Thursday, July 14, 2022

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Balak

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

In Bamidbar 22:21, the Torah states וַיָּ֤קָם בִּלְעָם֙ בַּבֹּ֔קֶר וַיַּֽחֲב֖שׁ אֶת־אֲתֹנ֑וֹ - Bilaam got up in the morning and saddled his donkey. Rashi writes that from this we see how much hatred overcomes a person. Bilaam was a wealthy man and had many servants who could have saddled the donkey for him. But due to his overwhelming hatred of the Jews, he did it himself. Hashem calls Bilaam a Rasha for this as Avraham had already demonstrated his enthusiasm for mitzvos by saddling his own donkey, many generations previously.

R' Frand quoted R' Moshe Feinstein who remarked that a Jew needs to be careful in showing his own enthusiasm for mitzvos in comparison with non-Jews. They will get up early in the morning to tailgate outside a stadium or arrive early for a rock concert because they are such fanatical enthusiasts. We must do the same for mitzvos and not complain about having to get up early for davening or Selichos.

R' Frand quoted a vort said over in the name of the Chofetz Chaim (I did not catch the name of the speaker, only that the Alter Zeide was unhappy with the vort) that when Ya'akov said to Esav in Bereishis 32:5 - עִם־לָבָ֣ן גַּ֔רְתִּ which Rashi famously teaches meant that Ya'akov said when he lived with Lavan he did not learn from Esav's evil ways - it was actually a lament. Yaa'kov was saying - I saw Lavan and his enthusiasm for making money, but I did not learn from him and do mitzvos with the same fervor.

R' Frand said a second vort on Bilaam's apology in Bamidbar 22:35 where he states that he sinned because he did not realize the angel was in the road. He quoted the Shelah who asked - why was there a reason to apologize? If he did not realize the angel was there what did he do wrong that required an apology? The Shelah answers that a person will have an event occur which is clearly from Hashem and a message to him. Hashem allowed the donkey to speak, but Bilaam did not contemplate the miraculous nature of the incident and instead engaged in a conversation with the donkey. The fact that he did not stop and realize that there was a message from Hashem being sent through this miracle was the reason that he needed to apologize.

R' Frand closed the vort by quoting the Chofetz Chaim who observed that there are no gaps (pesuchos or stumos) in the parsha. Chazal teach that these were present generally to give Moshe an opportunity to stop and contemplate what he was being taught. But not here - this was all a straight miracle that Hashem had saved the Jews from Bilaam's plot, so there was not a reason for him to stop in the middle and think about it.

Yet Bilaam himself did not draw a lesson from this as at the end of the parsha, Bilaam returns to his land and his evil ways...

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