BS"D
ARCHITECTURAL
ASTONISHMENT: PARSHAT BALAK
Shira Smiles shiur 2022/5782
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Our
Sages tell us that Hashem gave the gentile nations a prophet of the same
caliber and potential as Moshe Rabbenu. He was indeed so famous for his
prophecy and the power of his words that Balak, King of Moav, hired him to
curse Bnei Yisroel to prevent them from entering Eretz Yisroel. However, when
prophesying, a prophet can only transmit the words Hashem puts into his mouth.
so, although the Prophet Bilaam wanted to curse Bnei Yisroel, the words that
came out were blessings.
Interestingly,
Bilaam's third attempt to curse Bnei Yisroel resulted in an iconic verse that
we use as part of our opening prayer every morning upon entering the shul: מה טובו
אהליך יעקב משכנתיך ישראל/"How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling place,
O Israel." Our Sages saw such deep meaning in this verse that it became a
prominent mantra.
Before
beginning this curse/blessing, Bilaam calls himself "the man with
the open eye." However, an open eye merely sees, but does not interpret. Pirkei
Avot understands the psychology of what one sees. While disciples of
Avraham Avinu have a "good, positive eye," the disciples of Bilaam,
having learned from Bilaam, have an evil eye. It is one's heart and one's mind
that determine whether what one sees will be positive or negative. The basis of
his negative eye was another one of Bilaam's characteristics, his haughty
spirit. What changed that caused Bilaam now to change his perception and view
Bnei Yisroel positively, to praise their living arrangements?
Rashi
notes that from this new vantage point, Bilaam now saw that the tents were
organized so that no person could look into the tent of another and invade
their privacy, even inadvertently. The tents were aligned so that no door faced
the door of his neighbor. After all, as Rabbi Rivlin notes the ohel/tent
was not only a place of living, but also the place of intimacy. Bnei Yisroel
carried this inner modesty with them when they went down to Mitzrayim, guarded
it throughout their long enslavement, and retained it when they were freed and
headed toward Eretz Yisroel. Yosef was the paradigm of this modesty throughout
his youth in Mitzrayim. Yosef was such a magnificently handsome man that women
would throw things at him, hoping he would look up at them [Think fans at a
rock concert lehavdil.] Yet Yosef's eyes remained averted, writes Rabbi
Rivlin. Hence, Yosef was immune to the ayin hara, and the Jews following
in his lead, were likewise immune from Bilam’s ayin hara as well.
Bilaam
was referencing both men and women in this vision. The ohel/tent refers
to the modesty of the women, for when the angels visited Avraham Avinu and
inquired about Sarah, his wife, Avraham told them that she is [modestly] in the
tent. Further, when Moshe ascended Sinai to receive the Torah, Hashem
instructed him leimor/to say [gently] to Beis Yaakov/The house of Yaakov
and tagid liVnei Yisroel/relate [more harshly] to Bnei Yisroel. As Rashi
explains, the gentle dialogue is for the women, while the harsher instruction
is for the men.
The
Ohr Doniel notes that parental focus on tziniut/modesty helps raise children
that are God fearing and talmidei chachamim/learned in Torah. Perhaps that is
why, as the Chayei Moshe notes, this is the only part of all Bilaam's
oracles that is written in second person, "Your tents..."
The
layout of the camp was not haphazard, but specifically organized to
prevent
improper observation. The men were fully cognizant of human frailty and
sought
ways to block temptation. Curiosity is human, writes Rabbi Pincus,
therefore
train yourself not to peak into open doors or windows as you pass, or
into cars
(other than to smile), or snoop around what may be embarrassing
situations, such as police stops. Most important, don't ever share
secrets.
While
we tend to think of tziniut/modesty as referring to one's manner of
dress, it is important to realize that tziniut extends to all aspects of
life, to anything that can be considered private, especially correspondence.
Rabbi Walters cites Rabbenu Gershom's ban on reading someone else's mail, and
today, we can include that to include emails and text messages. Since halachic
decisors agree that one needs permission from both the sender and the recipient
to read the mail, whether on paper or electronically, one generally may not
read discarded letters as one seldom has permission from both parties. Emails
often contain confidential information. Do you have permission to forward that
email to others? However, when one suspects illegal or dangerous activity
between the corresponding parties, one is permitted to read the correspondence
and take appropriate action as a preventative measure.
Basically,
in spite of changing social norms, we, as Jews, we must maintain our sense of
modesty and bashfulness, our need for privacy. It was this realization that
stunned Bilaam.
Having
each tribe and each family facing a different direction also reinforced the
idea that everyone had his own unique mission and should not look into the
affairs of another, writes Rabbi Chafetz, citing the Saba of Slabodka. We can
learn this from Tehillim 137:7-9. After the verse states that
Hashem made the great luminaries, the following verses then designate how the
sun rules by day and the moon by night, each recognizing its own purpose and
proper place.
Bilaam
never saw anything that someone else had that he didn't desire for himself.
When he looks down at Bnei Yisroel, he encounters something strange. For the
first time, he sees an entire nation who distances themselves from anything
that doesn't belong to them, writes Chochmat Hamatzpun. He suddenly
realizes how base he is and how exalted they are. Bilaam's eye is a desirous
eye. Seeing something creates a desire, often followed by action, properly or
not, to get what you desire. The sun and the moon each remained in their
respective domains, and each was content.
The
layout of the camp was not only to guard privacy, but also to protect against
jealousy, writes Rabbi Rabinowitz in Tiv Hatorah. Comparing oneself to
others is extremely destructive. One must understand that Hashem has given each
of us exactly what is best for each of us.
Rebbetzin
Smiles presented a wonderful analogy. When she was waiting for her luggage at
the airport carousel, she asked her daughter if she should pick up the purple
suitcase. After all, it was much prettier than her own black one. Her daughter
wisely told her, "Ima, nothing in that suitcase would fit you. It
belongs to someone else."
Before
Bilaam begins this prophecy, the Torah states that, "The spirit of Hashem
was upon him." While Rashi explains this to mean that Hashem rested His
spirit on Bilaam so that "Bilaam could receive the prophecy, the Ohr
Hachaim interprets this to mean that Hashem rested His spirit on Bnei
Yisroel to protect them from Bilaam's evil eye. Because Bnei Yisroel protected
their eyes from seeing inappropriate things, Hashem protected them from the
evil eyes of Bilaam.
What
protected Yosef Hatzdik from the evil eye? If we examine every interaction and
dialogue Yosef has, we will note that he takes no credit for anything. He
attributes all his skills to Hakodosh Boruch Hu and dedicates everything to
Hashem's service, writes Rav Ber. If we develop the same attitude, we will
protect ourselves from the influence of the evil eye.
Just
as each of the tribes had its own special space as Bnei Yisroel encamped, so
did each tribe have its own window for their prayers to reach heaven Therefore,
it is customary to build twelve windows into the architecture of every shul, continues
the Chayei Moshe, citing the Arizal.
In
Avnei Ephod, Rabbi Friedman gives another reason for Bilaam's literal
change of perspective. One of Bilaam's arguments was that Bnei Yisroel were
merely copying each other in their service to Hashem. When he saw that they
could not be copying each other because they could not see what anyone else was
doing, Bilaam realized that each was serving Hashem in his own way.
When
Yitzchak prayed for a child opposite his wife Rivkah and Hashem answered
Yitzchak's prayers, Rashi comments that the prayers of a tzadik who is also the
son of a tzadik is more powerful than the prayers of a first generation tzadik.
Rav Dessler here explains that a tzadik the son of a tzadik is one who is a
tzadik in his own right, following his own unique path, not following the exact
steps of his father. Every tribe has its own greatness, as does every
individual, writes Rabbi Mintzberg. Even in areas of spirituality, find your
own path and don't blindly follow others.
On
Rosh Hashanah, although our combined prayers are powerful, we nevertheless pass
before Hashem kivnei maron/as individuals, with our own unique
qualities, emotions and character, writes Rabbi Wolbe. When we do a mitzvah,
are we accessing our unique focus and emotions in its performance? Just as
Hashem is singular, so did He create each of us in His image, as individuals.
In the very first of the Ten Utterances at Sinai, Hashem speaks to each of us
as individuals: "I am Hashem Elokhecha/your [second person
singular] God Who hotzeisicha/has taken you [second person singular] out
of Egypt..." Tap into your uniqueness and be comfortable with who you are.
Appreciate the silence of listening to your inner voice. "How goodly are
your tents," each of you is an individual.
Rabbi
Druck Takes Rashi's comment in yet another direction. When Rashi says the
openings of their tents did not face each other, Rabbi Druck understands this
on a metaphysical level. From Shir Hashirim, we hear Hashem
knocking on our door, "Open up for me...," which our chazal
then elucidate, "Open for me a small opening like the eye of a needle, and
I will open up for you openings wide enough for wagons and chariots to go
through." The opening to our hearts is tiny, but Hashem helps us with a
large opening. He bears witness to our desire to do teshuvah. Hashem sees those
moments and helps us even before we are aware of it ourselves. The
‘openings’ are not aligned.
As
human beings, we are prone to make mistakes and even experience constant
failure in our attempts at doing teshuvah. The process may seem hopeless. But
Rabbi Freifeld assures us that we should not be discouraged. Since teshuvah
predates creation, it does not follow the probabilities of this world. We can
always break into the power of teshuvah and harness its power, even after
multiple previous failures. We can regenerate and recreate ourselves.
Rebbetzin
Smiles related the incident involving a barber in Bnei Brak whose store was
vandalized. Everything of value was stolen. But when the barber returned and
checked his drawer, he noticed that miraculously the money he had collected for
tzedakah was intact. In the salvaging of that particular item of value, the
barber saw the hand of God and proclaimed Hashem's praises.
Several
months later, a man with a beard, looking very religious, approached the barber
and confessed to being the thief who had vandalized the shop. He admitted that
he had not seen the envelope or he would have taken that as well. However,
witnessing the barber's reaction and faith in Hashem, the thief started on a
path of teshuvah, and was now a fully observant Jew.
Even
a thief was able to put a positive spin on what he had seen. He could easily
have ridiculed the barber for being so happy at what was saved, albeit the
envelope with money was designated for tzedakah. Instead he used the barber's
reaction as the impetus to returning to a life devoted to Hashem. If a thief
can see with a positive eye and transform himself, how much more so should we
train ourselves to see the world and the people around us with a positive eye.