". . . because you have mocked me. Had I a sword in my hand,
I would kill you" (Bamidbor 22:28).
One of the obvious questions in this portion is the fact that
Bilaam answered his donkey and carried on a discussion with
it when it began talking. Not only did he maintain his wits
in the face of this astonishing phenomenon, but he reacted as
if it were the normal procedure, a dialogue between two
equals in which he must keep his end up.
Rabbenu Bechaye deals with this: "Bilaam should rightfully
have been stunned by this wondrous thing of a donkey
speaking. He should have been shaken by this miracle and
gathered all the wayfarers along the road [to show them]. He
should have asked himself why Hashem chose to do this thing,
and realized that it was designed to prevent him from
carrying out his evil schemes. He should have laid aside his
plans and drawn the proper conclusions. But being of a cruel
and evil nature, and of a determined mind to proceed as
planned, he related to this occurrence in simplistic fashion
and naively answered the animal as he would have spoken to a
fellow man: `Because you mocked me . . .' "
This goes to show the depths of a person's inner powers. When
the will is strong enough, it can blind a person's eyes and
intellect completely. "Out of his strong desire to proceed,
he took the matter as a common occurrence." A person's
determination transforms the impossible to the probable. An
intelligent person is capable of ignoring something
altogether extraordinary, as every other person would
consider it, and regarding it as commonplace, or as he
conveniently chooses to see it.
HaRav Mordechai Pogramonsky zt'l points to the wide
implication of this phenomenon, which actually includes an
entire weltanschauung. One does not see beyond what
one wishes to see. Whatever one is not prepared internally to
grasp, one simply does not see. Furthermore, one will derive
proofs from every direction to uphold one's viewpoint!
In a lengthy and intricate essay (in the centennial yearbook
of Yeshivas Telz) under the title "The Intellect of the Torah
and the Intellect of Man," the following is written in his
name: "Creation has a dual nature; it can be viewed from two
sides. Either as it is in reality, or in a completely
opposite manner. Man sees the world as his mind interprets
it. And this is how he lives and how his outlook is formed.
The Torah tells us that when Hashem punished Egypt and smote
their gods, He left Baal Tzephon. Rashi explains that this
was to mislead Pharaoh and to cause him to pursue the Jews
into the sea. Pharaoh was convinced that this proved that
Baal Tzephon was mightier than Hashem, as it were. The
Israelites, on the other hand, interpreted this correctly as
a profound gambit to cause Pharaoh's ultimate downfall,
through measure for measure.
"One who is able to see depths in Creation cannot help but
realize that there is a Master to the world, just as one must
realize that every living creature is imbued with life. In
fact, the only existence possible in anything in Creation is
directly connected to its anchorage in Hashem, the G-d of
Truth. Reality is measured through a creation's connection to
Hashem. It follows that whoever does not possess in the
depths of its soul an acknowledgement of the Creator, cannot
possibly see other creations in any manner that has
meaning.
"The fact that atheists are able to see creations, in spite
of their denying the Creator, as it were, results from
figmenting their own minds and imaginations. For, as we have
stated, the world has its own manner of enabling a person to
see exactly the opposite of the truth — of seeing what
he wishes to see.
"We must understand how this very world, of which we acclaim,
`How mighty are Your works, Hashem; how deep are Your
thoughts,' can also operate with a man who is so myopic that
he fails to see any greatness or depth in it. Bilaam should
have been elevated to heights and depths of recognition of
the Creator.
"Chazal revealed to us that the reason is that man simply
does not view Creation as it is, only as he chooses to
interpret it. And if he, himself, is devoid of any greatness
and is totally narrow-minded, then his interpretation of the
world is also severely limited to the extent that he fails to
see the `Greatness of Your works.' For when he does come to
the realization of Hashem's greatness, and realizes how
limited his vision and understanding is of that depth, then `
. . . and they fell upon their faces and declared: `Hashem is
Elokim!'
"This comes because of the refusal to expand one's
understanding in order to encompass that greatness. It is
man's will to remain at his own level and to misinterpret
that greatness, to tailor it to his own limited, meager
powers of understanding."
*
Maran HaRav Shach zt"l said similar things regarding a
statement in maseches Succah (49) and Chagigah
(3): "`How comely are your footsteps in sandals, O prince's
daughter' — This refers to the daughter of Avrohom
Ovinu, who is called a prince."
Rashi explains why he is called a prince, nodiv,
"Because his heart prompted him to recognize his Creator. He
asks if such recognition is connected to magnanimity of
heart. We learn from the Midrash how Avrohom came to
realize that there was a Creator. He saw the world and its
marvelous workings and concluded that there must be a Master
hand behind everything. It couldn't be otherwise because
things don't just run themselves. This is an intellectual
conclusion that draws upon proper sight and insight, from
seeing things in their true light. Why then, do Chazal
attribute this vision to magnanimity of heart and state this
as the trait that brought him to belief in Hashem?
The answer, he explains, is that as long as the heart refuses
to accept the proper conclusions, a person's intellect is
useless for he will simply not see or understand or accept
what is obvious. "A man pursues the route he wishes to
follow."
If Avrohom Ovinu saw and understood, if he comprehended and
reached the correct conclusion that the world must have
— and has — a Provider and Guider, then this is
only because his heart wished and was prepared to believe
this. His heart agreed to accept the results of his
philosophical inquiry!
On the opposite side, the wicked Bilaam had an evil nature.
His very evil desires enabled him to witness this
extraordinary phenomenon and to accept it naively, as if it
were altogether regular and simple!
This is a strange and marvelous revelation, an insight into
human nature. As Rabbenu Bechaye points out, an
acknowledgement of something unusual did not sit right with
Bilaam's plans and he therefore ignored the extraordinary
nature of what happened and viewed the matter — matter-
of- factly, as completely normal.
Look at the difference between "the disciples of Avrohom
Ovinu and the followers of the wicked Bilaam" . . .
