stance from the word mikar is also a language of impurity why is it a language of impurity the word carry refers to an omission and and and therefore the language that's being used here is meant to be a language of T because even though God was talking to the non-jewish prophets it was a lower level [Applause] but God would always speak to the Jewish prophets in a much greater way and then the medish goes on and gives two two other or really one other one other big difference and I'll just say it outside for the sake of for the sake of time says what what was the other difference between the way God would appear to the non-jews and non-jewish NIV and the way God would appear to the Jewish prophets the big difference was when God would appear when it comes to the non-jewish prophets it was always Bala God appeared to Bam during the night time when he had a dream when did God appear to Lavon when he was chasing after Yakov it was during the night time God would always appear to the non-jewish prophets at night as opposed to the Jewish prophets when he would appear to them during the day now what's the difference between during the day and at night so the Mish goes on to explain he gives a couple of different a couple of different uh suggestions but the main difference is it said it's like somebody who goes and spends time with his wife versus spending time with his mistress when a person is going spend time with his wife they walk out during the day proudly the and in front of everybody and yet if somebody is going to spend time with their mistress when are they going to do that and under the cover of the dark of night no one's going to see it in secret it was almost as if God was saying you're my real na'vi I'm going to go out with you the Jewish the Jewish people have a navi and as a non-jewish Nim our lower level and that is exactly according to this medish the difference between the non-jewish navi and between the the Jewish Navi so this me seems to agree that bam was a Nai but takes the approach that he was a lower na'vi than than Moshe taken to the Other Extreme are those who actually suggest that maybe he wasn't a nav at all maybe bam was just a very good sorcerer look at and this begins with the PUK in yosua the safer Yoshua the PUK talks about um discusses when bam was killed and the Torah and the and and the na'vi says Source number six that hak hakos means in today's word would be magician but back then it meant a sorcerer and therefore bam is he was killed killed but he's clearly described as a says and and this opinion this approach which is the Other Extreme that suggests that bab was really just a very talented sorcerer also finds support amongst a couple of of midashim the first one would be this the opinion of the sorno the Forno in Source number seven on our para when when Bak says to says the it wasn't that bam had this like magic power that whatever he said came true his power was actually specifically to curse and not to bless why in what way meaning what's the difference so says the [Applause] M had a very unique power it wasn't that whatever he said went true he had a unique power to curse why because he knew the exact moment of when to curse and take advantage of a certain point of the day which we'll get to get to in detail in one get which we see actually in the ne in in the following the next Source yes why is not to regard def why is not why why is that P not regarded as definitive it's a very good question um we're going to see soon that there's a that many people obviously it is definitive meaning there's no question that the description of K is accurate but we're going to see some of the different opinions uh suggest that Kos was only happened at one point in time we're going to see that there were some who say that he shifted from one to the next also question of what does k really mean it means sorcerer but does that mean that does that necessarily exclude being a Nai so far I presented it that way but not everyone will necessarily suggest that so there's no question you have to contend or explain that puzzle contend meaning it seem it's clear that he's described as a k the question is what does Kos really mean in what way does it mean and does it mean that that's what he always was so we'll see that there's a number a range of opinions yeah that's we're going to see that too yes that's a good question uh it's a good point although what you're suggesting is is that the word Kum is going not on on bam but on Bor I don't know if I I can't say I did full research on it I don't says that because the next part of the Isel that's clearly talking about bam not Bor because Bor was already I believe dead interesting suggestion and I wonder if anyone does it I don't know I don't know I mean it is known that Bor and we saw this earlier in the other one who was one was listed as one of the Nim but I think that's an interesting suggestion okay so what exactly was the sporno referring to when he said that that bam knew how to how to uh you know curse people so says the gamar the following this is the is there such a thing as anger when it comes to does God get angry does God actually get angry it's part of a longer discussion which we're not going to discuss now and the gar says in in in in the gamar language means yes I know that's confusing right a means no in in gamar in Aramaic means yes says the yes we learn in a go the Redeemer gets upset every single day the how much does God get upset meaning what is how angry does he get is basically the question Rea a minute right like Israeli Rea reaa means a minute Rea how long is this minute okay right when Israeli says to youa you don't have no idea what he really means but what does it mean here in the gamara how much is AA answers the one I think it's 588 58,800 most beings in this world are unable to calculate that exact second which makes a lot of sense B RHA had a special again where he got that power from we could suggest right now seem see this sorcerer this power that he was given he had this power because the says he knows the knowledge of of up above okay so ask the gamarra very very funny a very funny question what does the mean that says that he knew the knowledge of God he didn't even know what his donkey was talking about if this guy doesn't know what his donkey is talking about how could he possibly know the the the knowledge of God rather what it means was he knew how to he had a unique power to tap into that one very very quick milis second when God would get angry and that was his key to cursing because if he was able to access that one unique time and he was able to curse somebody during that second he was able to create this idea of of of of cursing people okay so according to this understanding he was really just a good sorcerer who was able to tap into so you want to call it black magic whatever we want to call it we do know there is this idea of we saw the sorcerers who did have some kind of power it did exist this idea of black magic did seem to exist in the times of the Torah and apparently according to this understanding that's what bam was bam was was a was was a sorcerer who knew how to tap into it the radak no sorry so those that that's the range we've seen so far the range we've seen so far is all the way to one end he wasn't just a na'vi he was greater than even Mosher Renu then you had some who say no he was just a sorcerer he wasn't even a navi and then we saw some who said he was a navi but he wasn't as great as Moshe and then just to confuse us all we have a whole range of opinions who say he started out as one and then he shifted to the other and of course true to our tradition in both directions okay so let's see the radak the radak in ver number nine the radak on saer yahushua says the following why does it call him a tells us that this wasn't a na he must have been just a sorcerer he wasn't the reason the the na'vi is mentioning that is to stress that the essence of of who bam was was he was a sorcerer he was not a prophet so then what about the prophecy that we see the BR and the CL everything that happens in says the at some point later on he became a during all for the purposes of giving the love he kind of was given this extra power temporarily in order to be able to bless am so he started out as a k and only later on was he given this power um temporarily to be to be a that's one direction if you look at source number 10 the gar in sanedrin says the opposite that thear quotes the P from Yeshua asks thear K was he really a k we know he was a prophet why are you calling him a he started out he was a Nai in the very beginning of his life and up until the story of balak he was a Nai but what happened he lost his and he was only a k at the end of his life when he died in sa for yosua now why then did he why did he lose it says rash since by since he had The N he then tried to use that n to curse am Israel therefore he lost his opportunity he lost the power of Prophecy and now he became a proper a proper uh a proper um sorcerer okay so so we have one opinion that says he started out as K became a navi one opinion says he started at his Navi became a k and then the ran fills us in by saying he started at his Navi I think he says he started out as a k it became a Ai and then went back to being a k so we got everything we we fill all the different every part of the picture look at the ran in Source number 11 says the ran it can't be that bam was a where does he prove it from from the story of the donkey because if if was really a why would the TK need to say by the story of the donkey that God had to open up his eyes if he's a navi his eyes were already open he already has that certain power so if he didn't If he if he didn't know what was going on and God had to open up his eyes that means at least in the beginning he was not a prophet now let's skip to the underlined part in Source number 11 so rather he says he must have been a k AAL says the says the ran then because this is God appeared to Bam in the very beginning of the story and said don't go and then he said you can go but that beginning of Prophecy only started again similar to what we saw in the he then continued to get a greater level when he got to see the Mal in front of the donkey and then and then he got an even greater level of Prophecy when he blesses the Jews and this was all again to honor and to give him but then says the raan very clearly what happened after this episode concludes and Bam goes home what does he come out to be he goes back to being a k again okay he goes back to being to being a prophet he goes back sorry he goes back to being a sorcerer okay so what we've seen just to summarize so far is a real I would say either confusion or I would probably the better way to say this ambiguity ambiguity regarding who is this person B we see some who say he was one of the greatest Nim ever we see some who say he was a na but he wasn't so great others suggest he was a Kain he was just a great sorcerer he had special powers he was able to tap into then those who say he vacillated oscillated excuse me between one and the other depending on the circumstance but then the question becomes first of all why would there be so much ambiguity number one but number two based on all of this what made bam balak think that bam had the power to curse and to bless and I'll take the question a different way we generally let's let's let's say two ways number one if he was just a CO if if bab was just a great sorcerer what does that to do with cursing your blessing okay number one number two even if he's a navi let's think about for a second in in in our Jewish history what niim generally did what was the role of a na'vi anyone want to anyone anyone want to just summarize what did a navi do he improved people's behavior excellent but how did he do that how did he try to improve what what let's say it this way what power did the na Nim in our history actually have do we did didim bless and curse people and make things come true in the future based on the things they said no they could sometimes predict the future right the Torah talks about what happens if you have Na and one way to find out that somebody's a false nav is if they predict something that's going to happen it doesn't happen sometimes they can predict the future other times they can say bring a warning or a message from a didim ever curse or or bless not in this way no so the question becomes whether we say they were a k or they were a Nai where did we get the idea or what what why would balak therefore assume that Bam's status would enable him to curse SL SLG AA so let's start first with with with with the with the understanding that maybe he was a sorcerer if he is a sorcerer why does that therefore enable him to bless or to curse so we already saw Yes vo good correct it is it is like voodu by the way again laav de simply because we're talking about the story of the Torah but the description does remind us I I said black magic maybe the idea was what we just said a second ago a couple of months ago we learned in the gamarra that if he was a sorcerer he knew how to tap into the moment when God got upset if he knew how to tap into the moment he got upset that was his power maybe B balak was basically saying to Bam I want you to come and curse these Jews because I know that you have the ability to tap into that one second of the day Mill millisecond of the day and through that I want you to curse the Jews that could be what it is the problem is how does balak describe he doesn't just say if you curse it curses how else does he describe him as are whoever you bless becomes blessed and whoever you curse becomes cursed is that really bam bam is a sorcerer he knows how to tap into this one second where did balak get this assumption from so the Mish actually suggests that balak knew this based on past experience there were two previous stories that don't take place that are not mentioned in the Torah where balak and Bam had encounters and based on those encounters balak thought that bam had special powers beyond what he actually had what were those stories so look at source number 12 for a second Source number 12 is a medish whoever you bless is going to be blessed and whoever you curse is going to be cursed asked the med how does he know this how did Bak know that bam had some kind of power like this answers the med there was a moment when wanted to fight with Mo he was afraid because he knew that that that and his people were very very strong uh sorry was nervous that maybe Mo was very strong so what did so hired and his father to curse moav and then as a result s was able to capture land from moav which means that b balak saw this balak saw already a previous engagement where ban was hired to curse somebody and as a result those people who he cursed were defeated yes and his father was say ah so that's what somebody else suggested that's what nobody else suggested although again it could be that that reads that well in the P why was father mentioned so no no here we the thing is if you look at the firstar that we saw the Bri also mentioned both bam and his father as n so it's a little bit tricky they both seem to have had this status as a navi and as a kosan and again this middle this middle ground but what we see from this story ladies and gentlemen is that we see already that balak had experience with bam balak's experience with bam was he already cursed maav and as a result maav Was Defeated and therefore I know he has the power to curse what about the power to bless where do we know where would Bak have gotten that has the power to bless so if you look in Source number 13 the quote another M Source number 13 there was a moment in time in the past I don't know exactly when this is quoted by the me at some Point bam ran into balak while he was still just a regular guy and said to him you're going to be king someday and then when balak became king he remembered oh my God this guy bam he knows what he's talking about number one he helped he helped defeat moav so he's able to curse people he's he's also able to bless people because he gave me a br he said you're going to be the king and look I became the king but says the or but that was just a fat that was just a facade really all bam was able to do was curse because of his ability to to that one second millisecond when God got angry what about what about this so says bam was very very very shrewd he didn't know he didn't have any power to give blessings to people his Blessing was his ability was only to curse people by by tapping into that one second but what did he do he would find people who were already very successful on the way to success and he would say you're going to go far buddy I gave you a blessing that you're going to go far and then when they got far he would say it was all up to me it was all it was all me so bah was a very he was a k according to this understanding he was a sorcerer he was what he was able to tap into something there was some power that he had but he was also very shrewd and very sve and he was able to then make it appear like he had greater Powers than he actually did and that says the is why Bak says whoever you bless is be blessed because he really thought that in his mind the only reason he became was because bam gave him but bam was that kind of guy who just knew find those guys he said you're going to be good you're going to go far and probably nine out of 10 didn't go far they forgot about them and the one guy who did go far now thought of it and said hey it was because of it was because of bam so that's the opinion of the of the or the or tries to understand if he was only a sorcerer where did it come from it was he was able to tap into that anger the anger the cursing was an ability that he had but when it comes to blessing that was just a facade that bam was able to was able to put up now getting back to the other question if he's a na let's assume is once again we never ever see that Nim cursed or blessed people theob of the Nim was to guide the people was to inspire the people sometimes a n might have to predict the future in order to in order in order to tell them what's going to happen if they do this or if they do that or maybe even to show their legitimacy but we never see a na'vi coming and say and starting to just create realities on the ground based on whatever they want so where did this come from so says the rashbam the rashbam says this is also just it wasn't not a misunderstanding but balak was taking things a little bit farther balak knew that he wasn't he was just a prophet and this isn't what prophets do but he figured if he's a prophet and he's able to do with these things then he's probably better than some other guy to ask to do this cursing or to do this blessing look at the rash verse number B that it was through propy that he would tell the future sometimes maybe was through sorcery since this was somebody who already had certain powers either through or through prophecy even though that wasn't the classic thing that a na usually did balak said listen I want someone to give a blessing to curse these Jews I can either pick a random person or I could pick somebody who I know has power in other areas and therefore what does he do he picks bam okay so what we've seen is it but but again we're we're still at this question of this isn't what a na'vi does so again we're not going to go through all the sources because because of because of time but I think if you go through some of the other sources that describe the way that bam ask acts as a navi and they highlight how different it was than the way that the Nim the Jewish Nim used to act the Jewish Nim used to come to speak for the people they were there to inspire the people what does Bal what does bam try to do destroy a people not only does he come to destroy people he also causes the people to become even less moral Jewish niim were there to create morality bam causes the people of mijan to become less immoral the the contrast and this is in Source number 15 the M di mention I'm not I'm to say it outside now just because of time the contrast is huge the contrast between the way that bam acts versus the Jewish Nim is huge if you look at source number 16 we'll read this inside also notes two other main differences is between the way that bam acts as a prophet versus the way that Jewish prophets used to ask look at source number 16 in English I'll read it I'll read it together in what lies the contrast of the above comparison the prophets of Israel do not themselves run after prophecy right that most prophets what happens when God says to MOS I want you to go to Egypt send somebody else okay we also see the story with Yona we see other places where the prophets are not running for prophecy they're running if anything away from prophecy because they don't want to deal with the responsibility on the contrary a glance sorry the prophets Isel do not respon do not themselves run after prophecy on the contrary a glance at Exodus 3:4 or Jeremiah 1 reminds us that they objected as a rule to this sudden imposition of responsibility from on high far from seeking it it was thrust upon them bam on the other hand hankers after prophecy and strives through magical means to obtain such power to force it down from Heavens as it were through the medium of seven altars seven bollocks enchantments and Solitude another difference between bam and the true prophets has been noticed by our commentators the prophets of Israel continually emphasize the Divine Authority whenever whenever a navi introduces their n they start Kar Hashem okay we don't see that from bam we say right if anything bam quotes himself right he says I'm I'm speaking he describes himself the prophets emphasize the Divine authority of their utterances as expressed in says the Lord which recurs like a refrain in their prophecies only this gives them the right to prophesy and justifies their claims to be heard bam on the other hand prefaces his two latter utterances with the introduction said bamor the man whose eyes are open his utterances he attributes to himself his family in antecedence and his own powers so we see that bam uses n in a totally different way than the Jewish people the Jew than the Jewish prophets did and in fact the torima quotes from another huge another huge difference between the two and he gives actually a very very fascinating masal a fascinating Parable we're in Source number 17 the second paragraph when I studied in the says the he used the following Parable to describe the difference between Moshe and between B the difference between an eagle and a bat both the bat and the eagle are able to have an innate sense as to when the sun is going to rise and when the sun is going to set however they deal with that knowledge or they act upon that knowledge in exact opposite way because we know the eagle we know that an eagle loves sunlight and has trouble seeing in the evening when it's dark outside when does a bat when is a bat able to really be himself in the night time during total dark he's scared of the of of of the light when the Sun rises they both know when it's going to happen but their reaction to that reality is drastically different when the Sun rises what's the reaction of the eagle he wakes up and he takes advantage of the sunlight that's in the day and the bat knows that's his time to now go back into Slumber and to hide they both know automatically innately when night is going to begin but the ner the eagle knows now to go and to hide and the bat knows to come out what what does that have to do with M and he says the [Applause] following this is a great Parable for the understanding that both Moshe and Bam had in terms of their understanding of God they both had a very very natural understanding of what we call but they dealt with it differently when there was a moment to bring goodness to bring Divinity then mosha would come up and take advantage of that opportunity and use it and I think he's representative of other other Nim he would use that knowledge and use that opportunity to bring more light into the world Moses knew when God was in a moment where he could bring more light into the world and that was when he jumped that was when he was like the eagle jumping up in the middle of as the morning comes up to take advantage of the of the day also knew when there was a time to bring goodness into the world but he would hide would run away from those moments cuz he didn't want to take advantage of those moments he would at those moments he would act as if he didn't know God he he wanted no part in bringing out the ore the light and the goodness into the world in contrast when when it became darker quote unquote in the world and it was a time of anger and it was a time to bring curse into the world who jumped up at that opportunity bam and who had run away from that opportunity Moshe and therefore it says towards me I think this is a beautiful way to summarize the difference it's true that this that bam acted in a way that no other Navi acted but says the Torah to MIMA it all came from one main point which was a connection to God n specifically MOS were given very intimate understanding and knowledge of a that's what a na is given the question then becomes what does that Navi do with that understanding do with that knowledge MOS took advantage of that opportunity to bring light into the world to guide the Jewish people and to guide them to become moral and and people full of Torah and mitzah and most of arim in Jewish history did the same thing bam was also given that ability and yet he he would dealt with it in a totally different way and I think we could perhaps we could even suggest and I don't know if this is true I didn't see anyone who says this directly the whole discussion was he a na'vi was he a k was he a sorcerer versus a prophet and we saw a whole range in a lot a lot of different opinions perhaps the answer was he was both cuz what is K on some level sorcerer is black magic is using is using maybe he was a navi who chose to use that prophecy that closeness to God and use it in a certain way that made him similar to a k channeling into the time of anger using it for Destruction cursing people and that was what bam did Bam was given this unique power excuse me and what he chose to do with it was to go with in a totally different direction which leads us to one final question the final question that I have is why okay if this was how bam acted why would God give and let's even even without knowing how bam was going to act okay let's take a step back every person has free choice why would God give a prophit to the non-jewish people right we generally have most of the prophets why was there why was there such a thing as a and we saw that there were seven of them why would God give seven give seven prophets to the non-jewish people so the standard understanding to this is is a is is a Rashi quotes it in Source number 18 and it was also quoted in the me that we ski but the beginning of it was basically God gave a prophet to the Jewish Nation so that they wouldn't complain look at source number 18 and R says Rashi this is this is an our para if you're going to say why would God give Divine knowledge intimate Divine knowledge intimate connection to God we usually Associate Connection to God with a high level and if bam wasn't on a high level then why was he given there why was this intimate knowledge given to a Russia so says says Rashi and he's quoting a m so the other nations won't complain to say if we had only had we would you're God you're punishing us for not acting for acting immorally not acting appropriately it's not fair you didn't give us a you gave them a navi they had the prophets the prophets told them how to act and that's why the Jewish people act the way they do we weren't given it so in order to preempt a complaint by the Jewish people he did give them and what was their reaction what did they do and they broke through and they caused sin and immorality because initially even the non-jewish Nations kept to a certain sense of morality yet we know that what happens after this story at the end of par Bak is the whole story of the women of mijan coming and seducing the Jewish men where did that come from According to kazal that was Bam Bam knew that this was something that really bothered God and he convinced them to act immorally so what the mag are saying is God gave them this because it was that way they wouldn't complain and yet what did Bam do what did the other the non do they used it for immor immorality they show they took this power and they us it an appropriate way and therefore God took it away and therefore God took it away and there's and that's why there's no or there were no future nian I would like to I I believe that we could take a different approach to this and to suggest that the reason why God gave a a navi to to the non-jewish Nations wasn't just simply because so they wouldn't complain but if we take take a step back and again take a bigger picture to what was what's God's relationship with the non-jewish people we all know and again this is a larger discussion but just to to speak for it speak about it briefly we all know that God calls is by definition if we're the Bor what else are there other children right if we're the firstborn then there's other children which means what's God's relationship with the rest of the world also as a father to a child ultimately we may have a you want to call it unique you want to call it special however you want to describe it or you want to call it chosen for responsibility okay whatever you want to call it perhaps the reason why God gave Nim to the non-jewish world was because God also wants them to be moral God also wants them to do good the problem was God saw what happens when you give this power to Nations don't necessarily have a way to deal with it or a way a way to control it and so it wasn't just because what are they going to say it was because was saying I want the entire world right everybody will eventually come to a world to have a world of morality but what happened was God gave that power and it was misused so God had to take it away from the non-jewish nation but if God took it away now he's left with a problem how is the rest of the world going to now be able to come to God if if they're not going to have the niim and we're going to have the niim so then who's going to show the rest of the world how to come to God who that's exactly that's our mission that's our mission in a way it's almost as if and I I having in my notes here from from previously that I saw this idea in refar but I I can't find it but perhaps the idea is that before this everybody was going to have their niim and they were all going to come to God in their own way once God no longer was able to give niim to the non-jewish the non-jewish world because of the abuse of the power or that or that role that was being given God needed now Isel to step in to be the to be the nation that's going to have the that's going to have the that's going to have the leadership that's going to show them a certain way which we then will create a certain torist society that will act as we call an or in order to model that to the rest of the world and so parad balak which takes place very very close before am is are about to enter Isel is almost as if we're learning a very important lesson here it's lesson of why we're here and what our role is in the world we see we see the example of where B takes advantage of the power that was given to him as a result that power was taken from the Jew from the from the non-jewish nation and instead that responsibility was now given given to us that respon and right before we enter the land of Israel and become and begin to become that that very very long road towards creating this nation or this Society that's meant to show at the world about God we have this story of balakin ban and we see why the other nations could no longer have prophets which then requires us on some level to step in and uh and act as their as their guides thank you all yes I'm sorry I'm just going to I'm going to end I'll having to take the question I want to give everyone a break so that uh Rob finlin can start uh a minute or two