Changing the World to Help One Addict

The Yeshiva.net The Jewish people have traveled the wilderness for 40 years, close to 40 years. They are now poised to enter into the promised land, the holy land, Eretz Canaan, the land of Canaan, which would become Eretz Yisrael, the land of the Jewish people. They are now in a place called Arvot Moav, the plains of Moav. Today's geography would be southern south of Jordan. In the point at the point where it touches the the the Dead Sea. The point of south southern Jordan where it touches the Yam Hamelach, the salt sea, the Dead Sea. And the nation of Moav, the king of Moav, Balak, the nation and the king are petrified. They're overwhelmed by fear and dread of the Jewish people who are close to the borders of their country. They discuss it with a neighbor, Midian, and they decide to hire Balak decides to hire the seer of the time, the Gentile seer of the time, prophet by the name of Bil'am, in order to curse the Jewish people. It's interesting that in 1967, they discovered in Jordan, in today's Jordan, uh an inscription of plaster where it says that uh the the divine prophet, the divine seer, Bil'am ben Beor is his name. If I'm not mistaken, it's as far If I'm not mistaken, the earliest archaeological discovery outside of the Tanakh of a name in Chumash of such an early date. What happens at that point is Balaam receives the emissaries, the agents, and he says he has to consult God. And at night, in the dream, he consults God, and God says you should not go. So, he refuses. He tells them that he can't come. So, Balak, the king of Moab, assumes that the emissaries were not distinguished enough, and he sends a second set of emissaries, far more prominent and distinguished, promising Balaam the world if he would just come to curse the people of Israel. And Balaam says, "I already told you I cannot I cannot violate the will of God, even if Balak gives me a house filled with silver and gold. Stay over the night. I'll ask God again." And as Rashi explains that Balaam was a type of prophet who could only experience some divine messages at night, during his sleep, during his dreams. And when Balaam asks a second time, this time God tells him to go. He should go. So, he goes. And when he's going, he's riding on the donkey, now the story shifts from Balak and Balaam, and the focus of the story now becomes the donkey. Even though the donkey is mentioned quite a few times in Tanakh as the one who people or items used to ride on, but here suddenly the story shifts to the donkey itself. And the Torah continues the story that God sees that Balaam went, and he's upset. Hashem is upset that he went. So, what happens? He stages an angel, a malach of Hashem, an angel of God, to obstruct the voyage, the journey of the donkey. And this happens in three acts. Act number one, the donkey is riding, and the angel is standing right in front of him the schmoo with a sword in his hand and the donkey who experiences the visage the image the energy of the angel of course moves to the side of the road goes off the beaten track in order to protect itself and Balaam who is unaware of what is happening beats the donkey hits the donkey strikes the donkey to get it back on track to continue its journey. See number two is the donkey is now on a pathway between two vineyards and once again the angel is in front of the donkey so the donkey squeezes itself to one of the sides to one of the fences the walls protecting the vineyard and Balaam's foot is now squeezed to to the fence by the donkey who's fearful of the angel in front of him and Balaam again beats the donkey to go back in the path and continue its journey and then the third act where once again the donkey is now in a narrow path and there's no place to go right or left there's literally no place and the angel is there and the donkey has nothing to do and it just crouches and refuses to move on. Balaam is beating the donkey because he's frustrated and at that time at that moment something unexpectedly happens. Byufter Hashem is pi also. God opens the mouth of the donkey. And to read the you to read the sometimes the after read the text in order to appreciate the impact. Byufter Hashem is pi also Hashem God opens up the mouth of the donkey. But time of the Balaam and she says to Balaam 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 words. What language did she speak in? What have I done to you that you beat me three times? Because each time the story repeats itself in a different fashion, he's beating her. What did What did I do to you? And Balaam actually responds, "What would you do if your donkeys started to speak to you?" You would call EMS, call the sheriff, call the fire department, call 911. You would run frantically. You would holler. The whole block would wake up. And Balaam says, "Okay, I'll tell you why. Cuz you abused me. You mocked me. You You traumatized me. You made fun of me. You manipulated me. Means you You put me to shame. Actually says, "You disgraced me. You put me to shame. If I would have had a sword, I would have I would have killed you." And the donkey They continue the conversation. The donkey says, "What do you mean? I've been your donkey upon which you have been riding throughout your entire life. Have I ever behaved this way with you?" And Balaam says, "No." The next scene is that you got Hashem ain't a Balaam. God opens the eyes of Balaam and he sees the angel standing on the road with a sword. And now Balaam bows his head and he prostrates himself to the angel. And the angel asks one question, "Why did you beat your donkey three times? I am the one who caused this donkey to obstruct your path. The donkey has seen me initially and thus moved away from the path or crouched three times." And Balaam tells the angel, "I have sinned. I did not see you. I did not know that you are obstructing my path. If you want, I'll go back." And the angel says, "No, no, no. You go, but you will speak the words that I put into your mouth." And Balaam at last follows the princes, the ministers of Balak, and the story continues how he arrives. Balak tells him the story, wants him to curse the Jewish people. At the end, he is speaking the words that God puts into his mouth, and he utters and he communicates some of the most beautiful prose in the entire Tanakh in the praise and blessing of the Jewish people, some of the most cherished verses that Jews repeat every morning like Ma Tovu Ohalai Yaakov Mishkenotecha Yisrael, prophecies about Mashiach are all sourced in the words of Balaam the prophet. As in every story of the Chumash, there is an enormous amount to discuss. Various facets, dimensions of the narrative ought to be explored, dissected, analyzed, and finally applied to life, which is always the ultimate purpose of Torah, Torat Chaim, a Torah of life, meaning one that engages, informs, enlightens, and inspires one's life. But I want to focus today on at least two two details. One is what seems as what seems ostensibly so strange, and that is God's apparent change of mind. Not once, not twice, not three times, but four times. When the agents, when the emissaries come from Balak to Balaam the first time, Balak is frightened. He sends a message to Midian, the elders of Midian, "We are going to be We are going to be destroyed." They come to Balaam and they offer him the offer, they invite him to come and curse the Jewish people. He says, "I have to ask God." At night, when Hashem asks Balaam, "Who are these people?" Balaam tells them the story, "They want me to curse the Jewish people." And Hashem said, "Lo say lech imon, don't go. Don't curse them, they're blessed." Okay, God said what he wanted, don't go. And Balaam, as a loyal person, gets up in the morning and says, "God doesn't let me go." They come back to Balak. Balak tries again. They come back to Balaam a second time. And what does Balaam say? "Balak could give me as much money as he wants. I cannot violate the word of God. But, stay here another night." The second night, Balaam communicates with God again, and God has a change of heart. Im likra lecha bo ya'anashim kum lech itam. "If they came to get you, go with them. But, speak what I will tell you to speak." The first night you told him not to go. The second night, you told him to go. Okay. For whatever reason, the second night Hashem said, "I want you to go." Granted. Now what happens? He goes. And the next scene is va'yichar af Elohim, Hashem is angry. This is a very strange setup. You tell me not to go, I say I'm not going to go. Then you tell me to I send them away because you told me not to go. They come back, you tell me to go, so I go. Now you're getting angry that I go. So now you're angry at me for listening to you the second time. And what happens? An angel obstructs the path of the donkey. So we have the whole story of the donkey. So when the angel finally appears to Balaam, and Balaam says, "Okay, I got it. You don't want me to go, I'll go back." Says, "No, no, no, no, no, I want you to go." So, he goes. What's going on here? This is beyond mysterious. This is beyond strange. It's no, yes, no, yes, thank you. Thank you for the clear directions and guidance, and now you're getting upset at me. Now, we know that there are people who do behave like this constantly. There's even a word for it in English. It's called indecisive. And sometimes indecisive in an uniquely exaggerated and dramatic way. Right? Some people, when it comes to buying a dress, it's not four times, it's sometimes 40, 50, 60 times. Yes, no, no, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, no. And, you know, and you just end up returning it. To the joy of your husband. Due to the bill, not your husband. Somebody's husband. There are people who simply can't make decisions. They just Any decision they make almost traumatizes them. It could be a decision about a color of a rug or a carpet. It could be a decision what should be the dessert by the Sheva Brachot. The Bar Mitzvah or the wedding. They sometimes have sleepless nights over such decisions. Never mind if it's a bigger decision. So, we know, we know, we we we're very familiar with this trait or challenge that some of us have, and the people around us who have to deal with indecision. But, here we're talking about the the creator of the world who's doing this. No, yes, no, I'm angry. I'm I'm to stop you. Oh, should I go back? No, go. The meforshim struggle with this. They struggle with this. Many meforshim have addressed this. First is the Ramban, the Akedah, Ksav Hakabalah, the Malbim, the Basayin, on many different levels, many different interpretations. The Malbim and the Ksav Hakabalah give the famous interpretation based on a grammatical insight into the Hebrew language. The first time Hashem tells Bilam not to go, he says, Vayomer Elohim El Bilam Lo Salech Imohem Lo Sor Esam Ki Baruch Hu. Hashem tells Bilam, "Don't go with them." Lo Salech Imohem. Don't go with them. Don't curse the nation because he's blessed. The second time when Hashem tells him to go, he says, "Kum, get up. Lech Itam. Go with them." In Hebrew, there are two different expressions for with them. Imohem and Itam, right? Techele Lech Itah. Techele Lech Imo. What's the difference between going Imo with them or Itam with them? The English translation is identical. Go with them. But the first time he says, "Don't go Imohem." Second time he says, "Lech Itam." So, the Malbim and the Ksav Hakabalah, two of the great commentators on Chumash, more contemporary ones relative to the Rishonim, both give the following explanation, and that is that Itam, when you go with somebody, when you walk with somebody, when you go with somebody on a journey, there's two ways of joining them. One is geographically, and the other one is mentally. Meaning, when you're sitting with somebody on an airplane, somebody you never met before, it could be a 21-hour flight or a 16-hour flight or 11-hour flight. You're hit heading to the same destination, but mentally you're not in the same place. Yeah? You're going for one purpose, the other person is going for a completely different purpose, and indeed when you part ways, you sometimes part ways you'll never see them again as close as you were for the 11 hours of flying together, and you spoke, and you know everything you think about her family, and she knows everything about your family, and she knows everything about your eating and sleeping habits, and you know everything about her eating and sleeping habits, etc., etc. Sometimes you know get to know them better than you know your own brother, because when was the last time as an adult you spent 11 hours sitting together right near your sibling. But nonetheless, when you say goodbye, have a safe journey, enjoy your stay, it's bye-bye, and sometimes bye-bye till next time, which may may be a few thousand years. So, you're going together, but mentally you're in a different place. We could sometimes go with somebody to a particular place physically we're together, but not mentally. And the Malbim says that's the difference between going with somebody there's imam and itam or imai and itai. Hashem says lech salech imachem. Don't go im with the person. Im with the person means you're joining forces as one, not just physically, but also mentally. You're going for the same purpose, you're going for the same intention. Itam means you're also going with them, but you remain distinct in terms of your strategy, in terms of your purpose, in terms of your plan. I don't want you to go with them for their purpose of cursing the Jewish people. I want you to go with them, but your purpose is going to be completely different. This is just one example, one interpretation of the Meforshim. There are other interpretations. The difficulty with this interpretation is that when the Malach finally tells Bilam to go the fourth time, he says lech im Hashem. So, that is the big problem with this interpretation. But there's another shot, another interpretation, maybe a little bit on a different level. And that is a simple interpretation and also a very profound one. And that is What do you think is the hardest word to hear in the English language or in any language? What is the most difficult word to hear? No. The word no is a very difficult word to hear. And no exists on many stages, on many levels, in many ages, and considering considering different realities. Sometimes no means you can't eat the 10th lollipop. No. Sometimes no means you can't stay up till 4:00 in the morning. No. Sometimes no means you can't destroy the kitchen, the dining room, and the living room. Sometimes no means you can't beat your sister to a pulp. Sometimes no means you can't play with three dangerous knives. No. When we get older though, we may not be playing with knives or wanting to stay up till 4:00 in the morning. We usually fall asleep much earlier. But there's a different type of no. And that is certain things that I'm craving, certain things maybe that I'm addicted to, certain things that I really desire on some level, and to be able to hear the word no is extremely difficult. Sometimes for my mind, which gets involved in certain patterns, to be able to say to it no, to be able to challenge it is extremely difficult. No is the hardest word not only in English, but in any language. And here is perhaps one of the secrets of this story. When you can hear the no, even if you disagree with the no, you are blessed. What often happens in life is the no is so difficult to hear, we hear it as a yes instead of a no. Hazal, who knew how to articulate profound truths in one sentence, have an expression about Bilam. The derech she Adam writes a leilech, my lechin I say. The road that you want to travel down, you will you will be led down that road. Bilam asked God what to do. God said, "No." That should have sufficed. No means no. The second night, suddenly, God tells him, "Yes." It was more about what he heard than what God told him. He was so eager to go that the no becomes manipulated into a yes, and this is the story of many a life. It is so hard to hear the word no. It is so difficult to hear the word no. We camouflage the no with secondary emotions and secondary statements to cover it up. I don't I'm not always ready to hear the truth of what is going on, so I replace it with other messages, and sometimes the other messages are the exact opposite. We rationalize. We camouflage. We cover up. We justify. We put things in a particular context. We dismiss them for our comfort and protection, and therefore the no suddenly is transformed into a yes, or as the hazal put it, the road you want to take is the road you're going to end up taking. God will not interfere always in the processes of people making choices because free choice is the most sacred value of humanity. Free choice captures the essence and purpose of creation. To eliminate free choice is to give up on humanity. To say I wish you were you were a rhinoceros. I wish you were a pre-programmed rat. I wish you were a pre-programmed cat. I wish you were a pre-programmed computer. Free choice is the infinite vote of confidence that God has in the human soul and the human spirit to be able to extricate its toxicity from itself and follow follow its true values. But till we get to that point, we make mistakes. One of the greatest mistakes we make is we hear what we want to hear. In Yiddish there's an expression menchen heren was a villain heren, which is a literal translation of people hear what they want to hear. I could tell you from my personal experience, I'm a teacher as some of you know. And I speak and unfortunately I sometimes speak a lot as some of you are well familiar with. And I hear a lot of feedback of the things I say. People email me what I said. People come to me and ask me questions or challenge or whatever what I said. And when I'll often tell the person I never said that, or at least I don't I can't say that. I don't remember saying that, but I usually remember what I say at least for a few minutes. They know, of course, I heard this. And to tell somebody you heard what you wanted to hear. You heard what you're comfortable hearing. We sit and we hear. But we have prearranged parent patterns in our brain. They're called neural pathways, neurological pathways that are trained, that are developed, and we hear messages that we're comfortable with, that affirm our previous patterns. And sometimes we hear those messages from ourselves, not only from other people. And when I want to hear something, that's what I'm going to hear, even though it has nothing to do with truth, because that's what I'm capable of hearing. And if that's the only thing I'm capable of hearing, that's the only thing I'm going to hear. You could put it this way, I heard it was once I This is a marketing strategy. One of the presidents had an adviser, and he was very into cats. He wrote a book about cats, taking care of cats, nurturing cats. And one day interviewed him on um on television about his tenure with the president, the particular president of the United States that he was adviser. But the book just came out. So he had one agenda. The agenda was to sell the book about cats. So they tell him, "So tell us about your experience with President Ford." "Oh, he loved cats." "What about What about with President Johnson?" "Oh, he really didn't like cats." "What about Carter?" He started to speak about his wife's feelings about cats. The entire presidency of the United States of America was reduced to one facet, and that is the relationship of the presidents of the US to cats. And this was premeditated and intentional. It wasn't subconscious. He needed to sell his book on cats. But we do this all the time subconsciously. The agendas I need to confirm, I will confirm and affirm. The fears I need to validate, the anger I need to justify, I will continue to justify by hearing what I have to hear. How often does one spouse say something to another spouse? What they said and what the other person heard are not planets apart, they're universes apart. Planets apart is nicht so gefährlich, you can get there with a spaceship. Universes apart, there's no way of getting there. What I tell you or what this person tells me and what I heard them say is not only sometimes different, it's sometimes the exact opposite because I can only hear things with the tools that I have. Sometimes a person is not ready for certain messages, they're just not. You could say the whole truth, but they just can't hear any of it and then you become their enemy. Because you become threatening or they just completely manipulated and sometimes it's conscious, sometimes it's unconscious. Chazal put it all all into that one sentence in Gemara. Bederech sha'adam rotzeh lalechet, molichin oso. Ultimately, you have to choose your own path. God said no. He said no. Balaam heard it. The second night, Balaam suddenly heard, "Yes." God got very upset. God got very, very upset. And the angel obstructs the donkey. Doesn't want Balaam to go. And finally, Balaam realizes that he says, "Oh, so you really don't want you don't want me to go?" No kidding, genius. I told you the first night, "No." And then he says, "Okay, so I'm going to go back." He says, "No, now I want you to go." Balaam says, "Okay, we're going." And yet, we see another planet to the story. And that is, despite Balaam hearing what he wants to hear and manipulating the message, God doesn't detach. He doesn't disengage from Balaam. He doesn't say, "Okay, I said it once. You want to destroy yourself, destroy yourself." No, no, he will continue to get involved. Balaam heard a yes, and then the angel stopped him. Balaam said, "You don't want me to go? I'll go back." And then Hashem says, "Now, I want you to go. This is your choice. This is your decision. But we're going to figure out how to transform your curses into your blessings." Which now brings us to step two. Namely, what happens in this process? A donkey opens up its mouth. There are quite many miracles in the Tanakh, but this is certainly a funny one, a humorous one, and a unique one. But the biggest question is, who needed it? What was the point of it? I mean, a donkey opening its mouth and having a conversation with a human being, especially a Russia Marusha like Balaam, who was no tzaddik, was no saint, was no righteous man. You could see from the story, he's eager to curse the Jewish people. They're not personal enemies of him. They didn't do anything to him. But the donkey opens his mouth for what purpose? A miracle is an expression of of it in Islam Agona. Nature is sacred. Nature is not a mistake. Nature is not random. Nature are the sacred divine patterns that govern the universe. Both the macrocosm and the microcosm, the universe at large and every individual person, every individual organism. The laws of nature are divine laws. When you study the laws of nature, you get an insight into a divine mind that created the rhythms, the patterns, the symphony of nature. Nature is exactly that, a symphony. And every creature plays its instrument in the cosmic divine symphony of life. You got that? Go out to a tree today, meditate, and take a look at the patterns. If you're familiar with how a tree functions, the tree is fulfilling its mission. It's playing its notes in the divine symphony. Teva, nature is not a random or bad thing. It's sacred. That's why miracles don't happen in vain. When they do happen, they're for a very specific purpose. What was the purpose of this astronomical nice miracle of a donkey opening its mouth? So, you'll say, "Well, God didn't want Bil'am to go." If God didn't want Bil'am to go, he could have shown the angel to Bil'am initially, like he showed it to the donkey. What happens in the story? The donkey is going. Bil'am is riding on the donkey. The donkey sees Hashem's angel obstructing its path. And then there are the three acts where the donkey doesn't continue to move and Bil'am beats it. So, the donkey speaks and says, "Why did you beat me?" So, Bil'am explains, "Because you embarrassed me and disgraced me. I should have killed you." And then the donkey says, "Come on, you know me better. I'm a good donkey." And then what happens? Hashem opens the eyes of Bilam and he sees the angel. And Bilam Excuse me, Bilam bows his head. And Bilam says, "I'm sorry. I didn't know you're here. I didn't realize what is happening. I thought the donkey is just being disrespectful and lazy. So, I got upset." Granted, Hashem wants to obstruct Bilam's path. He wants to make Bilam realize that this journey is unacceptable. It's immoral. It's evil. Granted. So, first of all, you could tell Bilam again not to go. You want to do it in this way while he's going already. You're anyway going to show him the angel at the end. So, show it to him. Instead of the donkey seeing the angel, let Bilam see the angel. Let them both see the angel. Let the donkey see the angel and crouch. And Bilam will see exactly why the donkey is crouching. And they can have the conversation at the end. It's not like the donkey spoke to Bilam and told him everything. The donkey never told Bilam what was happening. The donkey just said, "Why did you beat me?" And then Hashem allowed Bilam to see the angel. So, just show Bilam the angel initially. The miracle apparently would be much smaller. Why the need for this astronomical change of nature of a donkey opening its mouth and communicating with its master? For what purpose? Furthermore, when the donkey says, "Lama hikisani shalosh regalim? You beat me three times." Rashi says that what the donkey meant was, "You want me to uproot a nation that celebrates shalosh regalim, three holidays." In other words, we are focusing and paying attention even to one expression of the donkey. The donkey said shalosh regalim three times, also intimating the three regalim, the three holidays of Pesach and Shavuot and Sukkot. That's how much focus we're putting even on a detail. Rashi brings from the Medrash, why did the story happen three times? Why were there three acts? The donkey could have just crouched in one place, the angel stands there, and the whole story could have happened. Why three? Why three times? And the answer is Simone of voice Harold. The angel was showing the donkey the signs of Avraham and Yitzchak and Yaakov. Each episode somehow corresponded to one of the patriarchs. Now, you have to understand what that means. But what do we see from this? That the details, the nuances, how many times all have a premeditated spiritual purpose. And yet, the whole story doesn't seem to have a purpose. The details of the story Rashi tells us exactly why it happened. But when you'll ask Rashi, why did the whole thing have to happen that the donkey should speak? You're telling me why the donkey had to stop three times connected to three of us. But I'm asking you a much bigger question, why did the donkey have to open its mouth? What was gained? That there doesn't seem to be an answer. And it's even more than this because in Pirkei Avot it says, the fifth period, the fifth chapter of the ethics of the fathers of Avraham and Shammai between Ashmatsus. 10 things were created Friday between Ashmatsus. You know between Ashmatsus is between Ashmatsus they translate as dusk. It's basically twilight zone at the moments that are not day and not night. Basically, from sunset till nightfall. Let's say sunset is uh these days 8:30, 8:30 p.m. It's not dark yet. The sun the ball of the sun has set. And then there will be nightfall when the light is gone as well. That that period of time between sunset and nightfall known in Halakha between Shkiah Hama and Tzeis Hakochavim when the stars emerge conspicuously, that is called bein hashmashos. It's twilight zone. It's lo yom v'lo layla. It's not momish day because it's getting dark, but it's not momish night cuz it's not dark yet, as they say. It's not dark yet, but it's getting there. So, that's the period called bein hashmashos. There's a lot of debates exactly when exactly that is. Various Various opinions, but suffice it to say it's a unique period of the day. And it says 10 things were created at that period. Which is very unique why that period was chosen like almost Shabbos, but not Shabbos, but not weekday, like bein hashmashos. And one of the two things that were created Two things that were created were piha ason the mouth of the donkey and piha aretz and the mouth of the earth that opened to swallow up Korach in the previous parsha of Korach. Both were created erev Shabbos bein hashmashos. That means they were both inherent in the origin of creation, but not just in the six days of the week, in that special moment between the weekday and Shabbos as the Maharal says because all of the 10 things created then represented things that are on the border between the physical and the spiritual, between the between the ruchni and the gashmi, between the nature and the supernatural. A unique time. It's not Shabbos yet, but it's also not weekday. The mouth that swallowed up Korach, the mouth of the earth, and the mouth of the donkey. The Mishnah brings another opinion, the ram of Avraham Avinu, the Luchos, etc. Why was the mouth of the earth opened to swallow up Korach? So, in parshas Korach, Moshe explains, "Korach, you're challenging my integrity. You're saying that I invented the entire distribution of vocations among me and my brother and my nephews and my cousins. You're saying that I lied in the name of God. If you're right, if you're right, you're right. If I am right, bria yivra Hashem, let God create a new phenomenon, something we have never seen before. U'pats'ah ha'adamah s'fiha, let the earth open its mouth to authenticate that my mission is not about nepotism. It's about truth. It's about emes. So, Moshe clearly articulates the purpose of that extraordinary miracle. When it comes to the second miracle, its neighbor that was created right then, the mouth of the donkey, explain it. Why don't you explain? Why? Who needed it? What would have happened if the donkey would have never spoken? Would your blintzes taste different? Would anything be do The donkey did not speak. Bilam went on the donkey. The donkey saw the angel. The donkey crouched. Bilam started to beat it. And suddenly, Bilam saw the angel and said, "Oh my God." The angel said, "Why are you Why are you doing this?" And Bilam said, "Because I didn't realize. Now I see you. Should I go back?" And he says, "Don't go back. Say my sir." Or it could have happened another hundred or two hundred three hundred ways. Vayiftach Hashem es piha. There are those the Rambam holds that the story of the donkey is not a literal story. It was a vision. Meaning, Bilam saw this in a vision. He heard the donkey speak in a vision. That's the view of the Rambam. And other Rishonim, the Rambag, a few commentators who believe that there's no need they felt there was no need to interpret this story literally, but only uh metaphorically. It was a vision of the story, which the Rambam holds about a few different events. For example, the story of the snake enticing Hava to eat from the tree, according to the Rambam, was something that happened in Hava's mind and in Adam's mind. That's the view of the Rambam. Rashi and most com- many commentators disagree. They prove from different sources that it was literal. Well, if it was a vision, then it wasn't a miracle. It was a type of vision. It's a type of experience, spiritual experience or mental experience. If it was literal, as Rashi interprets it clearly from this story and many other Meforshim, probably most Meforshim, the question is what was the point of it? And here we come to observe something very profound, simple and profound. And that is when the Torah introduces the angel the first time, the angel that obstructed the path of the donkey, the words are Vayichar Af Hashem Elokim Ki Holech Hashem was upset that he's going. Vayetzei Malach Hashem Baderech Lesatan Lo. The Malach of Yud Kay Vav Kay, the Malach of Hashem stood in the path to be an obstruction, to obstruct the path of the donkey. Sorry. So, Rashi says Malach Hashem, it says Vayichar Af Elokim, Elokim got upset and Malach Hashem, Malach Yud Kay Vav Kay, the name of God has changed. Elokim is strictness, upset could be upset. Yud Kay Vav Kay is compassion. So, Rashi says Malach Hashem from the Chazal, the angel of God obstructed is Malach Yut Kay Vuv Kay. It was a Malachi Shurachamin. It was an angel of compassion. What made the angel an angel of compassion? It was the angel that wanted to have compassion on Bil'am. It was expression of the divine compassion on Bil'am that he should not continue on a path that is disastrous for the Jewish people, but most importantly disastrous for himself, which was the original reason Hashem told him, "No." But then he heard yes. And then the Malachi comes to take him back. Of course, at the end he ends up going. But this Malachi is a Malachi of compassion. The Malachi doesn't want Bil'am to go. He wants to stop Bil'am. He wants to help Bil'am not go. But here is the deal. Bil'am as we can already learn, as we have already learned, is adamant to go. He is crazy about his anti-Semitism. His hatred to the Jewish people, as Rashi says, was stronger than Balak's hatred. Balak was afraid for his own Malachi, his own empire. Bil'am really deeply hated the Jewish people. He despised them. He loathed them. Somehow there was a very deep animosity he had. Says he hated them more than Balak who rented him and was ready to pay him all this money in order to curse them. So, you're talking about a person who really wanted to hear yes, because this mission spoke to him in a very profound way, which as we explained, what you want to hear, you're going to hear by hook or by crook. I could tell you no a hundred times and all you heard was yes. Got it. How can he be stopped? And this is what gives us insight into the story when we realize this. When Balaam gets on his donkey to go, the first thing that happens is the donkey is obstructed by the angel. So, Balaam now sees that the donkey is not going. One person might have said, "Hmm, maybe there's a message here. Maybe my donkey knows more than I know. Maybe my donkey is allergic to something. Let me review what I want to do." Not as a nachash, as some magical sign, but rather as an opportunity to reflect on what's happening. You get stuck somewhere, what's the point? What's the good God's message here? But, of course, Balaam only sees this as an invitation to beat his donkey. So, he beats his donkey. What happens in step two? It happens again. The donkey doesn't move, and again. Three times, you would think maybe after two times, after three times, Balaam would get the message. Maybe God told you not to go. You're getting stuck here, you're getting stuck there, you're getting stuck there. Maybe there's a message. No. He beats the donkey three times. Balaam wants to go. When you want to go, you want to go. Obstructions are not seen as messages, they're seen as hurdles that you have to get over. You got to beat the donkey, you beat the donkey. You got to do what you got to do. You would think at this point God says, "Listen, you're an addict. You're completely, completely addicted to your thing. I will not mix in anymore. You will destroy yourself. Cuz this is what happens when somebody has a single-minded perspective, they will go and go and go. No is an impossible word to hear. Every no is a yes. And every obstacle they will simply pass over because they're not capable of anything else. In order to spear Balaam's own destruction, God was ready to change Sidra Berashit. He was ready to change the systems of the world in the most powerful way so that Balaam should be able to wake up. And how do you wake up a man like Balaam? How do you wake up a man like Balaam? The donkey speaks. God's voice you can't hear anymore. Your own soul's voice you can't hear anymore, but the donkey you can hear. And the donkey looks at him and says, "Why are you torturing me? Why are you beating me?" And Balaam says, "What do you mean?" Cuz you're abusing me. That's his answer. He's not like, "Oh my God." Remember when the fish spoke then? Balaam Imagine the fish said Stop that. Well, that guy also I think chopped off the head. No, he got terrified. He was terrified. I mean, so the story went. I wasn't there. But Balaam says, "What do you mean? You're disgracing me." So the donkey says, "What do you mean? You've known me your whole life. I'm a good guy. I'm a good donkey. I've been loyal to you." That's what the donkey says. So God should help him. The donkey spoke. I mean, Balaam, THE DONKEY SPOKE FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE. The world has changed. Why? Why? BECAUSE IT CROUCHED. WHY DID IT CROUCH? BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO GO. You need a bigger message? But that's where Balaam's head was. You hear what you want to hear by hook or by crook. If you're psychologically not ready, if you're emotionally not ready for the truth, donkeys can speak, mountains could move, angels can appear, the world can be transformed, but you're going to go for the next addiction. You will still follow that path, whatever that path is. I'm not only talking about addiction. I'm talking about all types of behaviors and patterns that are alien to your own deepest truth. And God, at this point, still doesn't give up. He now does in a way what is even greater. He allows the angel to communicate to Bilam. But when is it? It's the middle of the day. Bilam was only traveling by day. There was no traveling at night at the time. Before Thomas Edison, night was night. No nightlife. Night you went to sleep. Unless you were learning by the moon or you had a candle for a few hours. Night was night. There was no nightlife. Imagine for teenagers. They went to sleep at night. The sun set and God said, "Schluffy time." And nobody can argue. It was dark. Then came Mr. Edison and gave us our beautiful nightlife. And uh and history moves on. And we got to deal with the realities of celebrating night. In places like here or Brooklyn, a lot of people wake up at night. Daytime is a time to sleep and relax, and night is when so many people come to life. But it's not nature. If you want to live with the heartbeat and the rhythm of nature, Dovid Hamelech says, "I ir shachar." I wake up dawn. Dawn doesn't wake me up. When dawn comes, I'm already here. I welcome the day. I welcome daybreak. Those of you have ever watched a dawnbreak, you know exactly what it means to welcome dawnbreak. He says this in Tehillim, "Or era shachar, the Shulchan Aruch brings it in the first section, siman aleph, ani mo'ir ashachar ve'ein ashachar me'ir oti. I awake dawn and dawn does not awake me." You have to know if you're in the position of living that way, but it's really um being in tune with nature. So, there was no traveling at night. Bil'am was during by that. We learned before, as I said, that all visions of Bil'am could only happen at night when he was asleep. Why? Because during daytime, in his full consciousness, he wasn't capable of hearing the voice of God. At night, in a dream, in a trance, he can hear the voice of God. And God changed that, too. Now, he can see the angel in middle of the day as he's traveling, and the angel is communicating with him. This was the third step of changing nature, and you would think by now Bil'am would be a transformed person. Bil'am is shaken up. Bil'am says, "We're going back? We're going back?" And the malach says, "No. This time we're going." This is where you are. This is where we're going. But we're going to transform it. We're going to transform your court curse your curses into blessings. Which means in a person's life, we hear no, we're told no, but we hear yes. We're told no, and we hear yes. We're told no, and we hear yes. And God says, "This is your path, but I'm not going to leave you. I will come back and come back and come back. I will hold your hand a little bit, even if I will not force you. And even when you will end up taking every no and turning it into a yes. If we hold on together, ultimately we're going to transform the curses into blessings. Even though there could have been a different path where you would have chosen no initially, but this is how you chose, this is the path we're going to work it through this path. But human choice will never ever be eliminated because it's the greatest vote of confidence that God has in people. And to take away free choice is basically saying people were a huge mistake. This was a mistake and he will not do that. He will not do that. The one thing you don't tell your child is you were a mistake. Giving birth to you was a mistake. You will have sleepless nights. You'll go to 193 therapists. You will find everything in the world to do and not to do. You'll make hundreds of mistakes. But you will not tell your child you were a mistake. At least if you're functional and healthy. Why? Because God will never say free choice was a mistake. Free choice a mistake means you were a mistake. I should have made a machine. If I would have made a machine, I would have had nachas. But that means I would have had nachas from a machine. There's no you and I trust you. But it goes even deeper than this. It's Friday afternoon of creation. The whole world was created. The whole world. It's almost Shabbos. It's already sunset of Friday. The world is complete. We have We have of course Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, which means we have all of the oceans and waters, the entire ecosystem. We have all the galaxies and planets. We have the whole world of botany. We have the world of mammals and fish and birds. And finally we have human beings. We have the entire planet of Earth and the entire cosmos, the entire universe. And we're about to go into Shabbos, God inhaling "Ki voi Shabbos mi kol malachtoi." "Va'yoi mai shvi Shabbos va'yino fash." The day of rest. But Shabbos "Boi menucha Shabbos" comes and rest comes. And it's "Erev Shabbos." And God says, "Wait. There's one more thing I have to create." They say, "What?" He says, "The mouth of the donkey." "What's missing in the world?" And he says, "In 2,000 400 and 88 years, exactly. Matan Torah was 2448. This was 40 years later. So, it's 2488, right? 2448 24 2488. In 2 and 1/2 thousand years, or exactly 2,488 years, there's going to be a gentile, Balaam, not a Jew, and an anti-Semite, and not stam a vile one who hates Jews more than Balak. A great person, great potential, great spirit, certainly great talent. Chazal say that he was as great as Mosha in his spiritual gifts, in his gifts of prophecy. So, you could understand a little bit about Balaam's potential. But nonetheless, great people can also fall very, very low. And he's going to he's going to be around. And he's going to be determined to curse the Jewish people. So, now, right before Shabbos comes in, the world is not going to be complete until I create a special mouth for his donkey to be able to open its mouth and shake him out of his slumber. Shake him out of his addiction. Shake him out of his apathy. Shake him out of his toxicity. Shake him out of his promiscuity, and allow him to wake up and smell the coffee, and ask himself, "Maybe I have made a deep and profound error. Maybe it's time to recalculate, as Waze does or GPS does, my entire voyage, my entire journey." And the whole world, 2 and 1/2 thousand years earlier, would not be complete until this mouth of the donkey was created for one purpose. Who needed it? For God to demonstrate how much I care for an individual. And this is not a Jew. This is a non-Jew. And a non-Jew had a horrible reputation. But I want to help him return. I want to help him do chuva. I want to help him not go down a path of destruction and the and the and and hatred. I want him to be able to return. And for this one man, nobody else is going to use this donkey again. At least, maybe the donkey will be used. It's Okay, so it's a separate Indian what happened with this donkey. Did the donkey die? Is the donkey Is a separate Indian. But certainly this maise didn't happen before, didn't happen after. To be sure, there are sometimes donkeys that speak. Perhaps, but not this language, not this story. But I'm going to do this. Why? So that Bilam might might be able to come back. I cannot take away his choice. He will make his choice. But through his choices, I will be present with constant reminders and opportunities to be able to get off your high horse or your high donkey, to be able to climb down the fence, and to be able to come back to sanity, to be able to come back to normalcy. Up to the kach. What do we learn from this? We learn from this one powerful insight. If this is true about Bil'am, how much more so must this must be true about a Jewish child, about any person, Jew or non-Jew, but certainly God's people, God's children, Am Yisrael Kadoshim. We make choices in life. A lot of those choices that we make are not choices in the sense that they are not free because we make choices with the tools that we have. Sometimes we're told no. There is a voice inside that says, "No, you could do better." But I can't hear no. So I take the no and I turn it into a yes. You probably meant yes. Yes for a week, yes for a month, yes for a year. I can always change. We can always do it this way. And the yes and no are not always conscious. They're subconscious sometimes, which is even harder to hear. Who hears a no that's subconscious? And the subconscious, you take the no, you turn it into a yes. But your soul knows the truth. And therefore tomorrow night, you heard yes, but the next day you hear again, "No." But of course, you have to now deny that no, and this time you have to deny the no with much more ferociousness because now that the no has emerged after the yes, you must suppress it with far more strength and dynamite charisma and brilliance in order for it not to swim up again. An alcoholic once told me, he says, "We alcoholics drink to drown our sorrow." Little did we realize that sorrow floats. So as the no emerges back to the top, you really have to punch it down into the depths of the water to be able to make sure it doesn't come back. So, you will beat that donkey once and twice and three times. You will threaten to kill it. The donkey will speak to you. And you think you would be woken up, but if you are invested in your story, in your trauma, in your patterns, in your addictions, no no is enough to hear. Whoops. No no. No no. No no is powerful enough to be able to get you. The angel speaks to you. The soul speaks to you, but I am still adamant. And nonetheless, God will be there. Throughout this entire journey of yourself or your loved ones, God will be there. He'll be there constantly. He is the one who set up the angel. He is the one who set up the donkey. He is the one who allowed the donkey to hear. He to see He's allowed the donkey to speak. He is the one who allowed Balaam to see the angel. And at the end, Balaam wakes up and says, "So, we're going back." God says, "Now you have a different path." There's no going back. You have been down this path. Now is the art of transformation. Now you're going to have to take your trauma, your pain, your addictions, your lies, your dysfunction, your void and transform it into blessings. And from this, the greatest poetry and prose will be written for the Jewish people, including the only verses that we have in Chumash. Not the only, but the most explicit and elaborate verses about the Geulah, about Mashiach. Because all redemption is ultimately the transformation of Golus into Geulah, exile into redemption. The difference between Golus and Geulah is one letter. Golus is Gimel Vav Lamed Hey. Geulah is Gimel Aleph Vav Lamed Hey. What's the difference between exile and redemption? It's exactly the same thing. There's just an Aleph inside. Aleph is the consciousness of the divine, the ability to be able to look at any situation and see it from an olive perspective. And then the very reality becomes transformed, not by changing the circumstances or the facts. Every story can be re-experienced from a different angle. Every crisis is transformed into an opportunity. Every downfall into a catalyst and springboard for renewal and rejuvenation. Every abyss into a gaze into infinity. And every single mistake into a complete new discovery of the depths of human potential and the depths of human choice. Every disruption of normal activity or disassociation of normal life becomes a new level of appreciation in the gifts of life, the gifts of communication, and the gifts of relationship. God is teaching us a lesson. For a man like Balaam, I prepared 2 and 1/2 thousand years earlier, a mouth of a donkey, to be able to walk with him in his abyss and help him come back. Are you going to tell me that there is any Jew that is not worth spending time, energy, resources in order to be able to go down into his or her challenges and pitfalls and sublimate them? Sometimes a person says, "I tried once. I tried twice. I TRIED THREE TIMES. FORGET IT. Write them off. Throw them out of your house. Throw them out of THE COMMUNITY. GIVE UP ON THEM. THEY WANT TO DESTROY THEIR LIFE, LET them destroy their life." Look how God behaves with Balaam. And trust me, your child ain't no Balaam. He never wants to curse the Jewish people. He doesn't want to see the Jewish people dead. He ain't no Bill up. Is that you the Shakin? Look at him. I told you no. So you hear yes. I told you no. You hear yes. I send you a donkey once, twice, three times. A angel not think. I'm not going to stop. I'm going to go with you. And I'm going to prepare this two and a half thousand years in advance. When Shabbos is about to come and I DON'T WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT. GOT TO THINK about Bill up. Who wants to think about Bill up? I rush a marusha so nice one at the end he didn't do true that. He didn't even do true that guy. He went it the blessings came out but he he himself never did true that. Nonetheless, this was God's plan for him. So when it comes to another person a loved one, a student, a child, or not even a child or a loved one, not even somebody you know. But when you're dealing with a soul, any soul never mind I you do shine a sham up on which God says but I'm out of my sham like a ham. One ought to never ever ever say you made such horrible choices. I detach from you. The choices may have been destructive. You may be very critical of those choices. Unconditional love doesn't mean uncritical love. But it does mean I will not sever the cords. I will not run away to China emotionally. I will not expel you and I will not sever the relationship between you and me forever. I will be there. And I know that one day the curses will be transformed into blessings. But only if I'm there. And I'm ready to shake the world including make donkey speak. To the best of our ability of making donkey speak, I don't think we can do it as efficiently as God. But the no amount of energy or time or mental space or resources should ever be spared of bringing a soul back to its true core to its true essence, to its father in heaven. If this is what God did for Balaam Harasha it sets a a template, a paradigm of what our relationship should be. If you would ask most parents what is the greatest joy that somebody can do for you? Right? Probably most parents will tell you if they have a son or a daughter who has been geographically Shalom lost or emotionally lost or spiritually lost and somebody goes and takes this boy and daughter and brings back this child to the parents physically or emotionally practically or spiritually there's probably few joys that could compare to the delight and the gratitude and the eternal debt that the parents will feel to this person. Even though there's many things you can do for people, but probably this is the single greatest thing you can do for a healthy, functional, loving father and mother. If this is true with human parents, think how much true this is with Hashem, with our father and mother in heaven. All the great things you can do in life, there's nothing that comes close to reaching out and touching the heart of a child of God and bringing that child back to himself or back to herself and back to their father and mother in heaven. This is the greatest joy, so profound that 2 and 1/2 thousand years before it happened, right before Shabbos comes in, God says we can't start Shabbos if we don't create the mouth of a donkey to be able to teach for eternity a lesson that I will make the donkey speak just to reach out even to a human being and help him find his path back to his true soul. Have a wonderful week. This class is brought to you by the Yeshiva.net. Please help us continue the classes. Make even a small contribution at www.theyeshiva.net/donate.