Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend
in Karmiel"
June 25th 2021 -Volume 11 Issue 37 16th
Tamuz 5781
Parshat Balak
Look Who's Talking
Never having been in the situation, I can’t be certain, but I imagine the typical reaction would range anywhere from utter shock and disbelief to the immediate scheduling of a psychiatric evaluation. After all- that just doesn’t happen; cars simply aren’t supposed to talk. One reaction that seems unthinkable (if not a bit amusing) would be to calmly reply to the verbose vehicle and engage it in conversation, even in an argument.
We chuckle at the thought, and yet this very scenario plays itself in this week's Torah portion, Parshat Balak. Bilaam, prophet of the Nations mounted his donkey on an ill-fated mission to curse the Jewish people. Upon his hitting the animal in an attempt to move it along, the donkey begins talking to Bilaam. Animal linguists are not common in the Torah, and this was obviously a highly unusual occurrence; if ever someone was intended to get a message from something, it was Bilaam from his talking donkey. Yet Bilaam seems to take this strange turn of events pretty much in stride. He actually begins talking back to his donkey, and the conversation continues for a bit. “What was he thinking?” we exclaim. “Didn’t he realize Hashem was trying to tell him something?”
Well, Bilaam may have missed the message, but in the process he imparted another one to us. When we are driven to prove a point, too often nothing in the world can stand in our way- not logic, proof or even a talking donkey. Bilaam had made up his mind to curse the Jewish nation (a bad decision, incidentally) and he was no longer open to suggestions or messages. It may sound absurd from a distance, but after closer analysis and introspection, I think it becomes less absurd and more telling. Once wrapped up in being right, ego becomes an all-consuming force, pushing us blindly ahead and trampling logic, reason and truth in the process.
So what was the message Bilaam missed? As we noted earlier, animals do not talk with any regularity, and the Torah is hardly replete with such events. If God indeed opened the mouth of Bilaam’s donkey and allowed it to address its owner, there was clearly something significant being expressed. I believe the message he was sharing was, that as much as we may try to ignore the fact, we aren’t actually all that different than animals.
The Kuzari, a classic medieval work of Jewish philosophy and thought identifies four basic levels of existence: the inanimate object (your average, everyday rock), things that grow (i.e. flowers, grass), the animal kingdom and mankind. Perched atop this pyramid of creation, it is tempting to look down and count the many ways in which we feel superior to those just below. Before getting carried away however, it’s worth reading a bit further in the Kuzari’s words to the part where he describes what it is that defines our advantage. The primary gift we have above and beyond animals, birds and fish is (drum roll, please) speech. We can talk and they can’t. In fact, this fourth level of existence is referred to as Medabrim, those that speak. When Onkelos (an ancient Aramaic translation and commentary on the Torah) defines the words back in Beiereishis “And He blew into them the spirit of life,” he says “and He made them speaking beings.”
Apparently, speech is no mere talent or human trick; it is the very gift that defines our existence. Take away that gift and we begin a slippery descent down that hierarchy of levels. Next stop: the Animal Kingdom. And suddenly, the episode of the talking donkey is so profound. After all, where was Bilaam heading at the time? To curse the Jews and thereby utilize his God-given gift of speech for all the wrong purposes. Before this is allowed to happen, Bilaam’s donkey turns to him and essentially makes the point,
“Look what you’re about to become! As a human being your inherent advantage over us animals is the ability to speak. By violating and defiling that ability, you will become exactly this- a talking animal!”
If our potential greatness as people is defined through our capacity for speech, then our very humanity is on the line every time we utter a sentence. Quite a challenge, but also quite an opportunity. Speech can be corrupted in so many ways, causing us to lose our footing at the top of that pyramid of creation. At the same time, perhaps nothing else has more potential to cement our position there.
Maybe the donkey is trying to tell us something after all.
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
**************
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" An aizel derkent men bei di langeh oi’eren, a nar bei der
longer tsung." You can
recognize a donkey by his long ears, a fool by his long tongue.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
34)
The “Rachel Passage” is located in:
A)
In the Binyamin region near Rachel’s Tomb in Binyamin
B)
Ein Keshatot (Umm el-Kanatir)
C)
South of Jerusalem
D)
At the entrance to the Jericho area
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://youtu.be/Oe8KEB_H67A – Hatzala
Vounteers gather in Meron to sing in memory of the fallen K'Rachem Av by Shraga
Gestetner who died in the Meron tragedy.
https://youtu.be/R60IB1fng2A
- Four short stories of the Lubavitcher Rebbi
for his Yartzeit last week. Wow!
Longing Homes and Synagogues – Parshat Balak- I'm in America this past week, and Eretz Yisrael is wearing off of me an I'm homesick. Yet there is a someplace even here in Chutz La'Aretz that is a close second to EY and that is our shuls and Study halls. In this week's Torah portion in perhaps the most quoted blessing of Bila'am we find him failing time and again to curse us and the final blow is when he sees the Jewish peoples tents. He exclaims.
These homes and shuls are waiting the redemption as much as we are. Perhaps even more so. It is perhaps this that amazed Bila'am so much. Not only are the Jewish people waiting for Mashiach. Waiting to uplift the world and come to Eretz Yisrael. But our tents and our shuls also sing ani maamin. Also await the Geula. When he sees this he realizes how truly blessed we are. He know that there is no way to stop us from realizing our dream. What a nation we are that our tents as well share our dreams of moving to Eretz Yisrael.
Q:
What do you call a donkey with one leg and a bad eye ? A: A winkey wonkey
donkey
What
do you call a baby donkey? A burrito.
What
do you call a frightened baby donkey? A chicken burrito.
What
does a donkey do when you tell him a joke? He-ha’s.
What
did the donkey do when he got cut-off? Hee-Hawnked.
Why
didn’t the donkey cross the road? He saw what happened with the zebra… OYYY
Yankel
replies, 'Well then, just give me my money back.'
'Can't do that,' says the farmer, 'I went out and spent it already.'
Yankel
sighs, 'OK just unload the donkey anyway.'
Farouk then asks, 'What are you gonna do with a dead donkey an' that?' I'll
raffle him off,' laughs Yankel.
The farmer exclaimed, 'Aargh, you can't raffle off a dead donkey.'
But
Yankel with a big smile on his face tells Farouk, 'Sure I can. Watch. Just
don't tell anyone the donkey is dead.'
A
month later the farmer Farouk met up with Yankel and asks, 'Whatever
happened to that dead donkey?'
Yankel
answers, 'I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at $2.00 each and made a
huge profit.'
Totally
amazed the farmer Farouk enquires, 'Didn't anyone complain that you had
stolen their money because you lied about the donkey being dead?'
'The
only one who found out about the donkey being dead was the raffle winner,' chuckled Yankel, 'so
when he came to claim his prize I gave him his $2.00 back plus $200.00 extra,
which is double the going value of a dead donkey, so he thought I was a great
fellow.'
*********************************
Answer is C- This was a fairly easy one with one
trick in it. See the truth is the Maavar 300 or Rachel Passage is bey Kever Rachel.
It's near Gilo between Yerushalayim and Beit Lechem. It's not in Yericho or in Ein
Keshatot. So all you have to really know is that Kever Rachel's tomb where we
have it is not in the official Binyamin region, although there are those that
place an alternate Kever Rachel there North of Yerushalayim near Geva Binyamin
called by the Arabs Kever bnai Yisrael. Once you know that then you know the
correct answer is C South of Yerushalayim. So the
score now is 25 for Rabbi Schwartz and 8 for the Ministry of Tourism on this
exam.
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