Parshas Balak: Meet the Real Bilaam - The Mystifying Revelation of Targum Yonasan Ben Uziel

this Torah class is brought to you by Torah anytime.com okay good morning a unique para Sam says it's the only para that mosu did not see with his own eyes and was in other words it happened away from CLA it's not something that happened to CLA these are the the inner Secrets the inner conversations between billum and balak and in the beginning of the para we have somewhat a a very mysterious episode where balak sends Messengers to Bam says that we're having trouble with these Jewish people they're going to come they're going to kick up our land so B says what do you want from my life he says uh you know I want you to curse them you're good at that you're professional Mallo so he says you know have to think about it let me speak to God we'll decide I'll let you know in the morning call me back in the morning soam comes to Bam he says who are these people who uh who are these guys that came to you so he said they're hiring meem said don't go don't curse the people they're blessed so Bam gets up in the morning and he says sorry can't do it they say what's the problem he says I need uh I need a better Entourage I need better agents I need better Messengers it's beneath my dignity to deal with such low people as you have sent me so they send bam another group of people and then bam says okay what should I do so says you want to go what are you asking me for it's a great opportunity wait a second yesterday told him and then the next day now gives the green light last week's there was a red light right right you can't cross the red light but this week says there's a joke come on right and this week um this week it says what you want to go no problems no problem and then what happens bam goes and all of a sudden he encounters a Malik and the Malik is standing there with a sword and the Malik wants to kill bam why does the Mal want to kill bam Hashem just told bam to go why is should he go or should he not go this like Abbot and Castello over here bam says I want to go says he can't go so B says fine I won't go then the next morning billum oh you don't want to go no go so now billum goes and all of a sudden he says to go now the Mal wants to kill him so bam says okay you don't want me to go if does not want me to go I won't go M says no who said that we don't want you to go go huh what in the world is going on here the the bam is being confronted by the Mal and the PK says I would have killed you so the Mal says why you hitting your donkey so says I'm sorry I didn't know you were there so the said what's your problem why are you delaying go mean it's like every time bam wants to do one thing everyone's telling him do the other thing at first bam wants to go says so B's not going to go the next morning Hashem says why aren't you going go go so he goes now the mouth tries to kill him B says I'm sorry I maybe I shouldn't go no you should go what's going on over here and what exactly is this wall every time Bam's going on the road he has problems with the wall why is he having problem with we know the first time he went he had problems that there was a wall on one side the next time there's a wall on two sides the next time there was a wall on all three sides I mean that's what's stopping the man the guy's the biggest magician in the world he's the biggest sorcerer in the world he could turn you into a frog he could turn you into a chicken he can make you right if a Mentalist on aab Mal could make you think you're a chicken then billum could turn you he could make you disappear he can make you stand on your head no wall is getting in the way if Houdini could get out of whatever he got out of I guarantee you billum could get Beyond the Wall that's the big problem the wall so put in GPS you know all route and go have a good idea go around the wall you ever hear that go around go around the wall why every time the first time there's a wall on one side go on the other now there's a wall on two sides there's wall everywhere what's this business what's this trouble with the wall there's a very interesting the gamar talks about the importance of amuna and the gamar says a thear mentions the Mas very brief it just gives code words and T and Rashi there elaborate it's a story about the weasel and the pit the weasel and the pit what's the story story goes like this there was a the T there AA there was a young lady and she was on her way to her father's house and there was a pit and she fell into the pit and young man came and he said you look like you're in distress right is there anything I could do to help you get me out of here yeah there's something you can do to help you get me out he said no problem as long as you agree to marry me and they swore to each other that they would marry each other he swore to her he would not marry anyone else she swore to him that she would not marry anyone else but they said and who will be the witnesses that we will uh keep both ends of the deal so there was a weasel passing by you know what a weasel is like a m rat there's a weasel pop goes the weasel and they they said you know who the Aiden will be the pit that you fell into and the weasel okay sure enough they agree to marry each other many days pass and she being a little naive she decided to keep her end of the deal thinking the guy would definitely keep his end of the deal he doesn't remember it he doesn't care and he marries somebody else and they have two children what happens to the two kids first one falls into a pit and dies the next one gets B by a weasel and dies the wife says you know this is why is this happening to us that what it's it's very strange out of the ordinary that both of the children should die and he reminds himself of the story and he tells her the story she says I'm out of here get rid of me you have to marry that lady lady and sure enough he divorces her and he marries the other girl and the story ends happily ever after says the gamar if you put your trust in a weasel and a pit they're going to come through for you all the more so if you put your trust in the ream the ream will come through for you so we see from here a principle and by the way this is the source about the sity of an engagement why why is an engagement binding well an engagement is binding is cuz once you give your word to do something then cannot be broken like you see from this gar this is the marar that the place can bring down for the the strength the to of Engagement even today where there no but we see from this gar a principle and that is when you have a on something when you have witnesses on something if somebody violates the deal who's the first to exact retribution the themselves the will be the first to exact retribution so to understand the par and to understand many episodes in tanak we have to get a better insight into who exactly this bam was rash in the beginning of the par on theum says why don't you stay over at night and I'll speak to shom and I'll see what he says says Rashi why at night why can only speak to God at night says rash the spirit only rested on B at night likewise all the prophets of the nations of the world only communicate with God at God came to in a dream at night why because if somebody has a PES where it's a sort of an embarrassing Union you don't go to her only at night so too the is not really too proud of the fact he has to speak to these and therefore only comes Bala so you see from Rashi that out of all the prophets of the nations of the world and Rashi points out they all communicate with God at night Rashi refer specifically to two of them and that is Bam and laan and we also know they both happen to have come from the same Nation they both come fromi what do B okay but here is the real Whopper of the sh and that is comes T Ben who was written by none other than not but it's AES was just the printer convenient way to refer to it wrote he also wrote he wanted toal but they didn't let him Beal andum onas but there's something called tarami and there are two versions ofi in order to distinguish the two they gave them names says on this week's the says they send Messengers to who bam wow right good that's good good you're hired right that's a big says that if you want to know who bam is bam is the same old Russia that we remember from seus he's back and better than ever and he's up to no good is he wants to destroy he's the son of who's a fool from walking in the ways of wisdom and look how stupid he is he doesn't even have on his own great grandchild because after all if bam is L on you know sorry to tell you but everybody has this you know baggage in the closet that when you make a the Z unfortunately fortunately unfortunately the Z is and you know you're going to have that BR and people are going to say um with the who who's he which he's from the other side right he's from the other side but everybody L is the Z whether you like it or not he's related to S he's related to Rifka and he's the father of RA and look how foolish he is he doesn't even have on his own he's situ he was able to interpret dreams he which is on the pr so says you want to know who is none other than love on himself oh so says now we understand his trouble with the wall because we know there's an old deal between yob and we know at the end of there was a deal between LA and that they're not going to cross the pile of stones and they're not going to pass the monument the wall to harm by the way to harm no to do business yeah right it's only to harm only LA but to do business you're allow to pass and they made a deal with the G they made a deal with the right if you take a look at the end of fine number six number five the angel of God arose in a very cramped place in a confined Place between The Vineyards the place where made a m it was narrow on this side was narrow on the other side and Lon was going to violate the treaty he was going to cross the the wall to harm and we know when we have aen on something who are the first to exact retribution the aen so since the wall was the aid therefore the wall is exacting retribution comes along the the foot of bam was injured by the wall by the way writes inous that why was he was a when he bumped his leg against this wall violated the says the she and we know right we say from excuse me wanted to destroy when did love ever want to destroy he just wanted to knock off yov how where do we see want destroy K this week's para he's trying to destroy K right therefore the wall takes Revenge because the wall is the witness for the oath and this is a fruition of the okay just I'm very surprised how cell phones could ring when they're turned off it's amazing must be witchcraft or or black magic Wow it fits right into the sh okay look at number seven um okay says another another detail of this idea says that this billum that we're learning about we're saying he goes way back in time he's love on yeah so that means he must have lived he's living in the midbar and he lived quite a while that means he was living in the times of Yu that's L now L was the father of RA Leah he must have lived a couple hundred years well what was he doing in the meantime I mean between the episode that he made a deal with yob and then yob goes down to M and now we're in the midbar what's he doing all this time what's he doing Investments we don't know anything about what what's laan doing to keep himself busy well says T Ben we have look at the Mak of barad We Know by in advanced warning of the Mak ofad gave a gave a certain that listen hail is going to come down from Shay bring your animals inside so the PK says the ones who feared god listen and they brought their animals inside the ones who did not fear God they did not bring their animals inside so wants to know who exactly are these people who feared God and who are the people who didn't fear God who fear the word of God May from the Servants of he gathered her servants inside and his cattle in other words you want to know who the is and you want to know who the who is the quintessential none other thanha in fact Batum says on that the ones who were being stubborn and not listening to the word of hem and Advising not to let them go they're still being rebellious says r it's because of that did not send him away there were three people in that we know when par didn't know what to do with the Jewish people right he had the the Jewish problem so he consulted with three people who were they bam and and isra advised don't touch him guard him like the pupil of your ey and kept his mouth closed and B advised to destroy them Mal and many many years later bam sees yra and yra is standing on the top of the world he's being honored he's living with the Jewish people he has a great amount of respect he's uh at the summit of honor and billum wonders I can't believe it can't believe it we were just together in the same room with par and I gave advice and you gave advice and look at you and look at me look at I am now o an O I'm a nothing I'm despicable I'm Ben and you're so the question is by this just tangental question is what was bam so surprised by yes they were both together but bam made the wrong decision and Y made the right decision bam advised par to destroy advised not to touch him so why was bam so surprised exactly what was so startling to bam that bam is now is sitting in the summit of the world the answer is very often in life you have two people they're in the exact same situation and from one little episode and one little decision and one little turn of events they were both together they were both probably thinking you could be sure what was going through Bam's mind well maybe I should give uh par good advice not to harm Kel maybe Isel was worried you know if I give this advice it's going to be harmful to me and they're both going both ways and from one turn in their life bam ended up a nobody and yer ended up the father-in-law of M and that's what billum was so startled by is it possible that from one turn of events can make the biggest difference in your life okay now let's think for a moment what was the end of bam what happened to Bam K he was killed he was killed in par mat look at number nine coming up two weeks right the kings of M they were killed on the sword S vs reim vs was killed by the sword says another what exactly happened to B says number 10 is now says let me tell you a little story how B was killed when running after him it's a problem when you see a guy like Pinas who just took a sword and stuck it right through K and Z in one Fell Swoop he got both of them like a shish kab but it wasn't a piece of B it was two human beings so what are you going to do if you're a billum he runs for his life he did not want to be schwarma right so he did some Witchcraft and he started flying in the sky right you can just imagine he's on his broom flying in the sky so Pinas mentions Sharad the holy name of God and is after him that that would be yeah so here you have billum flying through the sky and P is flying after him he grabs him by the head and he and he brings him down he un he yields his sword he wants to kill him so starts daving starts supplicating if you save me I swear to you I'll never curse these people no way I don't believe you you're the wicked love you chased down to you wanted to destroy his children and then after we came at listen to this you provoked amik you want to know who provoked amik Bam by the way you have a pen this if you write the words bam and I'm okay this is extra extra feature today Bam and you write those two words B you also get am bam see that b b and there are all kinds of endless combinations that you can make with the two words B andik so there's who provoked amik bam himself do what how he convinced them I guess so you mean they didn't do it says in this then you wanted to curse them when you saw you weren't being successful then you situated the women of to be M with and now and because of that how many Jews died 4,000 Jews and now you want me to have on you says immediately unyielded Unleashed his sword and he killed bam he said you're the same old Russ you're who tried to destroy yov you're bam who provoked you tried to curse us you were the one who gave the the and therefore penas killed bam with what with a sword hey wait a second I thought the need to be first so we understand he hurt himself on the on the G on the mat says the rush listen to this and says the rush and I heard where did that sword come from you see when you make a treaty you don't just say whoever passes by the wall whoever passes by the mound to do harm will be will be violating the treaty you take a sword and you stick it in the mound that's how you make a treaty well says the rash I heard that that sword that Yu stuck in the G by the mat that they he made with and he said so in fact that's what happened bam was crippled by the W the stones of the wall and that's why the says he got and then he was killed like this says it doesn't say look carefully what does mean with the sword the well-known sword which sword the sword that Yu stuck in the m and by the way if you look in says stuck a sword so all the various were the first to exact retribution from bam what's the Ral iset his grandchildren what is I know that we need to bring him in and and cross-examine what he was thinking um something the rich doesn't make a difference he said if you're such a sign you just you kill your own mother doesn't it yeah so one last point on this comes along excuse me and by the way there's a whole we could give a Shear just who the is mentions it in the has a CH exactly do we know who he is we don't know who he is and so forth but does quote him as one of the he brings down on the wall between um that b was hared on says the that the come back again says the this is a fruition of and what is this analogous to the and the bar this is like the weasel and the pit that just like when you make aen when you make the weasel and Aid when you make the pit an aid doesn't matter how much time passes doesn't matter if you forgot about it ultimately B was L he violated the treaty and therefore and therefore he was harmed by the wall by the gal and by the sword we fast forward a few hundred years and there was a general by the name of yoav and yov was acting on behalf of King David and he was looking to a next land and we know was so y comes to fight with Aram and Aram comes out toward him and they said what are you doing we are the descendants of Aram we're from laon you Jews don't you keep the treaty there's a treaty you see the mound you see the wall you see the sword we have a treaty how could you violate the treaty so y stopped the Army cold and he went to David and they went to the Sanhedrin and the Sanhedrin said wait a second yeah we have a treaty but when you have a treaty and one side breaks their end of the treaty all bets are off and therefore kill them out the treaty is off they broke the deal we could violate the treaty look at number 13 the says when went to they went out you are the grandchildren of We're the descendants of is still on when you have heard this what are you gonna say about this they they sat down the there was it t they violated it first didn't bam say you see bam was was foolish bam identified himself in the beginning of his CLA he said and by the way in the times of the in the times of the there was a man by the name of kusan he also enslaved us he also harmed us like the P says in so therefore it says they violated their end twice already and therefore all bets are off what so what the [Music] Met comes the the and he says isn't it interesting then that in this week's par in every mentions the following word he's constantly invoking he has like y over here every single why is he constantly mentioning well of course he's mentioning yob this is L on he still has old he still has an old account with none other than yabu and that is why comes the next the and he adds that hasem comes to and he says don't say anything bad and don't say anything good now I understand why we don't want anything bad but why was why did Hashem warn him don't say anything good don't worry Lan has nothing good to say but he was referring to in the future bam is going to want to give us all these there's nothing more slobbery than the kiss of the enemy there's nothing more disgusting than the kiss of the enemy it weighs down on you it's not good you don't want a gift from the enemy you don't want a blessing from the enemy all the blessings of bam they're not good for us so therefore tells look we don't want your blessings want your curses comes the and the also mentions this idea of the that who is B bam is none other than he mentions it the the P mentions it in this week's para on page you know one of the things that says is um is referred to is God is not a man that he'll be deceitful God does not reneg what is that referring to what billum was saying is that God is not like me I'm like a schizophrenic I'm like a what schizophrenic schizophrenic yeah why because the first time L un sees RKA what does he do by the way does anybody know why would you invoke the of what so special about it's a very special where did get fromone so he gave a the first time and then when he catches up with what does he do he gives everyone a kiss so the first two times L is pring himself like a he's giving he's blessing R he's blessing yob and now all of a sudden he wants to curse us so the says no no God is not like me I'm a flipflop yeah I'm a liberal Democrat no God is not like me God is he doesn't flipflop if he gives then he gives look at number 18 says thear sanin what is the meaning of the word bam so Rashi says without a nation he has no Nation he belongs to he confused the nation he lived with an animal he is he is K he is he did two wickedness One in times of Y and one in the times of the and what's his name L very interesting that it's out of order that it's out of order first should be laan then should be kusan excuse me I'm sorry first should be laan then should be kusan and then also what does it mean he's these three people Rashi learns Bam's father was these three people kusan the Yama learns that no the Y learns that all these three people were love on himself love was love was kusan and Lan was um himself so RAB I want to ask you a question how old was billum when he died 300 years I don't know you weren't at the L you weren't invited but how old was he so it depends who he was if he was laan he had to be uh about 500 years old to live from the time of yobu even before went down to all through going all the way through the Darbar to he had been about 500 years old the problem is thear saned says number you ever hear how old was it doesn't really say explicitly but since the p says men of Bloodshed do not live out half of their years and we know the lifespan of man is how how long s that means the halfway point is 35 and RAM don't even live half their years so he was either 34 or 33 so the men said you're right you're saying good cuz I saw in his diary I got his smartphone and in his diary it said that billum died at age 33 a when penas killed him says Rashi says Rashi that this opinion that he died at 33 obviously does not agree with what we just said previously that he was LA and he was and he was all these because according to that look atash excuse me who said earlier right we know bam was one of the advisers of par because was an adviser of par then he must have lived at least 210 years because he was at the of El and the tarima says that when the gar says H who it's aella because that means that b must have lived 500 years but the they only live 33 so it says tarima when we say that bam was L was kusan it doesn't mean he was him it means they were mishak they were family but the way I believe the rush says the same thing look at number at the end of number 11 it may not be the same person it just means they were from the same family they by the way it's interesting who are these three KRA kusan laon oh boy dog oh boy there you go that's all you need to know says this you want to know what L was you want to know what he's a dog so how are we going to counteract that who is going what's the antidote to the K but you rearrange it so that that's why the whole para L is always trying to be so from The Roots right I see if you look in the rashis Rashi points out that b was unable to uproot clo from The Roots because here's the battle between the K and the says on number 23 but also says they were not the same person they were definitely not the same person they were they had the same root they had different bodies they were good they were not says look at number 23 don't think the means like the simple that all three guys over here are one person it's impossible that is is K and says beish that the father of bam is the grandson of what mean is they there were three the the was and came from them they all goof other words they a big goof yes they the same DNA okay says the the they all came from the same route and that is why they are listed out of order why are they listed out of order because he says it's not listing them in the order of their existence but rather in their root in their inherent Essence and that's the order that's mentioned in the G comes and ties it all together says then it comes out that the entire Paran the entire episode of billum going to Cur CLA is predicated on one thing there exists a long-standing treaty between the B is and Bam and laan whether he could cross this wall and this mound and this sword to harm for business he could go so he goes to said look they want me to curse could I go of course he can't go you have a deal you swore to Y you can't go so bam says to okay I won't curse I just going for business so says oh you're just going for business you think you're going to make money from it there's no problem you're allowed to go you don't you remember the terms of the agement agement you can't go to harm but you could go to make money no problem so now listen carefully the re knows what's going on in Bam's mind but God doesn't allows a person free choice doesn't act based on a person's but once bam wakes up early in the morning and what does he do he Saddles his own donkey he Saddles his own donkey a guy like bam someone of that level of prestige with sad own donkey how why is he doing says Rashi the only reason doing it his hatred is distorting Judgment hatred for what for cl so now his actions are revealing that he's not going for business he's going to harm so the Mal comes to kill him so billum says look I retract I'm not going to go to harm so the Mal says fine no problem as long as you go to do what I allow you to do then you could go no so it's not that we're going back and forth the question is what's billum going to do if he's going going to go curse k this is a violation of the treaty if he's going for personal risk business or pleasure business there's no business with cl is you want to go for your own good no problem bottom line is according to thean how long did Bam live 33 years old says the he's crippled by the wall he's crippled by the G he's killed by the sword at what age G the age of 33 you've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by tor anytime.com