מה ה' דורש ממך? Moral Lessons From an Unexpected Prophet s בלעם failed attempts to describes the prophet פרשת בלק curse the Jews. The ספורנו comments that the whole story of,בלעם in particular the narrative with the donkey 1, is designed to teach us about recognizing the signs that are right in front of us 2. Of course, the question begs to be asked, exactly what signs are we talking about and what are the lessons that we can learn from them? Perhaps we can gain some insight from the fact that the one of the,ספר מיכה comes from the end of פרשת בלק chosen for הפטרה books of the עשר נביאים.תרי What is the connection between מיכה and?בלעם the story of 3 :פסוק ends with a very well known and oft quoted הפטרה The.הגיד לך אדם מה טוב ומה ה דורש ממך כי אם לעשות משפט ואהבת חסד והצנע לכת עם אלוקך This פסוק actually reflects s בלעם transition in בלק,פרשת and represents each of his ברכות to ישראל.בני Let us analyze each section of.פסוק this that the הגיד לך אדם מה טוב ומה ה ' דורש ממך 4 רש comments "י reason behind Hashem giving the גוים a נביא was so they wouldn t be,בני ישראל able to claim that they would have been as righteous as 1 במדבר כב:כא-מא ספורנו במדבר כב:בח - ויפתח ה' את פי האתון.נתן בה כח לדבר, כענין "ה' שפתי תפתח" (תהלים נא: יז), וכל זה היה כדי שיתעורר בלעם לשוב בתשובה, בזכרו כי מה' מענה לשון גם לבלתי מוכן, כל שכן שיוכל להסירו מן המוכן כרצונו, וכל זה כדי שלא יאבד איש כמוהו. 3 מיכה ו:ח. 4 רש"י שם ה ד"ה "ארץ בני עמו"-...כדי שלא יהי פתחון פה לעובדי כוכבים לומר אילו היו לנו נביאים חזרנו למוטב 2 49
50 had they only had נביא through whom they could communicate with God. Rav Yaakov Weinberg in his ספר קול יעקב points out that even if they had a נביא they could have complained. They could נביא have claimed that he wasn t good enough, saying, if we had a נביא as great as Moshe we would have been righteous, but with a like בלעם we have no real chance! Apparently, though, it must be that בלעם was an extremely wise and righteous person if he was able to receive נבואה altogether. But once he became a prophet, he became corrupt in his power and fell under the circumstances. That, according to the aforementioned "י,רש was what Hashem was telling the nations I will give you a prophet because that is what you think you want and he will be the best of the best, but you will see that he will crack under the pressure. If you are given a test that you are not capable of handling, you will become corrupt. The 5 explains that הגיד לך אדם מה טוב means לך,טוב good מלבי "ם for you. I, Hashem, will give you all that is good for you and what ומה ה ' דורש you are capable of handling in order to best accomplish and the other nations missed,בלק,בלעם you. that which I ask of,ממך this very important message: There are many things that we wish we had, a big house, a shiny car, a lot of money. However, if we were to attain these things, would it make us better people, or would it corrupt us? Hashem knows what we can handle and what will help us best serve Him. In לך לך,פרשת Hashem told Avraham לך,לך go for yourself, for your own sake - what is good for you to best serve Me. 6 While it was daunting to pick up and leave, Avraham understood that Hashem knew this would be good for him, and therefore, he went. We have to appreciate what Hashem gives us and trust that it will.עבודת ה ' true guide us towards 5 מלבי"ם מיכה ו,ח ד"ה "הגיד לך וגו'" 6 רש"י בראשית יב:א ד"ה "לך לך"- להנאתך ולטובתך
Moral Lessons from an Unexpected Prophet 51 כי אם לעשות משפט ואהבת חסד,פי האתון is the story of the פרשה One of the strangest parts of the when the donkey speaks to.בלעם According to "י,רש at the completion of the whole episode, Hashem killed the donkey in order to preserve the honor of.בלעם 7 Rav Chaim Shmulevitz 8 explains that at the moment when בלעם finally saw the,מלאך he understood that the donkey was more קדוש then he was, for it was able to see the מלאך before בלעם could. Hashem goes to such great lengths to preserve the כבוד even of evil individuals, including that of בלעם who was on the path to curse the Jews. Yet, Hashem is trying to teach us a very important lesson- if we need to be respectful of the כבוד and feelings of those that hate us as בלעם did, then וחומר,קל how much more so do we have to be careful with the dignity of our friends. רד "ק The 9 explains that what Hashem truly wants from us is to do good, that the phrase הגיד לך אדם מה טוב ומה ה' דורש ממך is not a question but a statement- I am asking for you to do good things מצות as all of the משפט and to be good people. He explains the word the laws of money. The,דיני ממונות including,בין אדם לחבירו אהבת חסד and,דין as משפט explains 10 גמרא as חסדים.גמילות When בלעם ultimately arrived with intention to curse them, he ended up blessing them for the first time. In the,ברכה he said: כי מראש צורים אראנו from its 7 רש"י במדבר כב:לג, ד"ה "ואותה החייתי" ועתה מפני שדברה והוכיחתך ולא יכולת לעמוד בתוכחתה כמו שכתוב ויאמר לא, הרגתיה שלא יאמרו זו היא שסלקה את בלעם בתוכחתה ולה יכול להשיב, שחס המקום על כבוד הבריות. 8 שיחות מוסר פרשת בלק 9 רד"ק מיכה ו,ח-"הגיד לך וגו'- זהו מענה על השאלה אמר אין חפצי בעולות כי אם בעשות הטוב הנה שמוע מזבח טוב. סוכה מט: - דאמר רבי אלעזר: מאי דכתיב (מיכה ו) הגיד לך אדם מה טוב ומה ה' דורש ממך כי אם עשות משפט ואהבת חסד והצנע לכת עם אלהיך. עשות משפט - זה הדין, ואהבת חסד - זו גמילות חסדים, והצנע לכת עם אלהיך - זו הוצאת המת והכנסת כלה לחופה. והלא דברים קל וחומר: ומה דברים שדרכן לעשותן בפרהסיא - אמרה תורה הצנע לכת, דברים שדרכן לעשותן בצנעא - על אחת כמה וכמה. 10
52 origins, I see it rock-like. 11 רש "י explains it as seeing ישראל s בני strong and established roots like rocks in the ground, planted by the מעשים of the בלעם.אבות ואמהות began to understand that our roots are founded in our ancestors, and the legacy they left behind- that of גבורה,גמילות חסדים and אמת (corresponding to,אברהם,יצחק and.(יעקב If was able to see it, then we, too, have to learn the lessons of בלעם.אברהם, יצחק, ויעקב our heritage to serve Hashem like והצנע לכת עם ה' אלוקיך and both times בני ישראל attempted twice more to curse בלעם he failed. However, something extremely significant changed be-. רמב "ן tween the second and third attempts, as explained by the נבואה s בלעם Prior to the third try 13, the language used to describe was,ויקר and he happened upon him. This denotes a removed state of,נבואה one that is transient and void of any sort of real relationship with.ה,בלעם being a great sorcerer, thought he would be able to use magic in order to take advantage of the moment of Hashem s anger to curse the Jews; however, he stated in his second blessing 14, לא נחש ביעקב,כי there is no sorcery in Jacob, and he realized that his plan had no chance of success. Therefore, at the beginning of the third blessing 15, it says וישת אל המדבר פניו he set his face to the wilderness and opened himself up to the prophecy that Hashem wanted to give over to him. Now, for the first time in 12 11 רש"י בלק כג:ט "כי מראש צורים אראנו"- אני מסתכל בראשיתם ובתחלת שרשיהם, ואני רואה אותם מיוסדים וחזקים כצורים וגבעות הללו ע"י אבות ואמהות: 12 רמב"ן בלק כד:א "ולא הלך כפעם בפעם לקראת נחשים"- כי בפעמים הראשונים היה מנחש ורוצה לקלל אותם בנחש, והיה השם בא אליו בדרך מקרה, לא בכונתו לנבואה ולא ממעלתו שהגיע אליה. ועתה כאשר נאמר לו כי לא נחש ביעקב ולא קסם בישראל להרע או להטיב להם, הניח הנחשים ולא הלך כפעם בפעם לקראתם, אבל שם אל המדבר פניו אשר ישראל שם, שיראה אותם ויכין להם נפשו שיחול עליו הדבור מאת השם כאשר עשה עמו פעמים 13 במדבר כד: א 14 שם כג:כג 15 שם כד:א
Moral Lessons from an Unexpected Prophet 53 his life, Hashem didn t just happen upon him, but rather He.נבואה appeared to him in His full glory to give over the It is in this moment of submission to Hashem and the realization of His greatness and Ultimate power that we can glean a lesson from this narrative. אברבנאל 16 explains that והצנע לכת means that a person s faith in Hashem has to be pure, simple and without question. בלעם was trying to fight back, attempting to curse the Jews again and again. He was slowly learning his lesson, but it wasn t until this moment, when he set his face to the wilderness to allow Hashem completely in, that he understood without question that Hashem is the Ultimate God. It was then that he was able to look out onto the camp of בני ישראל and utter those famous words - how great are the tents of Jacob, for the people,מה טובו אוהלך יעקב who dwell inside have accepted Hashem into their lives and have vowed to abide by לכת עם אלוקך,והצנע to walk in the ways of Hashem. They have made their tents into a place of ultimate service to Hashem; in the face of the hardships of the desert they still have.אמונה That is the final lesson to us from בלעם and from the words of.מיכה We should strive for our faith to be simple, pure and without question. Sometimes we can get so wrapped up in the meaning, or in finding the connection to Hashem through intellectual pursuits that we can lose focus. It is important to delve into learning and to understanding the reasons behind the מצוות on some level, but first and foremost, we must strive to fulfill the words הלכת עם אלוקך,הצנע meaning, to follow in His ways because that s the true way to grow close to Him. It is with this foundation תורה to build houses of זוכה that we will be אמונה וביטחון of ultimate.מה טובו אוהליך יעקב that will be worthy of the words We have yet to answer one question: why did בלק go through all of this trouble to curse the Jews? What was he so afraid of that he hired בלעם to curse the Jews in the first place? 16 אברבנל מיכה ו:ח "והצנע לכת"
54 Furthermore, if he was truly scared, why not just wage war against them with bows and arrows as opposed to attacking them with words? 17 explains that he wanted to curse them because he רש "י wanted to use their most powerful tool against them. Our most powerful tool is speech words are what we use to call out to Hashem. Therefore, he wanted to use that power against us. Yet, we are still left with the question of what was he so afraid of? The שם משמואל 18 explains that בלעם wasn t seeking to destroy ארץ us physically, rather, he wanted to stop us from entering into world, The Jews mission is to imbue spirituality into the.ישראל and the ultimate manifestation of that goal is in ישראל,ארץ where the physical and the spiritual meet. If we are able to bring in spirituality, then all the nations will be influenced to do the same. It was אברהם אבינו who introduced Hashem into the world, the one who brought Him down to us first and brought spirituality into Israel. בלק was afraid to leave everything behind; he thrived in ארץ would reach בני ישראל materialism and the physical world, and if him. and complete their mission, then that would be lost for ישראל In the desert they weren t a threat to him he could let them live their spiritual lives, as long as they were out in the מדבר in their.ארץ ישראל tents. Therefore, he had to stop them from reaching In the cycle of life, we often have to sacrifice to achieve our ideals. As Jews, we forfeit our Saturdays to celebrate,שבת we give up pork, and the ability to eat milk and meat together. If we let the inconvenience of living without those things hinder our observance of תורה and,מצוות we will be stuck. Unfortunately, the 17 רש"י בלק כב,ד - "אל זקני מדין" והלא מעולם היו שונאים זה את זה, שנאמר (בראשית לו, לה) המכה את מדין בשדה מואב, שבאו מדין על מואב למלחמה. אלא מיראתן של ישראל עשו שלום ביניהם. ומה ראה מואב ליטול עצה ממדין, כיון שראו את ישראל נוצחים שלא כמנהג העולם, אמרו מנהיגם של אלו במדין נתגדל, נשאל מהם מה מדתו. אמרו לו אין כחו אלא בפיו. אמרו אף אנו נבא עליהם באדם שכחו בפיו: 18 שם משמואל פרשת בלק
Moral Lessons from an Unexpected Prophet 55 מואבי to be with the בני ישראל were able to tempt the men of מואבים women. The men let their יצר הרע overcome them, and they weren t willing to sacrifice everything for Hashem.,מי מנה עפר יעקב s בלעם first blessing 19, he said However, in who has counted the dust of.יעקב The מדרש 20 explains this phrase to mean that everyone treads on the dust, but ultimately it s that dust that will triumph over them all. We are constantly being tread.יצר הרע on by the other nations of the world, and even by our own They are sometimes able to leave a small footprint, but the nature of dust and of dirt is that the footprints are temporary and can be covered up. We can rise above those that have tread upon us and כי מציון says, it מיכה of פרק ד ' In have attempted to make marks on us. If we follow in the ways.ארץ ישראל will come from תורה that,תצא תורה,הגיד לך אדם מה טוב ומה ה' דורש ממךof of Hashem, and we listen to the calls and we build those יעקב,אוהלי we will be able to imbue spirituality into the world, and ultimately, תורה will be flowing out of every corner of ציון to the rest of the world. 19 במדבר כג:י במדבר רבה (וילנא) פרשה ב ד"ה יג ד"א והיה הם משולים כעפר מה עפר הארץ עשוי דייש לכל באי עולם כך ישראל עשוים דייש לאומות העולם 20